2021 League of Legends World Championship Series Knockout Stage Finalized

This year’s LoL WCS has been nothing short of absolutely riveting. Each group brought its own surprises and very unique results, with no one group sharing the same scoring. As a quick recap, Group A yielded the only flawless competitor, with DAMWON Gaming (DWG KIA) entering the knockout stage 6-0.

At the same time, Group A is the only group with an NA team moving forward, with Cloud9 (2-4)–the 3rd seed for NA–moving on to the knockout stage after coming into the tournament through play-ins.

Group B produced a shocking upset as Edward Gaming (4-2) lost two matches in a row on Day 5 of the tournament, still qualifying, but yielding their first place seeding in the group to T1 (5-1). Group C, similar to Group A, also produced a play-in-qualifying team moving on to the knockout stage in Hanwha Life Esports (4-2), who came in just behind the first-place seed Royal Never Give Up (4-2).

Group D, and perhaps the most interesting group, produced a four-way tie after Day 7 of the group stages, with all four teams scoring 3-3. In perhaps the most surprising upset of the tournament, MAD Lions came back after starting 1-2 to secure the second place seed in their group by winning 3 matches in a row.

2021 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage Wrap-Up

The teams moving forward into the knockout stage are as follows:

Group A

• DAMWON Gaming (DWG KIA) (6-0) (LCK)
• Cloud 9 (2-4) (LCS)

Group B

• T1 (5-1) (LCK)
• Edward Gaming (4-2) (LPL)

Group C

• Royal Never Give Up (4-2) (LPL)
• Hanwha Life Esports (4-2) (LCK)

Group D

• Gen.G Esports (3-3) (LCK)
• MAD Lions (3-3) (LEC)

Knockout Stage Round 1 and Formatting

The knockout stage of the tournament will begin on October 22nd, continuing until the 25th, before picking back up on the 30th and 31st and ending on November 2nd. In this year’s knockout stage, all matches will be played in a best of five format. This means each team will need to secure 3 matches on the rift in order to avoid elimination.

Each first-place team (DWG KIA, T1, Royal Never Give Up, and Gen.G Esports) will play against the second-place team from another group for the first leg of the playoffs.

For the first match, the first-place team will be given Side Selection Privilege, meaning they can choose either blue or red side for the opener against the second-place team. However, the subsequent matches will yield Side Selection Privilege to the loser of the previous match.

The #Worlds2021 Quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/GyambE83sT

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 18, 2021

After the first round of the playoffs, when only 4 teams are remaining (semi-finals), Side Selection Privilege will be determined via a coin flip for the first round, and subsequently by the loser for the following matches.

The quarterfinals/first leg of the knockout stage is as follows:

Match 1

• Royal Never Give Up vs Edward Gaming
• (Winner Plays Match 2 Winner)

Match 2

• Gen.G Esports vs Cloud9
• (Winner Plays Match 1 Winner)

Match 3

• T1 vs Hanwha Esports
• (Winner Plays Match 4 Winner)

Match 4

• DAMWON Gaming vs MAD Lions
• (Winner Plays Match 3 Winner)