LOL reaches a historic moment as Rookie and Faker face off in a do-or-die battle; making it to the top 16 will already be a huge success.

Greetings to all LPL fans and League of Legends summoners, welcome to Tianxia Game Hub.

Following the end of the major league qualifiers, the 17 teams qualified for the S15 World Championship are finalized. This year’s World Championship play-in features just one match: the battle between the fourth seeds from LPL and LCK.

This confrontation is set to become a new historic milestone in the history of LOL.

A historic moment in LOL: Rookie versus Faker in a decisive battle.

This year, Riot officially reformed the tournament format, allowing only seven spots combined for the LPL and LCK regions. This means the fourth seed teams from these two regions must face elimination first, and fans will witness the first-ever team in Worlds history to be knocked out on the very first day, finishing in 17th place.

Moreover, Riot probably did not expect that after announcing this format, the final showdown would be between the biggest star teams from China and Korea — LPL’s top-tier IG, which has become the sole major draw in the LPL this year, dominating viewership numbers unlike any other team.

On the other side stands T1, the team with the highest popularity worldwide.

If Riot had known that these two teams would face off in the end, they might not have implemented such a special rule, because whether IG or T1 gets eliminated, it would be a massive loss in viewership for Riot. Of course, if forced to choose, Riot would definitely prefer T1 to advance.

It is worth noting that this match will be the first time Rookie and Faker meet on the World Championship stage; they have never faced each other in S-series tournaments before.

Making it to the top 16 is considered a success; if IG pulls off an upset, it would be a miracle.

Riot has also revealed the detailed schedule for the S15 World Championship stages. The play-in match will take place on October 14th at 4 PM Beijing time. Since it is hosted in China and there are no other matches at that time, viewers need to be ready in front of their TVs or computers to watch the match start promptly at 4 PM.

At that time, everyone will witness one of the harshest play-in rounds in Worlds history: the winner advances to the top 16, while the loser is stopped just before the Swiss stage, making it feel like they didn’t even make it to Worlds.

Historically in the LPL, teams eliminated at the top 16 often face harsh criticism from fans. But this time is different — for IG, just reaching the top 16 would be a success and a miracle, as they would block T1 from advancing to Worlds. Achieving this feat will earn IG heroic status regardless of their subsequent results.

This also highlights how tough this match will be. The skill gap between the two sides is clearly visible. T1’s Worlds experience and achievements far surpass IG’s, making this a must-win match for T1. Anything less than a 3-0 victory would be considered underperforming.

S15 has a tighter schedule, with the finals on November 9th.

Recently, the championship odds for S15 have been released: GEN and HLE are ranked first and second, BLG is third, followed closely by T1, with similar odds to BLG. The rest include AL, TES, KT, and IG. The top eight are dominated by Chinese and Korean teams, which is a predictable outcome.

Another change this year is a more compressed schedule, which will be more demanding for teams but better for viewers. I think this is a reasonable adjustment because previously, Worlds lasted about a month with week-long breaks between stages.

Now, after the first round of the Swiss stage, there will be a two-day break, then another two-day break after the second round, followed by the quarterfinals played over four consecutive days without rest. The semifinals start the very next day.

Finally, the two finalists will get a week’s rest before the grand final on Sunday, November 9th. This schedule means the quarterfinals won’t take place on weekends but run from Tuesday to Friday. Since this year’s Worlds is held in China, the timing favors Asian viewers, making it more enjoyable to watch. Of course, everyone hopes the LPL region will perform well.