Esports tournament
The 2017 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the seventh iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. It was held from September 23 – November 4, 2017, in cities across China. Twenty four teams qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in North America, Europe, South Korea, and China, with twelve of those teams having to reach the group stage via a play-in round.
The finals featured a rematch of last year's competitors, and in 2017, Samsung Galaxy secured their second championship win after defeating the three-time world champion SK Telecom T1, with a 3–0 sweep in a best of five final series. Samsung has previously won the 2014 League of Legends World Championship. Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk, the AD carry of Samsung, was named the MVP of the tournament for his outstanding performances.[3]
Against The Current and Jay Chou collaborated with Riot Games to produce two exclusive songs titled "Legends Never Die" and "Hero" respectively for the tournament, while Alan Walker also produced his own remix of "Legends Never Die".
The 2017 World Championship was praised for its ceremonial performances,[4][5] while receiving attention worldwide due to the high quality of the tournament, its multiple dramatic and emotional series,[6][7][8][9] and SK Telecom T1's tributary moments.[10] The finals was watched by 60 million unique viewers, breaking 2016's viewer record.[11] A donation of US$2.35 million was also raised through the sales of Worlds 2017 Championship Ashe skin.[12]
Teams and qualifications
Based on the results of MSI and the World Championship in the previous two years, all teams from South Korea (LCK) were seeded directly into the group stage and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau (LMS) received an extra seed. With the ranking of the 2017 Mid Season Invitational, Southeast Asia (GPL) received a group stage seed for the summer champion team and one more slot in the play-in stage for the summer runner-up team, and the North American (NA LCS) summer split champion team was seeded to Pool 2 due to not qualifying for the top 4 at the MSI.
Venues
Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing were the four cities chosen to host the competition.[13]
Entertainment
League of Legends Live
League of Legends Live was held on the eve of the finals, November 3, in Beijing National Aquatics Center (or known as the Water Cube) to commemorate the tournament, featuring international artists and League of Legends community musicians. It featured performances of a wide variety of music from League of Legends, including Get Jinxed, hits from Pentakill, DJ Sona, Warsongs, Star Guardian, The Curse Of The Sad Mummy, medleys of a wide variety of Worlds and Champion themes, DJ and music producer Alan Walker, and many other tracks over the course of the 90-minute show.[15]
Opening and closing ceremonies
During the opening ceremony of the finals, dancers wore different masks, as the ground around them had visual effects and colors. It was followed by Jay Chou's Worlds 2017 remix Hero performance, and a live version of Legends Never Die by Against the Current, with Chou playing the piano behind. An augmented reality dragon (modeled after the in-game Elder Drake) also flew around the arena halfway through the performance, with the Summoner's Cup rising from the grounds of the stadium at the same time. The closing ceremony featured Alan Walker performing his own remix of Legends Never Die, with Chrissy Costanza on the vocals.[16] The overall performances of the ceremonies were well received.[4][5]
Legacy
The finals had 60 million unique viewers worldwide, breaking 2016's viewer record.[11]
League of Legends fans raised over US$2 million for three different charities (BasicNeeds, Learning Equality and the Raspberry Pi Foundation) with the sales of the "Worlds 2017 Championship Ashe" skin.[17]
The loss of SK Telecom T1 in a 0–3 defeat, as well as Faker's emotional moment is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in League of Legends' history, and noticeably caught the attention of League of Legends' fans throughout the world, with many tributes given to the team and Faker for their success.[10]
