League of Legends Worlds 2019: naming the best region after Worlds

Korea/LCK

Teams representing: SKT, Griffin, Damwon Gaming

Number  of teams making group stage: 3

Number of teams advancing out of group stage: 3

Pre – Worlds rating and final placing:

SKT rated 1st, placed 4th
Griffin rated 7th, placed 5th
Damwon rated 9th, placed 8th

Head to head record by region:

2-0 Turkey
2-0 Brazil/CBLOL
3-1 VCS/Vietnam
4-0 LMS
5-1 North America/LCS
5-3 China/LPL
6-8 Europe/LEC

Overall: 27-13 overall, 68% winning percentage.

The LCK made a strong statement for best region in the world in 2019. They had all three of their teams make the quarterfinals and had one team reach the semi-finals.

Griffin and Damwon had strong  showings in their first-ever Worlds championship and, while some would say that SKT underachieved by not winning it all, they did show a lot of good things at this tournament after missing out on it last year. Even with losing in the semifinals to a really good G2 team, SKT had an impressive year and represented the LCK well.

China/LPL

Teams representing: Invictus Gaming, RNG, FunPlus Phoenix

Number  of teams making group stage: 3

Number of teams  advancing out of group stage: 2

Pre-Worlds rating and final placing :

RNG rated 6th, placed 11th
FunPlus Phoenix rated 2nd, placed 1st
Invictus Gaming rated 5th, placed 3rd

Head to head record by region:

4-0 North America/LCS
3-1 LMS
2-0 VCS/Vietnam
3-5 Korea/LCK
9-3 Europe/LEC

Overall: 21-9, 70% winning percentage

The LPL was a strong contender at Worlds 2019. They had two of three teams make it to the bracket stage and both made it to the semi-final round. Then one LPL team had to eliminate another as FunPlus Phoenix stopped Invictus Gaming’s title defense run short of a repeat.

RNG did fail to get out of groups and finished outside the top 10, which is the lowest finishing team out of any region that sent a team to the bracket. That seems to be the black mark on making this a potential runaway victory for the LPL as best region.

LMS

Teams representing : J Team, AHQ eSports Club, Hong Kong Attitude

Number of teams making  group stage:3

Number of teams advancing out of group stage: 0

 Pre-Worlds rating and final placing:

AHQ rated 15th, placed 16th
Hong Kong Attitude rated 17th, placed 14th
J Team rated 13th, placed 9th.

Head to head record by region:

2-2 Vietnam/VCS
2-0 Southeast Asia/LST
3-1 Latin America/LLA
0-4 North America/LCS
1-3 China/LPL
1-3 Europe/LEC
0-4 Korea/LCK

Overall: 9-17, 35% winning percentage.

The LMS had a rough Worlds even though they did place all three of their teams into groups. J Team even went 3-3 with wins over Splyce and FunPlus Phoenix which is a pair of quality wins over major region teams. However both Hong Kong Attitude and ahq went winless in their group. With two out of the three teams that went winless in the main group stage it doesn’t look too promising for the LMS.