Riot Games have held the group stage draw for League of Legends World Championship 2018 which is to start on 10 October 2018. Three participants for each group are now known while the last spot will be filled after play-in event is done.
The group stage draw had only two pools, with the best of LCS, LPL, LMS and LCK grabbing those first seeds. This resulted in interesting groups as Flash Wolves will likely have to contend with strong teams despite being #1 seed as they have been grouped with Afreeca Freecs who showed a strong performance during LCK Summer Split as well as the newly-independent Vietnam's Phong Vu Buffalo.
Group B is set to be what sports fans usually call the "group of death" as it features two top notch teams - the champions of Mid-Season Invitational, Royal Never Give up and Gen. G who were previously known as Samsung Galaxy. Team Vitality will have a hard time duking it out with these colossi of League of Legends esports but you never know in League. I mean, who could have predicted Flash Wolves would go 6-0 in the first three days of MSI 2018?
Team Liquid will be pitted against Korea's ruling champions, KT Rolster who have finally managed to qualify for a World Championship, but they did so in style. The latter are poised to leave Group C on top of the ladder, but the third group member at is Taiwanese MAD team and if they turn out to be a major upset, it would be much of a surprise. Remember when Taipei Assassins did it more than half a decade ago?
EU and NA LCS teams will come head to head in Group D where Fnatic and 100 Thieves will have a chance to go at it, but they will also have to keep Invictus Gaming in mind as even Chinese teams that are not #1 seed have historically proven to be at least as strong as top NA and EU LCS seeds.
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Full group rosters will be known after the play-in event, as another four teams join the fight for the main prize which has not been announced yet. Play-in event will start on 01 October and conclude on 07 October 2018, just three days before the main event kicks off.
League of Legends - showcase of several champion splash arts
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