These teams will be in groups of three, and will each have the chance to play the other teams in their group twice. The four remaining teams after the Knockout Stage will advance to the Group Stage of the World Championship. Here are all the groups for the the Play-In Stage. e-SportsDetonatioN FocusMeGroup DG-RexGambit EsportsKaos Latin GamersGroup StageAs for the Group Stage, the teams will be divided into four groups of four teams each. Here are the groups for the Group Stage.

League of Legends has a new sponsor for international esports events: Mastercard. This partnership kicks off officially in just a couple of weeks with the 2018 World Championship. Alongside simply sponsoring the event, Mastercard is also running a promotion for fans who could win a chance to win several Finals-related prizes. Sponsorships like this are rare for Riot Games, who have been reticent to pair League of Legends’ competitive side with too many brands in the past. While news of increased

Another Nintendo Switch bundle is hitting stores, and this one is aimed at Fortnite fans who have yet to grab the console. The Fortnite “Double Helix” bundle will include numerous extras for the free-to-play game, including what Nintendo and Epic Game are calling “unique” weapons and outfits. Announced mid-September — ahead of Fortnite Season 6’s launch — the package comes with the Double Helix set of items, including an outfit, back bling, glider and pickaxe. This seems like an otherwise standa

So we’re here with your official explanation of how the 2018 World Championship Group Draw is going to work. The World Championship tournament is split into two halves. This is a competition between the smaller regions — and some of the lowest finishers from the big regions — to determine which teams will make it to the official World Championship group stage. While the first matches of Worlds 2018 don’t kick off until Oct. 1, the Worlds Draw Show is the real starter’s pistol for the World Champ

The final competition of the 2018 EU LCS season is here as the league’s four remaining teams face off in the Regional Qualifier gauntlet. Despite missing the playoffs during the Spring Split, Misfits bounced back with a fairly good summer, but only landed the region’s fifth seed heading into playoffs. Splyce have had a similar road, but with the Summer Split proving the more difficult of the two for the team. The trouble for the team came when they reached the playoffs of the Summer Split, where

This year for the League of Legends World Championship, Riot is doing something a little bit different. Rather than just giving you special icons and emotes to rep your favorite teams, you’ll be able to show them off with a special chroma for this year’s Championship Kha’Zix skin. The SkinsSpotlights and Surrender@20 team dug up the new chroma skins on the Public Beta Environment and they look pretty good. Kha’Zix turns the colors of the team of choice and also shows off banners with the team’s

According to a post by the Latin American League of Legends esports Twitter account, it seems that Kha’Zix is receiving this year’s Championship skin. Unlike the past Championship skins, his recall doesn’t show him sitting on a throne or standing on a podium, but he’s just as worthy of the skin. Basic Championship Kha’ZixQ W E Evolved Championship Kha’ZixR Evolved Championship Kha’ZixAs of writing this, the price for the skin is unknown, but we’re guessing 975 or 1350 RP based on previous years.

The winner of that first match will then have to taken on most impressive newcomer to the LCK in since the ROX Tigers, Griffin. The team sitting atop the gauntlet as either the final test for hopeful teams or the eventual champions themselves is KING-ZONE DragonX. While KING-ZONE is certainly one of the most talent teams in the LCK, they are also one of the most inconsistent. All of these matches will be best of fives, and each can be seen on Riot’s LCK Twitch and YouTube channels. ScheduleWedne

Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has won the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split award for most valuable player, Riot announced during Saturday’s third place match in Oakland, California. Along with helping his team to a first place finish during the regular season, Peng proved himself, once again, as North America’s premier ADC player. During the regular season, Peng also averaged the highest kills per game, tied with Cody Sun at 4.3, and the lowest deaths per game at just under one per match. This is Peng’s fir

Team Liquid has won their second straight NA LCS Championship with another clean sweep of their opponents in the finals. This marks the second ever NA LCS Championship for Team Liquid, who faced relegation just one year ago. However, Team Liquid proved the better team in a game that basically saw both teams running into each other in mid several times in a row. This win automatically qualifies Team Liquid for the 2018 World Championships as North America’s number one seed. This win also qualifie

Patch 8.17 may have only just been released, but design director Andrei “Meddler” van Roon already has his eyes on future patches. In his Quick Gameplay Thoughts for Aug. 29, van Roon outlined his vision for the patch that will host the 2018 World Championships as well as a preview of what the balance team has been working on for that patch. The post starts by outlining Riot’s goals for the Worlds patch. Speaking of balance, van Roon also gave us a few specific changes that the team would like t

The 2018 League of Legends’ World Championships in Korea will not feature the same live on-site broadcast talent that has been a part of previous tournaments, according to the executive producer of the NA LCS at Riot Games. Instead, casters for most of the tournament will be broadcasting from Los Angeles, likely at Riot’s LCS Studio. Casters will be in attendance for the finals, but every other stage of the tournament will be casted remotely. However, the team we’re using is highly professional

After one of the closest NA LCS splits of all time, it’s finally time for the 2018 Summer Split playoffs. In the weekend’s first match, Echo Fox take on TSM. This is a match between two of the league’s heaviest hitters, but both teams have struggled with consistency so far this summer. But TSM is impossible to count out in a playoff spot and they’ll be fighting to return to their former glory after a quarterfinal defeat in last split’s playoffs. While 100 Thieves is likely the most consistent te

The 2018 League of Legends World Championship is almost here, and that means that dozens of teams around the world are scrambling to grab the few available spots for the tournament. This year 24 teams will qualify for the tournament with 12 qualifying directly to the group stage and 12 more earning eligibility for the play-in stage. These teams will qualify from all over the world including three from North America, South Korea, Europe and the LMS. The 2018 World Championships will begin on Oct.

The NA LCS 2018 Summer Split has come to a close … mostly. First the teams match up against their first opponent. Then, after that match, the two winning teams play each other, and the two losing teams play each other, giving us a solid ranking of where the teams fall from third to sixth. During the first round, TSM will face off against Echo Fox, a team they’ve lost to twice already during the summer split. Meanwhile, the other first round match up is 100 Thieves vs FlyQuest, a match up that

ScheduleSaturday, August 18Echo Fox vs Team Liquid, 5 p.m. ET100 Thieves vs Cloud9, 6 p.m. ETOpTic Gaming vs TSM, 7 p.m. ETCounter Logic Gaming vs Clutch Gaming, 9 p.m. ETTSM vs Team Liquid, 7 p.m.

It appears that the final preparations for World 2018 are finally complete, as today Riot announced the venues for each of the stages of the tournament. While we knew the city locations of the 2018 World Championship, which is being hosted in South Korea this year, the specific venues had been hit with a few unfortunate delays. Finally, the 2018 Finals will be hosted in Incheon, South Korea at the Incheon Munhak Stadium. With the venues finally announced, Riot has also added information about ti

For the first time in what feels like months, the NA LCS has a definitive first place team. Congratulations to Team Liquid for breaking the tie! Unfortuatnely, for Team Liquid to break their tie means the rest of the scoreboard is nothing but knots. ETCounter Logic Gaming vs TSM, 7 p.m. ETOpTic Gaming vs Team Liquid, 8 p.m.

Tony “Zikz” Gray is no longer the head coach for Counter Logic Gaming’s League of Legends team, the organization announced via Twitter later Tuesday afternoon. For the remainder of CLG’s season, assistant coach Zach Goldman will step in as the interim head coach. Gray has been with CLG for the last five years and helped to bring the team two NA LCS championships and a second place finish at the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational. Despite a fourth and third place finish during the 2017 Spring and Summe

Now, six weeks into the Summer Split, TSM could even miss playoffs. At first glance, it’s easy to see that some of TSM’s issues simply lie on an individual level, where certain players just aren’t performing. While it’s almost impossible to know exactly what’s going on inside a team and their communication, it’s not hard to see a reality where TSM is simply fractured into factions. Again, all of this is speculation, but what is clear is that TSM simply haven’t been able to communicate effectivel