The rivalry of the 24 strongest League of Legends teams is slowly coming to an end. JD Gaming, T1, Gen.G Esports and DRX are gearing up to give their best for the championship.
Today, as the competition is at its peak at Worlds 2022, we will take a look at past Worlds champions and which team could be the new champion.
Worlds 2011: Fnatic
League of Legends held its first Worlds two years after its official release. The first Worlds was held in Jönköping, Sweden. A European team, Fnatic, won the tournament, which had a different format at the time and was called the Riot Season 1 Championship. Fnatic is still the only European winning team. The opponent of Fnatic in the grand final was Against All authority. With this championship, they earned $50,000.
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Worlds 2012: Taipei Assassins
At the end of the second season, Worlds was held in Los Angeles, USA. The second Worlds was very important for Taiwan. Because with the Taipei Assassins winning the championship, they became both the first and only champions from Taiwan. Since then, we have not seen a new champion from Taiwan. In the grand final, their opponent was Azubu Frost. Taipei Assassins won $1,000,000 with this championship. In one year, Worlds' prize pool has grown tremendously.
Worlds 2013: SKT Telecom T1 K
Worlds 2013 was the second and final Worlds held in Los Angeles. Korean dominance began in Worlds in 2013. The team that started this dominance was the SKT Telecom T1 K. The victory against Royal Club in the grand final brought them $1,000,000. Also, Worlds 2013 was Faker's first Worlds, considered one of the top League of Legends players. He won the championship at his first appearance.
Worlds 2014: Samsung White
Worlds 2014 was held in Taipei. Samsung White and Royal Club faced each other in the grand final. Royal Club lost in the grand final two years in a row. The champion was Samsung White, the second Korean team to reach the title. Thus, they won the grand prize of $1,000,000.
Worlds 2015: SKT Telecom T1
Worlds 2015 was held in Paris, France. In 2015, the team that continued the Korean dominance at Worlds was SKT Telecom T1. They won the $1,000,000 prize with their win over ROX Tigers in the grand final.
Worlds 2016: SKT Telecom T1
Worlds 2016 was held in San Francisco, USA. SKT Telecom T1 did not leave the championship to anyone in 2016, either. They won $2,028,000 by beating another Korean representative, Samsung Galaxy, in the grand final.
Worlds 2017: Samsung Galaxy
The latest contribution in the Korean domination period came from Samsung Galaxy. Two Korean teams, Samsung Galaxy and SK Telecom T1 met again in the grand final of Worlds 2017 held in Wuhan, China. This time the winner was the Samsung Galaxy. Thus, they earned $1,723,721.
Worlds 2018: Invictus Gaming
In 2018, the tournament was held in Seoul, South Korea. Invictus Gaming faced Fnatic in the grand final. They earned $2,418,750 after winning against Fnatic. 2018 was the year Chinese teams started to shine.
Worlds 2019: FunPlus Phoenix
In 2019, the tournament was held in Berlin, Germany. In the grand final, FunPlus Phoenix faced G2 Esports. FunPlus Phoenix defeated their opponent and became the second champion as a Chinese representative after Invictus Gaming. With this championship, FunPlus Phoenix earned $834,375.
Worlds 2020: DAMWON Gaming
Worlds 2020 was held in Shanghai, China. A Korean team advanced to the grand final to end Chinese domination. Korean representative DAMWON Gaming won the match against Chinese Suning. Thus, they earned $556,250.
Worlds 2021: EDward Gaming
Last Worlds was held in Reykjavík, Iceland. In the grand final, a Chinese and a Korean team faced each other. EDward Gaming defeated DAMWON Gaming and became the champions of the last Worlds. The Chinese teams have once again reached the title. The reward for this was $489,500.
What will happen in Worlds 2022?
We are currently in the semifinals at Worlds 2022. Three Korean and one Chinese team remain. Even though we see a Korean domination in the semifinals, I think the Chinese representative JD Gaming will win Worlds 2022.
In my opinion, the weakest team of the semifinals is DRX. We will most likely see a grand final between JD Gaming and Gen.G Esports, but T1 could knock out JD Gaming as well. In short, T1 and Gen.G Esports can push JD Gaming on the way to the championship. DRX is out of the race in my opinion.
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