T1 became the first team to punch their ticket to the grand final of the League of Legends World Championship, rallying to defeat JD Gaming 3-1 in Saturday’s semis in New York.
T1 dropped the opener in 40 minutes on red. But they took over from there, winning in 34 minutes on blue, 31 minutes on red and then 25 minutes on red.
Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong led T1 with a kills-deaths-assists ratio of 31/10/29. Bai “369” Jiahao led JD Gaming with a K-D-A of 11/20/24.
Sixteen teams were divided into four groups for the double-round-robin group stage. All matches consisted of a single map. The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage, with the third- and fourth-place sides in each group heading home.
The knockout stage is scheduled to run until Nov. 5, with all matches best-of-five. The entire group stage and the quarterfinals are being held at New York’s Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden. The semifinals are set for State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and the grand final will be contested at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
The next semifinal will be played Sunday:
Gen.G Esports vs. DRX
League of Legends World Championships prize payouts (initial prize pool $2,225,000):
1. $489,500 — TBD
2. $333,750 — TBD
3-4. $178,000 — JD Gaming, TBD
5-8. $100,125 — Rogue, Royal Never Give up, DAMWON Gaming, EDward Gaming
9-10. $55,625 — Fnatic, Top Esports
11-14. $52,843.75 — Evil Geniuses, G2 Esports, 100 Thieves, CTBC Flying Oyster
15-16. $50,062.50 — Cloud9, GAM Esports
17-18. $38,937.50 — MAD Lions, DetonatioN FocusMe
19-20. $33,375 — Saigon Buffalo, LOUD
21-22. $22,250 — Beyond Gaming, Isurus
23-24. $16,687.50 — Chiefs Esports Club, Istanbul Wildcats
–Field Level Media