Since the creation of League of Legends, Riot Games has had the professional scene in mind, and it’s a good thing they did. Because today it’s one of the most popular esports scenes out there. Anyone who has played League of Legends has either watched the tournaments because of their favorite player or because they can get some good in-game drops while watching them.
Since there have been so many tournaments in League of Legends today, I’ll only be ranking the major tournaments that happen each year, which are the “World Championship” tournaments. This torment only comes around once a year when pro players will have the chance to battle it out to get the title of the best team in the world for that year.
They also get paid a lot of cash for winning first place, which is just a huge bonus. The way that I’ll be ranking these tournaments is by their popularity and their hype moments. I’ll also quickly describe what happened and who won the tournament that year. So with that in mind. Let's get into this article!
12. The Season 1 Championship - 2011
“This is where it all started” (Video By ProGuides Challenger League of Legends Guides)
Just 2 years after the release of the game, we got out the first and major tournament for League of Legends. It wasn’t anything that special, and the place where the tournament was held was something similar to a local LAN party. Nonetheless, it was the beginning of something spectacular. In the tournament, teams from the US, Europe, and Asia participated, and the grand prize for first place was 50,000 dollars.
Spoiler alert: the tournament was won by “Fnatic” with some fantastic outplays against “All Authority.” Since the game was still in its baby phase, nobody knew what the hell was going on, but it was still really exciting to watch and be a part of League of Legends' history. In the tournament, we also saw the rise of the club “TSM,'' which earned a third spot in the whole tournament.
Event Score: 50/100
11. Season 2 World Championship - 2012
“Started from the bottom now we are here.” (Video By Instaclock)
Since the first-ever world championship managed to rack up over 1.6 million views in total, it was a no-brainer for Riot Games to do it again, and that’s what they did in 2012. Additionally, because the first-ever world championship did so well, Riot Games went all out and invested a whopping $5 million into this tournament, which was held in Los Angeles.
Riot Games also made it so that instead of only having 8 teams in total, they increased the number to 12, and they made it so that the first-place winner in the tournament earned $1,000,000! Big money was on the table, and teams were eager to earn that money and get that bread.
This risky investment also paid off a lot for Riot Games, as there were over 8 million viewers in total, with 1.6 million concurrent viewers for the finals. Those numbers are just insane. When it comes to the teams, the team that took the bag was the “Taipei Assassins.” During the tournament, there were huge team fights and crowds were screaming, but the fight that kept everyone on the edge of their seats was the final one.
Event Score: 60/100
10. Season 3 World Championship - 2013
“ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?” (Video By Instalock)
You already know that the Season 2 World Championship was so damn great, Riot Games went out even more on the Season 3 World Championship. They invested even more money into this tournament, and it was even better than before. Additionally, they also increased the number of teams that could participate in this tournament from 12 to 14, and this was the year where we would see SKT T1 Telecom for the first time in a major League of Legends tournament.
They made their legacy by playing against a team called the “Royal Club.” After an amazing performance and great outplays from Faker himself on Gragas against Orianna, where he pushed her into the tower with Gragas’s ultimate ability and killed her there. During the tournament, SKT T1 Telecom was on fire, and they didn’t show any signs of stopping until they held the trophy in their hands along with 1,000,000 dollars in their pocket.
Event Score: 65/100
9. 2017 World Championship - 2017
"What a whack year, smh." (Video By Kaza LoL LCS Highlights)
And here we have a major tournament that didn’t do so well, and I think I might know why. Because in the year 2017, there was a huge “Ardent Censer” meta. So you would constantly see the same champions picked with the same builds, with little to no difference. Sure, the performance was great, and the song that we got from it, “Legends Never Die,” was also good, but it just didn’t hit the mark like the next tournaments on this list.
The final battle between SK Telecom 1 and Samsung Galaxy was nice to see, and it got people hyped up but it wasn’t anything major or groundbreaking. We’ve seen it all before. The tournament was won by “Samsung Galaxy,” and they managed to score a whopping 1,855,114 dollars in total. Good on them.
Event Score: 67/100
8. 2015 League of Legends World Championship - 2015
“SKT is on fire here.” (Video By LoL Esports)
And now we are hitting the big leagues. This tournament was one where Riot Games changed it all up for the better. They introduced something called the “Mid Invitational, '' where only the best teams from the “Mid Invitational” could participate in the World Championship.
The pressure was on! This was also the year when Riot Games made it mandatory to have a head coach, and he would need to participate in the pick–and–ban phase.The coach could also communicate with his team via voice chat and give his opinions during a match.
The tournament was won by SK Telecom 1, and this was their second-ever time winning a World Championship and earning another $1,000,000. There was also a song released for this tournament called “Worlds Collide,” which in my opinion wasn’t anything that special unlike the one we got in 2014, but we’ll get to that later.
Event Score: 70/100
7. 2016 League of Legends World Championship - 2016
“Time to make the ground shake.” (Video By LoL Esports)
Now let’s shake things up a bit and take a look at the World Championship 2016. Let me just state right now that this tournament was won by SK T1 Telecom, and yes, they did win two back-to-back major tournaments without a problem. They played against “Samsung Galaxy” in the finals and managed to beat them, but they got their revenge in 2017, as I stated above.
The players played through patch 6.18, and Yorick was disabled during that time because he was broken as hell, and if you didn’t play him in 2016, you were either crazy or you wanted to lose LP. The first-place winners also managed to score $2,028,000, which is an insane amount of money.Gimme some, please.
During the tournament, there were different highlights, but one that stands out the most to me is when a pro player smashes his desk. That was a certified kek moment. There were also a lot of Lee Sin outplays and a ton of quadra and pentakills in the match. Overall, it was very enjoyable and fun to watch!
Event Score: 75/100
6. 2019 League of Legends World Championship - 2019
“Welcome to Berlin habibi.” (Video By Instalock)
Now, this tournament was held in Europe, specifically in Berlin, Madrid, and Paris. In this tournament, 24 teams qualified to play, and it was a damn long tournament with a ton of moments that made you jump out of your chair. The performance was also amazing, and the song that came out for this tournament was damn hype. It was called “Phoenix.”
The winner of the tournament was FunPlus Phoenix, and they played against G2 Esports. This year, I was rooting for G2 Esports to win, but sadly, that didn’t come out to be true. The first place got 834,375 dollars in total. Which is a small amount when compared to the previous tournaments.
During the tournament, FunPlus Phoenix played a ton of different champions, but the one that shines the most is Lee Sin. The player who played Lee Sin was FPX Tian, and he showed us some techniques that were thought impossible to pull off but did them repeatedly. It was a really fun tournament to watch, but too bad I was in college taking an exam when this match was going on.
Event Score: 80/100
5. 2014 League of Legends World Championship - 2014
“We are the warriors!” (Video By LoL Esports)
Now we are entering the top 5 ranks, so strap yourself in. I’ll start it off with none other than the 2014 World Championship, which also had the best damn song and live performance. The song “Warriors” was performed by Imagine Dragons, and they did a magnificent job. Additionally, the song was also performed live by the band in the finals. It got your blood pumping, and I vividly remember watching it with my homie, and I couldn’t sit still. It was damn epic!
If you ask me, Riot Games should hire them more often to do live performances. The tournament had a lot of work put into it, and Riot Games invested a ton of shekels, and boy, did it pay off tremendously. This was also the year when Riot Games stopped putting the season into the tournament name instead they just used the year that it was held on.
The tournament had 11 million people watching it live, and it had 27 million views in total. That number was never seen before in esports. The tournament was won by “Samsung White,” and they played against “Star Horn Royal Club” in the finals. If you haven’t seen any highlights or watched the final game, I highly recommend that you do because it’s freaking epic!
Event Score: 85/100
4. 2020 League of Legends World Championship - 2020
“Aw, shoot I forgot my mask.” (Video By LoL Esports)
2020 will go down in history as the most boring year ever, but thankfully we had Riot Games and their amazing events to keep us entertained. You see, since most countries still had travel restrictions and people couldn’t go outside because of a virus, most of them took up gaming or were interested in video games.
People who got interested in League of Legends or people who played League but weren’t interested in the professional scene started watching it. Because you had so much free time, you didn’t know what to do with it, so you might as well catch a game or two. The tournament was entertaining to watch and had moments that kept you on the edge of your seat.
Especially because the player who goes by the nickname “Bin” managed to achieve a pentakill in the finals game. It was goddamn insane. The event was held in Shanghai, China, and 22 teams qualified for the event. The first place was taken by a team called DAMWON Gaming, and they got $556,250 for winning the first place.
Event Score: 87/100
3. 2018 League of Legends World Championship - 2018
“Never give up!” (Video By LoL Esports)
This is the tournament where probably the most hyped song has ever been released. The song is titled “RISE,” and it’s about climbing to the top of the ranks and demolishing everyone. In the tournament, 24 teams qualified in total, and the prize for first place was 2,418,750 dollars.
The team that took that bag was none other than “Invictus Gaming.” Additionally, they were the first team to bring China and the LPL a World Championship title. They played against Fnatic and won 3-0 against them. It’s safe to say that Fnatic was stomped into the ground during this match.
During the tournament, three champions dominated the tournament, and those were Aatrox, Urogt, and Alistar. These champions had a total ban rate of 90% altogether. Thankfully, after the tournament ended, Riot Games decided enough was enough and nerfed them into the ground.
Event Score: 90/100
2. 2022 League of Legends World Championship - 2022
“Open up the floodgates.” (Video By LoL Esports)
The most recent tournament with probably the World’s Championship least hype song ever released. Riot Games hyped up the song to be something amazing and something that we had never heard before, only to give us a damn lullaby. Thankfully, the performance at the finals was amazing to watch and quite entertaining.
They went all out on the decorations. Watching the finals was both hype and entertaining, as two giants in the League professional scene battled it out. The teams that went up against each other are T1 and DRX. DRX managed to win against T1, 3-2, and it was a damn close fight.
My money was on T1, but sadly, they lost, but hey, there is always next year. The final fight was especially nerve-racking as T1 tried to backdoor DRX while they were occupied in a fight near the dragon pit. DRX reacted in time to stop T1 from pushing and destroying the Nexus and taking the win for themselves.
Event Score: 95/100
1. 2021 League of Legends World Championship - 2021
“It doesn’t get better than this!” (Video By LoL Esports)
The best World Championship tournament in League of Legends history has to be in 2021. This one has the highest view count, which peaked at 73.86 million concurrent viewers. Holy moly, Riot Games got away with a damn bag with this one.
The two teams that duked it out at the end were Edward Gaming and DWG Kia. I feel like it must have been hell playing in this tournament, especially knowing that the whole world was watching you. Especially when you were going up against a DWG Kia who won the World’s Championship back in 2020.
But as we know, Edward Gaming ended the opportunity for a back-to-back World Championship title for them. The mid-laner for Edward Gaming played insanely well, and he was nominated the MVP player of the World Championship. Imagine yourself winning the tournament and being nominated as the MVP player; that must have felt pretty damn good.
Event Score: 100/100
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