The 2021 League of Legends World Championship Final was a League of Legends (LoL) esports series between DWG KIA and Edward Gaming on 6 November 2021 at the Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík, Iceland, marking the eleventh final of a LoL World Championship.
It was the second straight final for DWG KIA, who entered the series as defending champions, having won the 2020 edition. The team was one of four Korean representatives from the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), the others being Gen.G, T1, and Hanwha Life Esports. Edward Gaming were one of four Chinese representatives from the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) alongside FunPlus Phoenix, 2021 Mid-Season Invitational champions Royal Never Give Up, and LNG Esports.
The series was a best of five and was the first to be played with no audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland, but was viewed by four (4) million peak viewers, which was the highest in tournament history at the time. The series ended 3–2 in favor of EDG, who mounted a comeback of two consecutive victories after facing a 1–2 series deficit after three games.
EDG's midlaner Lee "Scout" Ye-chan earned Most Valuable Player honors, becoming the first midlaner since Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, who won Finals MVP in 2016, to win the award. The series marked the first world championship for EDG — its second international title since winning the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational.
Background
League of Legends is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed by Riot Games. Each year, Riot hosts a World Championship (Worlds) featuring the most successful teams globally throughout the year-long season. The 2021 Worlds, the eleventh edition of the World Championship, as with its predecessors, was played on the map "Summoner's Rift", a play-field featuring three lanes defined by their locationtop, middle, and bottomand two jungle quadrants, mirrored diagonally down a neutral zone known as the river. Summoner's Rift is played by ten players, five per team, through an isometric perspective as players control characters, known as "champions", split between five roles respective on their location on the map: top, jungle, middle, attack damage carry, and support. The latter two are both played in the bottom lane. The two teams are referred to as red and blue. The red team spawns in the top right and the blue team spawns in the bottom left.
In professional play, players choose their champions during champion select. This consists of four phases: banning phase and picking phase, both of which occur twice. The blue team starts, banning one champion at their discretion. This is then interchanged between the teams until six total champions have been banned, three per team. Blue side then picks their first champion, followed by red side selecting two champions before blue side completes the first phase of picking and banning by also locking in two champions. The teams then begin the second banning phase, starting with red side. The teams interchange until four additional champions have been banned, for a total of ten. Red side also initiates the second picking phase by selecting one champion. Blue side then responds by picking two champions before red side finalises the process by locking in the final champion.
The ultimate goal of the game is to destroy the enemy team's Nexus. This is accomplished through leveling up and purchasing items with gold, the in-game currency. In the lanes there are turrets and inhibitors, defensive objectives for the opposing team to destroy (at least one must be destroyed for the Nexus to take damage), as well as a constant stream of minions that can be killed for gold and experience. Similarly, the jungle contains monsters that reward gold and experience upon defeating them. In the river, there are two major neutral objectives. The Rift Herald spawns on the top side of the river and on death, rewards the team with an active item that respawns the Rift Herald, dealing significant damage to the opposing team's defensive structures. At 20 minutes in, the Rift Herald disappears and is replaced by Baron Nashor. Baron Nashor provides the team that kills it with substantial buffs. On the bottom side of the map, dragons spawn. Random elemental dragons that provide small permanent buffs to the acquiring team continue to spawn until 35 minutes in, at which point the Elder Dragon will spawn that upon being slain, provides the team with a powerful temporary buff. Gold and experience points are also obtained through killing these neutral monsters.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic The 2021 edition of the World Championship was the second to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the 2020 tournament being held in an isolation bubble in Shanghai, China. On 16 June 2021, Riot Games announced the cities of Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Shenzhen as the host cities for the 2021 iteration of the event, with the finals taking place in Shenzhen. However, due to travel complications brought about by the pandemic in mainland China, Reykjavík, Iceland (where the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational had been hosted) was named as the new host city for the event.
Route to the final DK
In the 2018 season, DWG KIA (then known as DAMWON Gaming) were part of the League of Legends Champions Korea's (LCK) Challengers League (then known as Challengers Korea), in which they would win that year's Summer Split — losing only a single series to Team BattleComics. This result automatically qualified them to the Spring Promotion, where two teams would be promoted to the LCK for the 2019 competitive season. DWG KIA would win all matches during the promotion tournament, with the first being a 2–0 win against BBQ Olivers and a 3–1 series victory over Team BattleComics in the qualification match — sending the team to its first LCK appearance. Prior to their qualification for the LCK, the team already had midlaner Heo "ShowMaker" Su and support Cho "BeryL" Geon-hee, who were the longest-tenured members of the team when it was then known as "Mirage Gaming," prior to its acquisition by computer manufacturer Damwon on 28 May 2017. Jungler Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu was also part of the team prior to the promotion tournament, while toplaner Jang "Nuguri" Ha-gwon joined the squad months after the acquisition, transferring from I Gaming Star. Canyon would make his professional debut during the 2018 LoL KeSPA Cup.
The following year, DAMWON Gaming made its maiden LCK season, where they would finish the Spring Split with an 11–7 win-loss slate, including wins against 2018 Summer Split champions KT Rolster and Gen.G, who were then known as Samsung Galaxy when it won the 2017 League of Legends World Championship. In their first playoff appearance, the team won its first series against SANDBOX Gaming, before losing to Kingzone DragonX to place 4th in the standings. Despite not qualifying for the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational, DAMWON Gaming earned a spot in Rift Rivals 2019, where the LCK won the tournament after defeating the LPL in the playoff stage. The team had a rough start to the Summer Split, losing its first two matches. However, it would only lose three more while winning the rest of their matches — finishing the regular season with a 13–5 record tying with Griffin, but would be the second seed as Griffin was able to win one series over DAMWON during the first week. The team would start in the third round of Summer Playoffs where one win to see the team qualify for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. However, they would lose against SK Telecom T1, 0–3, but still had a chance to qualify through the Regional Qualifier. As DAMWON had the highest amount of championship points among the four participating teams, they would automatically be seeded in the qualification match, where they would win against Kingzone DragonX, 3–2 to qualify for their first-ever World Championship — becoming the first team to do so after being promoted to the LCK in the same year. In their world championship debut, the team would begin in the play-in stage where they would win all their double robin games against Royal Youth and Flamengo eSports, qualifying them for the group stage where they would be grouped in Group D with defending champions Invictus Gaming, Team Liquid, and ahq Esports Club. DAMWON would finish the group stage with a 5–1 win-loss record, securing the first seed and playoff qualification in their maiden tournament appearance, but would lose to eventual finalists G2 Esports in the quarterfinals, 1–3.
DAMWON kept its roster for the 2020 LCK season, but would later sign ADC Jang "Ghost" Yong-jun from SANDBOX Gaming. The team would finish the regular season with a 9–9 slate, qualifying for playoffs. Despite their first round victory over KT Rolster, 2–1, the team would face a 2–3 defeat to DRX in the second round, but still managed to qualify for the 2020 Mid-Season Invitational, which was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was replaced by the 2020 Mid-Season Cup. In the tournament, they were grouped alongside T1, defending world champions FunPlus Phoenix, and Top Esports, and were not able to advance to the knockout stage. In the following split, DAMWON would have its best season in the LCK, finishing on top of the standings with a 16–2 win-loss record and winning its first domestic championship after a 3–0 series victory over DRX — effectively qualifying for the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. In the group stage, DAMWON was seeded into Group B alongside JD Gaming, PSG Talon, and Rogue, with the team only losing one game en route to a 5–1 record. In the quarterfinals, the team would beat DRX, 3–0, in a rematch of the LCK Summer Finals, before securing a 3–1 victory over 2019 finalists G2 Esports to advance to its first World Championship final. In the finals, DAMWON Gaming were victorious against Suning, 3–1, to clinch its first international title, with Canyon earning Finals MVP honors.
Prior to the 2021 season, the team was rebranded as DWG KIA after signing on a partnership with Kia Motors. Only one change was made to the roster that won the 2020 edition of Worlds, with toplaner Kim "Khan" Dong-ha, who was in his final playing season, replacing Nuguri following the latter's move to FunPlus Phoenix. DWG KIA continued its domestic dominance with a 16–2 win-loss record in the 2021 Spring Split and winning its second LCK title after victories against Hanwha Life Esports in the semifinals and Gen.G in the finals and qualify for the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational. In MSI 2021, the team was seeded into Group C alongside Cloud9, DetonatioN FocusMe, and Infinity Esports — finishing with a 5–1 record before qualifying for the knockout stage through the rumble stage. Having an 8–2 record, the squad would face MAD Lions in the semifinals and managed to emerge victorious, 3–2, but would eventually lose to Royal Never Give Up in the finals, also ending in five games. Despite losing in their first MSI finals appearance, DWG KIA continued its domestic dominance during the Summer Split, finishing with a 12–6 win-loss slate en route to a 3–1 victory over T1 to secure their third consecutive LCK championship and second-straight qualification to the World Championship. The squad was seeded into Group A with Cloud9, Rogue, and FunPlus Phoenix, where they would finish the group stage undefeated at 6–0. In the playoffs, DWG KIA secured a 3–0 sweep over MAD Lions in the quarterfinals before facing T1 in a rematch of the Summer Split Finals in the semifinal stage. The team would triumph over T1 after a nail-biting 3–2 series win to advance to their second consecutive League of Legends World Championship Final.
+DK's route to the finalRoundOpponentResultGroup StageFunPlus Phoenix1–0Group StageRogue1–0Group StageCloud91–0Group StageFunPlus Phoenix1–0Group StageRogue1–0Group StageCloud91–0QuarterfinalsMAD Lions3–0SemifinalsT13–2
EDG