bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Esther Pang

This article originally appeared on ABACUS
After eight long days of matches, the final eight teams of the League of Legends World Championship have been locked in.
There have been three intense tiebreakers as well as a ton of upsets across the groups. And we saw comfort picks like bot lane Heimerdinger, a Singed-Zilean team composition, and throwbacks like top lane Jax.
Now teams can breathe a short sigh of relief, and start preparing for their specific opponent. They will be facing each other in a best-of-five series this weekend in Busan.
Results of the Quarterfinals Draw
KT Rolster vs Invictus Gaming on October 20, Saturday (12am EST/ 1pm KST)
Royal Never Give Up vs G2 Esports on October 20, Saturday (4am EST/ 5pm KST)
Afreeca Freecs vs Cloud9 on October 21, Sunday (12am EST/ 1pm KST)
Fnatic vs Edward Gaming on October 21, Sunday (4am EST/ 5pm KST)

For fans who weren’t able to follow all the League of Legends fun, and don’t have time to watch all the VODs (video on demand) of all 51 Group Stage matches… don’t worry, here’s our TL;DW to get you up to speed.
League of Legends, the esports giant    
Quick Recap of Worlds 2018 Group Stage
Korea (LCK): Two teams through, one team down

Defending World champions Gen.G Esports were booted out of the running in unflattering fashion (1 win 5 losses).
Afreeca Freecs became the first South Korea team to lock in a Quarterfinals spot after a three game win streak.
KT Rolster then comfortably locked in their Quarterfinals spot with only one loss against Edward Gaming.
This entire Worlds tournament is taking place in South Korea. Hurts a little for the local fans to lose one of their teams this early on.
China (LPL): All three teams through

Mid-Season Invitational champions Royal Never Give Up is the only LPL team to lock in a first place spot in Groups. Royal Never Give Up however lost two games to Cloud9 and Team Vitality in shocking upsets.
Edward Gaming also took a hit from a North American team (Team Liquid), which cost them the first place spot in their group.
Invictus Gaming struggled a bit at the end of their Groups Stage. The team was ahead of Fnatic in standings for Group D. But the EU team capitalized on Invictus’ greedy moves, defeating the LPL team in a speedy 28-minute game and forced a tiebreaker for the first place spot.
The tiebreaker was a back and forth dance for most of the game. Neither team wanted to give up any neutral objectives on the map. When Fnatic snagged the Infernal Drake, Invictus punished them by trapping and killing Fnatic’s jungler Broxah. When Invictus took down two members of Fnatic, the EU team responded with two kills of their own and took the Rift Herald for good measure.
Eventually Fnatic built up a lead and sent Invictus down to the number two spot for Group D.
Europe (EU LCS): Two teams through, one team down

Sadly for Team Vitality, they weren’t able to make it through their tiebreaker match against Cloud9 and were the first European team to get sent home.
However after that emotional loss, their coach YamatoCannon had advice for the other EU teams.
“Just stay true to yourself, don’t try to chase anyone, don’t try to copy anyone,” he said. ”Just be confident. Don’t limit yourselves either. Go into this tournament, play your next games believing that you can win everything.”
It seems they took his words to heart.
G2 Esports was the team that had to claw their way through Play-Ins stage first. But the team didn’t let their struggles get to them. G2 calmly took down Flash Wolves in a tiebreaker and for the first time ever, secured a spot in the Worlds Quarterfinals.
Finally it’s been a great tournament so far for Fnatic. They scored first place in their group after that heated tiebreaker match against Invictus Gaming. Fnatic also scored more wins than the current powerhouse team, Royal Never Give Up.
North America (NA LCS): One team through, two teams down

Team Liquid bowed out of the competition on Tuesday after a bittersweet victory against Edward Gaming. Even though that win was unexpected, it was still too late to get them into the Quarterfinals. EDG and kt Rolster had already secured their spots as the top two seeds in the group at that point.
That win by Liquid did knock Edward Gaming down to second place in Group C.
100 Thieves wasn’t even close to making it out of Groups (2 wins 4 losses).
For North America, that means Cloud9 is once again the region’s sole representative in the Worlds’ Quarterfinals.
Cloud9 had to battle Team Vitality in a tiebreaker for that Quarterfinals spot. Cloud9 stomped Vitality in the match.
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao (LMS): All three teams are out

Unfortunately, while they were the Play-In darlings, G-Rex couldn’t keep up with the stronger international teams. Both G-Rex and fellow LMS team MAD Team ended Groups Stage without scoring a single victory.
LMS’ Flash Wolves fared better overall with three wins and three losses, but as mentioned, one of those losses was a crucial tiebreaker match against G2 Esports.
Vietnam (VCS): Only team is out

This is Vietnam’s first time competing as an independent region. Because VCS was the highest-ranking of the one-seed regions at MSI, Phong Vũ Buffalo got to go directly to the Group Stage. They did better than the defending champions Gen.G. -- getting at least a win each against G2 Esports and Flash Wolves.

For more insights into China tech, sign up for our tech newsletters, subscribe to our Inside China Tech podcast, and download the comprehensive 2019 China Internet Report. Also roam China Tech City, an award-winning interactive digital map at our sister site Abacus.



China claims another victory in esports as EDG team wins Valorant world championship

Tencent profit jumps 82%, beating estimates after strong video gaming, ad growth

Stanley Ho’s youngest son Mario leads first listed Chinese company in the esports industry

Stanley Ho’s youngest son Mario sets sights on China’s first esports IPO in the US

League of Legends

The stage is set for the League of Legends World Championship Quarterfinals

For fans watching from the Americas, it’s time to stock up on coffee if you want to catch the action live. (Picture: Riot Games)


Afreeca Freecs climbed from bottom of the group to the top after three straight wins on Day 6. (Picture: Riot Games)

The LPL superstars Royal Never Give Up slipped up in two shock upsets during Groups. (Picture: Riot Games)



Fnatic is the only EU LCS team to secure first place in their group. (Picture: Riot Games)

Once again, Cloud9 is keeping the hopes and dreams of NA LCS fans alive. (Picture: Riot Games)


Flash Wolves got so close, but stumbled at the tiebreaker. (Picture: Riot Games)


It was a good first time run for the Buffalos. (Picture: Riot Games)


Abacus

Games

Tech

We have our tournament schedule for the top eight teams, and there will be a lot more EU LCS versus LPL action


Video gaming

e-Sports

Abacus - China Tech News