September is coming to an end and we all know what does that mean (no, not Halloween, I'm not talking about your hooker costume parade) #Worlds is coming too and with it all of the hype and excitement of the most important international event for the League of Legends fans.

THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IS ABOUT TO START

Source: ElDesmarque eSports

But what's League of Legends? What's eSports? What's #Worlds? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT @elfranz??!!

League of Legends is a video game developed by LA-based company Riot Games (but honestly guys, you can scratch that S from "Games"), is 5 vs 5 MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena... there, you're welcome) which objective is to destroy the enemy base. (GG, EZ)

eSports are organized video game focused competitions between professional players (these are the jocks of the nerd world), often played around multiplayer games, these competitions were always a common part of the gaming community but they are growing to be huge and popular spectacles in the recent years. (even if your parents say otherwise)

#Worlds is short for the League of Legends World Championship this is an annual tournament where teams of around the world and from all regions and leagues battle for the Summoner's Cup a 30Kg solid trophy (I don't know what they were doing, these guys are nerds, how are they gonna lift that shit?)

Source: Amino

Ok now that you understand the basics (because I already knew all of that), we can start with the amazing history of this great event which has being the most important and influential eSport event for being the vanguard and the most watched by fans even more than the Superb Owl (go sue your mom NFL) and the NBA Finals.

LET'S BEGGIN

Source: GIPHY

S1 Worlds | The Humble Begginings

Held in 2011 in Jönköping, Sweden during the DreamHack event was the very first and smallest world championship of all, with only 8 teams competing for the first place this was the most intimate (and crammed, truly Phreak's basement) experience for the players because the fans were literally there, almost touching them.

The finals were played on June 20th (OMG, one day before my B-day!!!), a best of 3 match (you know when you have to win 2 of 3 games to be the winner) when the European teams Fnatic and against All authority faced off to be crowned champion, the series went for the whole 3 games, FNC ended up winning 2-1 against aAa and gaining the first and only (to date) Worlds title for a western team(#FeelsBadMan).

S2 Worlds | Enter the Asians

Shit got serious in 2012, all the bars were raised, this time the tournament was held in LA and it wasn't a shared event (hell no, we big boiz now) Worlds had become a stand-alone event, this tournament introduced the Summoner's Cup and 12 teams who battled for the World Championship and among those teams were the memorable Moscow Five who won the hearts of the fans with their fast-paced playstyle and the highly organized and objective focused Asian teams, teams that showed the world the power of the meta and that they were here to dominate.

Finals were a show to remember, held on October 13 at the Galen Center with an orchestral introduction and a display of the best of the tournament so far, the finals was watched by 8.2 million people around the world making it the most view eSport event to date, two teams from Asia stood up to compete for the newly introduced Summoner's Cup, Taiwan's Taipei Assassins against Korea's Azubu Frost. AZ were the clear favorites but TPA showed the world how to fear the underdogs (because they possibly had rabies) when they defeated the Korean squad 3-1 in the best of 5 with an amazing performance of mid-laner Kurtis Lau Toyz Wai-kin on Karthus and Orianna. This tournament became the foundation of how any eSport event must be done and soon this was a fact.

S3 Worlds | The Beggining of a Dynasty

We're back again in LA but bigger and better, this time 14 teams will clash to become champion, teams and players like Team Solo Mid with Jason WildTurtle Tran, Samsung with Kang Ambition Chan-yong, Cloud 9 with Zachary Sneaky Scuderi, Fnatic with Martin Rekkless Larsson and Royal Club with Jian Uzi Zi-Hao will become a common sight in this tournament but they all will be eclipsed by a team and his rookie star, SK Telecom T1 and Lee Faker Sang-hyeok (PLEASE NOTICE ME SENPAI)

We level-up from last year, this Wolrds Finals was held in the famous Staples Center (yeah, the home of the LA Lakers) and on October 4th 32 million people tuned in to see SKT T1 clash against RYL and a lot of us took the advice of professional League of Legends caster Christopher MonteCristo Mykles and hopped aboard the Korean Hype Train to see Faker's squad sweeping Uzi's team 3-0 on the best of 5, marking the beginning of the Korean domination of Worlds, no other region has won a Worlds Finals since then.

S4 Worlds | In The Home of Gods

In 2014 we went across the globe (YES! GLOBE YOU MOTHERFUCKING FLAT-EARTHER, YOU THOUGHT I FORGOT ABOUT YOU, I KNOW YOU'RE READING YOU LITTLE BITCH!) to the home of legends and in my opinion this tournament was the most dramatic of them all, filled with emotion, hype, upsets(KaBum baby HUEHUEHUEHUE), tears (oh shit so many tears), and changes, the meta was shifted around teamwork and not individual playstyle like before, and you know who was leading the charge, yep the Koreans, but this time the defending champions couldn't reach Worlds, so it was time for the new blood to reclaim what's theirs.

Once again Korea was at the finals, but no SKT T1, no this time was the turn of Samsung White to face Star Horn Royal Club (team formerly know as Royal Club, and no, this is not the first time they'll change their name, so don't get used to it) after beating their sister team Samsung Blue in semi-finals where all players shed tear for their brother in... arms? Whatever. Now SGW will clash against SHRC in the Seoul World Cup Stadium after the most epic pre-match performance by Imagine Dragons (no, don't imagine a dragon, that's the name of the band... you ruin everything), and in front of 40.000 of their fellow Koreans SGW delivered winning 3-1 on the best of 5 (they lost 1 game to give Chinese fans false hope) and Cho Mata Se-hyeong won the MVP showing everyone THE IMPORTANCE OF WARDS BUNCH OF NOOBS!

S5 Worlds | The return of th King

Wanna play League of Legends or wanna travel throughout Europe? Well, in 2015 Worlds we did both, cities like Paris, London and Berlin were home of various matches, and yes this tournament was epic and emotional as well, upsets from the Wildcard teams were fan favorites, we witnessed the clash between two of the best ADC's Deft vs Rekkless, we cry along when TSM Top laner Dyrus announced his retirement, the rise and fall of Europe best team was inspirational and heartbreaking, but the most hype was that he was back, The Unkillable Demon King, Faker was back to claim the Summoner's Cup for his team.

We traveled to Berlin to the Mercedes-Benz Arena to witness the clash of the Koreans, KOO faced SKT T1, and along with 27 million people we watched and spectacle of quality League of Legends where Faker and his team came out victorious after the match came out 3-1 (again, losing one to give false hope) and SKT T1 became the first team to be two times Worlds Champions.

S6 Worlds | Back to Back

Here back at NA and many big names are back as well, Bjergsen, Doublelift, Rekkless, Sneaky, Bengi, Faker, Uzi, Smeb, Pray, Gorilla, Bang, Wolf and so many more came back to prove what they could do in which was without any doubt the highest quality tournament in terms of gameplay and skill of all Worlds history and to spice it all a little bit we got fan favorite Likkrit who showed the world that Wildcard teams may be underdogs but that doesn't make them bad teams.

The competition was fierce like non-other, and we got the joy to witness the best semi-finals ever from SKT T1 vs ROX, they played 5 clutch games and we saw everything, outplays, crazy comps (the only way you could forget Miss Fortune Support is that you don't play League of Legends), and the best teamfights ever recorded, in the end SKT T1 came out victorious with the help of the The Jungle Itself, Bengi a veteran player and Faker's partner in crime, SSG was waiting to face SKT T1 in the finals and there they clashed, for the first time in Worlds history it was a full series of 5 games and was again it happened, back-to-back champions and 3 times crowned SKT T1 lifted the Summoner's Cup.

S7 Worlds | China's First

Now we're in China and no, this one wasn't a cheap one, this was a delightful tournament with the addition of the play-in stage more teams could participate, now we have 24 teams fighting to be the best, and since the beginning we had the good stuff, PENTAS, upsets, the hype of the underdogs, a Rift Herald dancing in the fountain and that 5 minute Nocturne's Paranoia that froze the audience, after the play-in stage came groups, C9 and FNC miracle runs were the favorites and every match counted as elimination were at the next corner.

Once again the finals were between Korean teams, after SKT T1 beat RNG (see, Royal Never Give Up, they changed their name again) in a 5 games series and SSG 3-1 Team WE (which was the farthest they have gone in Worlds), the closing ceremony with musical show and MOTHER FUCKING DRAGON (No, I didn't imagine the dragon it was CGI you dumb fuck) the team were ready to collide and the impossible happened, everyone expected a close series but SSG swept SKT T1 3-0 ending their streak and leaving Faker in tears because it was the first time he lost in a Worlds Finals, we have new champions, all hail Samsung Galaxy!

S8 Worlds | The New Chapter

This is where the hype begins, in a few hours we'll have the Draw Show for the Play-In stage and see how it's gonna go, no TSM and no SKT T1 in this Worlds, who will raise the Summoner's Cup this time? We'll see in October!

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Other Sources

The Story of Worlds
The History of the World Championship
League of Legends World Championship | Wikipedia
The History of Worlds | LoLeSports
World Championship | Leaguepedia

THANKS FOR READING!

Source: GIPHY

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