With only two weeks remaining until the League of Legends World Championship, the playoffs and play-in stages for the five qualified major regions have wrapped up. On the previous match day, the finals began in Europe’s LEC and America’s LTA. G2 quickly defeated MKOI 3-0 in the finals to claim the summer split crown. This win unlocked CAPS’s 15th league title in his career, making him the first player globally to reach 15 league championships.

Old Hat’s performance in this best-of-five was actually quite average. He gave up first blood in the first two games and was solo killed by his lane opponent just two minutes into the first game. However, G2’s bottom duo and jungler were far superior to their opponents. Hansama consistently dominated his lane, applying pressure, and the jungler controlled the tempo completely. Ultimately, CAPS cruised to victory (he carried the third game), leading the team to the league championship and securing the top seed for the LEC region.

In the Americas region, FLY also won their final with a 3-1 score against VKS to claim the LTA championship. After serving a one best-of-five suspension, Bibab returned like a war god, creating a huge gap on the top lane. Even without Bwipo, FLY would have still taken the title because the skill gap between the two teams was too large. Previously, the winner’s match introduced a rookie top laner, and FLY swept 3-0 to reach the finals.

After these two teams won their respective titles, the seedings for all League of Legends teams attending the World Championship from the five major regions have been finalized. Europe’s number one seed is G2, second seed MKOI, third seed NFC; America’s number one seed is FLY, second seed VKS, third seed 100T. Among these six teams, only G2 and FLY are considered strong; the rest are mostly expected to be early exits this year.

Everyone knows the LCK seeds: GEN is number one, HLE second, KT third, and T1 fourth. Among these four, GEN’s strength is in a league of its own, while the other three are roughly on the same level. However, compared to G2 and FLY, they are still a tier above. Whether LPL can win this year depends largely on their matchups against LCK. Judging by playoff performance, I personally believe our teams are competitive.

In the LCP Pacific region, the World Championship qualifiers are mostly familiar faces: CFO as first seed, TSW second, and PSG third. Among these three, TSW is the new champion of the Vietnam region, CFO’s strength is formidable, and Doggo has been performing outrageously well this year. PSG is the weakest overall; although Kage made it to Worlds, PSG’s strength is even weaker than TSW’s, so it seems difficult for them to achieve good results.

Finally, in our LPL region, the number one seed is BLG, second seed AL, third seed TES, and fourth seed IG. This year’s format hasn’t changed much compared to last year. The fourth seeds from LPL and LCK must compete in the play-in stage for a spot in the main event. In the upcoming Swiss round, the first round will still avoid same-region matchups. Teams that reach three wins advance, while those with three losses are eliminated, ultimately competing for the top eight spots.

Currently, the focus is on the BO5 clash between IG and T1. Few people favor IG in this series because T1’s performance at Worlds has been proven time and again—they tend to improve as the series goes on. IG’s trajectory is uncertain and might decline. Even our region’s “fifth seed G2” has expressed full confidence in T1. It looks like it will be tough for IG to reach the Swiss round unless every player performs at their absolute peak.

Conclusion:

Having the fourth seeds from LPL and LCK fight for a spot in the main event is quite abstract. There’s widespread criticism online about Riot’s play-in format being ridiculous. Perhaps Riot originally thought that even at their worst, T1 wouldn’t be the LCK’s fourth seed. But GEN’s dominance has disrupted the scene (affecting T1, DK, and IG), ultimately hurting a popular team’s chances.

So, what do you think are IG’s chances against T1?

Feel free to leave your thoughts and join the discussion!