Worlds 2023: The 16 teams in the main stage are now known. Who did the lottery draw and what matches await us?

With the Play-in phase over, we needed to find out what games we would be facing at the start of the main Worlds phase. In the end, the luck of the draw made for some interesting battles in the first round.

After the duel between BDS and PSG Talon, the draw for the main stage of Worlds 2023 followed. For the first time in history, the biggest tournament in League of Legends and the esports world abandoned traditional groups and introduced the so-called Swiss format, known for example from Couter-Strike Global Offensive tournaments.

Sixteen teams will play a first round of matches based on their position in the performance basket. Teams from the first basket (JDG, GENG, G2 Esports and NRG) will challenge teams from the fourth basket (GAM Esports, BDS, Dplus KIA and Weibo Gaming).

On the other hand, teams from the second (T1, Fnatic, Cloud9, BLG) and third baskets (KT Rolster, LNG, MAD Lions and Team Liquid) will play a match between themselves. After the first round, two “groups” will be formed with a record of 1-0 or 0-1. The teams with a 1-0 record will then play a match between themselves. as well as teams with a 0-1 record.

This system continues with the goal of the eventual advancing team winning three games (series) or losing three to determine the standings. The top eight then advance to the traditional playoffs, where Bo5 is played.

If a team wins three in a row, they will also have a notional advantage to prepare over a team that loses 0-2 and will need three wins to have a chance to advance. The first two rounds of matches and the matches with a 1-1 record are in Bo1 format, then the following matches are Bo3.

Mata has given Europe a bad start

With the assistance of legendary Korean supporter Mata, sixteen teams formed eight match pairs. The first round of the main phase has awarded us interesting duels, but also tough challenges for the European representatives.

Advancing from the play-in phase (GAM Esports and Team BDS), the biggest favourites await to start. The Vietnamese number one will challenge the winner of the Korean LCK – GENG, while the European BDS will face the Chinese champions JDG.

What will definitely please our European fans will be the traditional battle between G2 Esports and Dplus KIA. Capse versus Showmaker will definitely be worth the fight.

We will also see the traditional American-European battle at the beginning, when Cloud9 will challenge Carzzy’s MAD Lions. Fnatic with our guys on midu Humanoid and coach Nightshar will face the very strong Chinese LNG with Scout or Tarzan in the lineup.

The hit of the first round of the main stage will definitely be the battle between Bilibili Gaming and KT Rolster. The clash of teams that dominated their respective leagues during the summer and then lost one key series in the playoffs will also be a battle of the titans of the top between Bin and Kiin, or at mid between Yagao and BDD.

The first round begins on October 19 at 7:00 am, with a clash between T1 and Team Liquid, which will be a rematch of the last Wolrds finals for Pyosik. This will see the former DRX jungler (now TL) take on the feared team of Faker and co. Matches can be watched on both Twitch/YouTube LoL Esports and Twitch Hitpoint with Czech commentary.

Source: LoL Esports