The competitive League of Legends circuit is now well-established in 2014, and the Worlds have firmly become the must-attend event for the elite of Riot Games MOBA. The stakes are different from those that motivated the American publisher in 2013. It is no longer about sustaining the competition but using it to conquer the entire esports scene. To achieve this, Riot is heading to Asia, specifically South Korea, the land of Starcraft and the reigning champion.

Different region, different format

This year, Riot Games kept a very high cash prize which slightly increased compared to previous years with $ 2.130.000 overall while the first place still gets $1 million. What mainly changed was the format, one that Riot Games kept for almost ten years after that. With sixteen teams participating, there was no more direct qualifications to Quarters for top seeds by region. They all got divided into four groups of four, with only one team by region per group. They all faced in a double round-robin with only the two first teams of the groups qualifying for quarters. Starting quarters, all matches became best of 5.

And to honor its new audience, Riot Games chose several different locations. Group A and B were played in Taiwan (National Taiwan University Sports Center, 4.200 people capacity) while group C and D were played in Singapore (Singapore EXPO, 8.000 people capacity). Its only starting quarters that the competitions landed in South Korea, with matches being played at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (4.000 people capacity). Semis were moved to the Olympic Gymnastics Arena (15.000 people capacity) in Seoul before the grand final occurred in the greatest venue League of Legends has ever known at the time: the Seoul World Cup Stadium (66.704 people capacity).

A quite unusual meta

It's hard to discuss these Worlds without mentioning the tournament's peculiar meta. The year 2014 marked the peak of the gradual slowing down of the game that began in 2012. Matches weren't slow because of the teams but because the game itself had become slower. The most significant indicator of this slowdown was the near disappearance of engage champions. A Lee Sin kick or a Thresh hook had become the only tools for teams to initiate a fight. Under these circumstances, speeding up the games was challenging. Another major factor was the state of Baron Nashor. At the time, it only granted additional stats (50 AD and AP + Mana/HP regen) and didn't provide any help to break into the enemy base.

Another oddity of the time was the game's balance. Riot wasn't as tough as they are now about balancing, which was evident during these Worlds. One champion in particular was present in 100% of the games due to a bug that the developer chose not to fix: Alistar. At the time, if he used his Headbutt (W) while equipped with Trinity Force, his next attack had unlimited range. As a result, Alistar was played in the toplane with a core build of Trinity Force and Infinity Edge. His Pulverize (Q) + Headbutt (W) combo could take away half the health of the squishiest opponents without much risk.

Zilean was another issue as his passive granted a fixed experience bonus to all allied champions (allowing them to reach level 2 after six minions instead of seven). Lastly, there was the endemic problem that had plagued the game since 2012: the lack of viable junglers. Apart from Kha'Zix, Lee Sin, and occasionally Elise, the champion choices for junglers were very limited.

A humiliating group stage for Europe

These Worlds also marked the first significant failure of EU. After successful runs in 2011, 2012, and 2013, no European team made it out of the group stage in 2014. The disappointments of Alliance and Fnatic were particularly bitter. Fnatic, in particular, experienced one of the most heartbreaking defeats in the history of the competition. After a marathon match lasting over an hour, Fnatic failed to secure a decisive victory against Oh My God, falling short by just one auto-attack.

For Alliance, the defeat was more sudden. Henrik "Froggen" Hansen's team was buried by the Brazilian team KABUM, who came out of nowhere. Alliance, who had surprised everyone by winning the EU LCS a few weeks earlier, were completely humiliated in the group stage. Worse still, Alliance was eliminated in favor of North America's Cloud 9. The elimination of SK Gaming, the third European representative, did not surprise anyone. Placed in a group with a well-prepared TSM and the former finalists Star Horn Royal Club (SHR), the Germans finished in an honorable third place, ahead of Taipei Assassins.

Samsung teams versus China

Three Chinese teams, three South Korean teams, and two North American teams made it to the playoffs. It is to mention OMG swiftly defeated Nanjin Black Sword, while the two Samsung teams (SSWhite and SSBlue) obliterated the NA representatives. In the semifinals, the two South Korean Samsung teams faced each other on one side of the bracket, while the two Chinese teams competed on the other side.

The Korean semifinal defied all expectations. The match was one-sided in favor of Samsung White: a 3-0 victory in just 1 hour and 20 minutes, which was extremely short for a best-of-five series in 2014. Add to this that this was the first time this year that SSW beat SSB. Meanwhile, the match between SHR and OMG lived up to its hype, with the best-of-five series ending in a thrilling 3-2 victory for SHR after an intense showdown.

With such a strong showing during the whole tournament and loosing only two games overall, the third seed from Korea accessed the grand final with the status of a favorite. The Chinese team still had every chance on paper, but the match's scenario turned into a repeat of the quarterfinals against TSM. SSW demolished game 1 in 24 minutes, stayed solid in game 2, threw and lost game 3, and then came back strongly once more in a 22 minutes game 4 to defeat their opponent. Without a doubt, SSW dominated everyone in 2014.

Korea is League of Legends

After SKT T1's victory in 2013, Samsung White won League of Legends Worlds in 2014 and marked the superiority of Korean teams on the MOBA with this roster:

As for the previous years, SSW got honored by a unique set of in-game skins to commemorate their achievement, the "SSW" skin line, featuring customized appearances for champions used by the team. These skins included SSW Singed, SSW Rengar, SSW Talon, SSW Twitch and SSW Thresh.