League of Legends 2023 Worlds Swiss Round One Previews

Worlds 2023 is ready to kick off the main event!

The 16-team Swiss stage is about to begin at the 2023 League of Legends World Championships. Here’s a taste of what you can expect from each of the matchups in the first round.

The first matchup is Bilibili Gaming and KT Rolster. This is a matchup of the second seed from the LPL against the third seed of the LCK. Bilibili Gaming is making its first-ever trip to the World Championships, but was runners-up at MSI in 2023. KT Rolster makes its third trip to Worlds, but first since 2018, where they lost to Invictus Gaming in the quarterfinals.

The second match is between Cloud9 and Mad Lions. This is a matchup between the second seed from the LCS and the third seed from the LEC. Both teams look to improve on their runs from the 2022 World Championships which were rough. Mad Lions fell short of the main event last year at the hands of LCS team Evil Geniuses. Cloud9 struggled in the group stage going 1-5. So, an early win in the first match would be a great start for both teams.

Our third matchup of round one is Dplus KIA vs G2. It’s a battle of the top LEC team vs the LCK’s fourth seed. The two teams met during last year’s world group stage. Dplus KIA took both games off G2 en route to tying for the best record in the group. G2 went on to finish 1-5 and in last place in the group.

Dplus also eliminated G2 during the semifinals of the 2020 World Championships, on their way to hoisting the Summoner’s Cup. Lots of history with this one and it should be a banger.

Fnatic challenges LNG in the next matchup. LNG last competed at the 2021 World Championships where they failed to get out of groups. This year marks the seventh year in a row that Fnatic has made the World Championships. However, they failed to make it out of groups in their past two appearances. So, an early win for either team could be crucial to avoiding another early exit this year.

The next first round match is T1 against Team Liquid. Team Liquid is back after missing Worlds in 2022. Though in 2021 they lost a tiebreaker to Gen.G after finishing 3-3. T1 returns the same lineup that finished as the runner-up at Worlds 2022. T1 is always a championship contender as they look to add another title to their trophy room.

Gen.G vs Gigabyte Marines is the next match. Gen.G looks to break through and win it all as the top seed out of the LCK. They came up just shy of winning it all in 2022 after a semi-final loss to DRX. GAM won a spot through the play-ins though they have never advanced past the group stage in the main event. Maybe the shakeup in the format will help change that.

The next to last matchup is BDS vs JD Gaming. BDS makes it to Worlds for the first time only to draw one of the tournament favorites. The reigning MSI Champions look to one up last year’s run to the semi-finals.

The final matchup is NRG vs Weibo Gaming. The LCS summer champions face off against Worlds first timer Weibo Gaming. Weibo may be new as a team to the Worlds stage, but their roster does feature a pair of World Championship winners making this no easy task for North America’s top squad.

The first-round matchups take place on Thursday Oct. 19, 2023 starting at 1 a.m. ET. You can watch the matches on lolesports.com, YouTube and Twitch.