Bilibili Gaming won their first League of Legends World Championship with a 3-1 defeat of Gen.G Esports in the grand final at Barclays Center in New York on Saturday.
Bilibili, which narrowly escaped the Swiss stage of the event on the final day of competition, previously beat three-time defending world champions T1 in a semifinal match on Nov. 8 in Allen, Texas. Bilibili received the $1 million grand prize, while Gen.G earned $800,000 for their second-place finish.
Nineteen teams began play in the $5 million event, with eight qualifying for the single-elimination playoff bracket. The knockout stage, consisting of best-of-five matches, was played in Allen except for the grand final.
Gen.G Esports opened the grand final with a 39-minute win on blue but Bilibili took command from there, winning in 53 minutes on red, 38 minutes on red and 43 minutes on blue to clinch the championship. Zhuo “Knight” Ding of China was selected as the MVP after amassing 13 kills, 41 assists and six deaths in the grand final. Park “Viper” Do-hyeon of South Korea and China’s Peng “Xun” Lixun tied for the Bilibili team lead with 16 kills apiece.
Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk of South Korea led Gen.G’s losing effort with a match-high 23 kills along with 20 assists and eight deaths.
League of Legends World Championship prize pool
1. $1 million — Bilibili Gaming
2. $800,000 — Gen.G Esports
3-4. $400,000 – T1, Invictus Gaming
5-8. $300,000 — Top Esports, LYON, Dplus, Karmine Corp
9-11. $175,000 — Hanwha Life Esports, LOS, Movistar KOI
12-14. $125,000 — CTBC Flying Oyster, G2 Esports, Team Liquid
15-16. $90,000 — Anyone’s Legend, Team Secret Whales
17. $50,000 — MVK Esports
18. $40,000 — FURIA
19. $30,000 — Cloud9
–Field Level Media
