Three-time defending champion T1 cruised to a win on Friday as the League of Legends World Championship’s Swiss stage got underway in Allen, Texas.
In the previous 15 editions of the tournament, T1, a South Korean club, have captured the title six times and finished as runner-up twice.
Swiss-stage action runs through Oct. 31 in Allen, with early-round matches consisting of a single map before advancement and elimination matches will be best-of-three.
Half of the 16 Swiss stage teams will qualify for the knockout stage, which gets underway on Nov. 3 and features a single-elimination bracket. The knockout stage, consisting of best-of-five matches, also will be played in Allen except for the grand final, which will be held at Barclays Center in New York on Nov. 14.
The championship team will receive $1 million from the event’s $5 million prize pool.
On Friday, T1 trounced LOS in 24 minutes on red. Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun recorded an 8-0-6 kill-death-assist ratio for all-South Korean T1. Another South Korean, Jeong “Feisty” Seong-hoon, paced LOS with a 2-3-1 K-D-A ratio.
Gen.G registered a 26-minute victory over Invictus Gaming on red. Hanwha Life handled Top Esports in 24 minutes on red. Movistar KOI edged Bilibili Gaming in 39 minutes on blue, and Karmine Corp prevailed over Anyone’s Legend in 33 minutes on blue.
Dplus took down G2 Esports in 33 minutes on blue. CTBC Flying Oyster toppled Team Liquid in 38 minutes on red, and LYON bested Secret Whales in 27 minutes on blue.
The Saturday schedule
High matches (1-0 teams)
–CTBC Flying Oyster vs. Movistar KOI
–LYON vs. Karmine Corp
–Hanwha Life vs. Gen.G
–T1 vs. Dplus
Low matches (0-1 teams)
–Top Esports vs. Anyone’s Legend
–G2 Esports vs. LOS
–Secret Whales vs. Invictus Gaming
–Team Liquid vs. Bilibili Gaming
League of Legends World Championship prize pool
1. $1 million
2. $800,000
3-4. $400,000
5-8. $300,000
9-11. $175,000
12-14. $125,000
15-16. $90,000
17. $50,000 — MVK Esports
18. $40,000 — FURIA
19. $30,000 — Cloud9
–Field Level Media
