Everything you need to know about the Worlds 2015 Knockout Stage

Riot·Oct 12, 2015·2 votes·63,490 views

After two surprising weeks of competition, the 2015 World Championship Group Stage has come to an end, making way for the Knockout Stage. Now, the remaining eight teams that have tasted international glory will continue their journey towards the 2015 World Championship Finals.

Here are the top eight League of Legends teams in the world right now:

Group A: Flash Wolves (LMS), KOO Tigers (LCK)
Group B: SKTelecom T1 (LCK), Edward Gaming (LPL)
Group C: Fnatic (EU LCS), ahq e-Sports Club (LMS)
Group D: KT Rolster (LCK), Origen (EU LCS)

Read on to find out more about the Knockout Stage format, how the bracket was determined, and when you can catch all of the matches.

THE KNOCKOUT STAGE FORMAT

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The Knockout Stage is broken up into three parts: the Quarterfinals in London, England; the Semifinals in Brussels, Belgium; and the Finals in Berlin, Germany. Each match in the Knockout Stage is a Best of 5. The winner of each match moves on, while the loser of each match is eliminated from Worlds 2015.

The Quarterfinals bracket is populated with the top two teams from each Group from the Group Stage. Each Quarterfinal match will feature one No. 1 seed and one No. 2 seed from the Group Stage; however, no two teams from the same Group can be placed in the same half of the bracket. This organization rewards higher seeds for their performance in the Groups, and prevents rematches before the Finals. The winner of each Quarterfinals match will move on to the Semifinals.

The teams were paired with opponents randomly, live during the Quarterfinals Group Draw at the end of the Group Stage.

The Semifinals will feature two Best of 5 matches between the Quarterfinals winners. The winners of the Semifinals will then move on to compete against one another in the Finals of the 2015 World Championship!

The Finals is a Best of 5 face off between the year’s top two League of Legends teams. The victorious team will become the League of Legends 2015 World Champion and hoist the coveted Summoner’s Cup.

WHAT’S ON THE LINE IN THE KNOCKOUT STAGE?

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Teams will earn prize money based on the position they finish in the Knockout Stage. The breakdown is as follows:

World Champion - $1,000,000 USD
2nd place - $250,000 USD
3rd / 4th place - $150,000 USD
5th - 8th place - $75,000 USD

WHEN CAN I WATCH THE KNOCKOUT STAGE?

The Knockout Stage will take place over three weeks in London, Brussels, and Berlin.

Quarterfinals

Date: October 15-18
Location: London, England SSE Arena Wembley, Arena Square, Engineers Way, London HA9 0AA, United Kingdom

October 15: Flash Wolves vs. Origen - 6:00 PM CEST / 17:00 BST / 9:00 AM PT
October 16: SKTelecom T1 vs. ahq e-Sports Club - 6:00 PM CEST / 17:00 BST / 9:00 AM PT
October 17: Fnatic vs. Edward Gaming - 3:00 PM CEST / 14:00 BST / 6:00 AM PT
October 18: KT Rolster vs. KOO Tigers - 3:00 PM CEST / 14:00 BST / 6:00 AM PT

Semifinals

Date: October 24-25
Location: Brussels, Belgium Expo, Place de Belgique 1, 1020 Ville de Bruxelles, Belgium

October 24:

Opening ceremony: 16:00 CEST / 7:00 AM PT
Game Start: 16:30 CEST / 7:30 AM PT

October 25: 14:00 CET / 6:00 AM PT (European Daylight Savings Time)

Finals

Date: October 31
Location: Berlin, Germany Mercedes-Benz Arena, Mercedes-Benz Arena Berlin, Mercedes-Platz 1, 10243 Berlin, Germany

Start of show: 12:00 PM CET / 4:00 AM PT
Opening ceremony: 12:30 PM CET / 4:30 AM PT
Game start: 13:00 PM CET / 5:00 AM PT

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After the matches in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals, stay tuned to the Lolesports broadcast for Worlds Tonight, a 15-minute show that recaps the events of the day and gets you caught up to speed on the big takeaways. We'll also have PrimeTime League, coming to you from London on October 14, Brussels on October 23, and Berlin on October 30 at 21:00 European Time. Check the schedule for more details.

If you happen to miss any of the games live, we have a spoiler-free VODs archive where you can watch every match. But, if you want to catch the entire show, we'll also be rebroadcasting our live show at 4:00 PM PT on match days. You can catch those rebroadcasts here at Lolesports

60 Comments

KaiKacerOct 12, 201515 votes

#SKT Worlds 2015

Prometheus3Oct 12, 20156 votes

Sorry It's going to be an OG vs FNC final! :P

Urgot x BDSMOct 12, 201510 votes

More likely SKT FNC

LOVE ALARMOct 12, 201513 votes

Nah skt vs kt final

Ashe is BadOct 15, 20152 votes

Good, cuz that's what I have for the pick'em. FNATIC better win OR ELSE!!!

Poseidon161Oct 13, 20154 votes

Honestly, the only wildcard matchup I see here is Fnatic vs EDG. The rest are basically already decided, in my opinion. Origin will take Flash Wolves and KT will screw over KOO. And of course, SKT will bowl over AHQ.

TrollFan01Oct 12, 20157 votes

Finals will be SKT/EDG THE REMATCH OF THE CENTURY!

Gessen YozakuraOct 12, 20156 votes

If EDG still decides to use AmazingJ as their top lane, I think it will be a very one sided battle for SKT. Where the hell is Koro1? I want to see EDG put up an awesome fight against SKT, and that will probably be the rematch of the century. Go SKT!!!

Sensei ShNallOct 12, 20156 votes

Koro1 is a great tank player but the top-lane meta is about juggernauts, who AmazingJ is much better at. But seeing as how AmazingJ has struggled against SKT, i wouldn't be surprised to see Koro1 come in although that would not be ideal.

AFK SamOct 13, 20152 votes

Korol is injured my friend... so as pawn... This is not even news anymore... Korol has infaction between his finger knot. He can not click mouse so often. For that reason, he missed almost entire summer seasons. Pawn has serious back pain. If you have knowledge of back pain, then you know it is a thing that you can not recover from. You can maintain it, so it dont get worse, but it cannot heal.. From what i read, pawn needs pain killer to be able to play during group stage. My point is: Those things are not secrets, and everyone should know that. Their performance so far has been up to standard if you consider their player's conditions. Those interviews for Clearlove and Meiko just showed how much bais Riot had towards LPL. They simply don't care about it at all. I mean, it is understandable that as a fan like you, you has no clue what happened if you don;t know about LPL, but riot as a whole really should be blamed for asking those Dump questions.

pokka cafeOct 13, 20153 votes

Chiese training must be brutal, military one. No players in the world suffered those game play injury but the Chinese teams. 2 players in EDG both suffer LOL injury...Pawn was absolutely fine when he's in Korea

bojajinaOct 17, 20151 votes

The amount of excuses is hilarious

Prometheus3Oct 12, 20151 votes

I think I read somewhere that EDG said that Koro1 was ill/has physical problems, and they were just giving him more time to recover; but also that they'd plan to use both AmazingJ and Koro1 depending what strategy they were going for. http://worlds.lolesports.com/en_GB/worlds/articles/edward-gaming-unsatisfied-2nd-place-group-c

LOVE ALARMOct 12, 20152 votes

The manager for edg already said koro hasn't been performing in scrims

f1nalcha0sOct 12, 20151 votes

I don't think Koro1 is going to bring a lot for this jugernaut meta. He is a great player on the tanky top meta, but not this one. Also his neck problem kinda hinders his play right now.

LOVE ALARMOct 12, 20152 votes

The manager for edg already said koro hasn't been performing in scrims

AFK SamOct 13, 20151 votes

As long as Tabe is on analysis desk, there is no Chance for LPL teams to win. Sometimes, Riot's decision is plainly weired. Everyone know Tabe has a repution of big mouth as well as a bad history in that regard. During S3, he got fired by OMG because of what he said, and then he joint Royal Club. I don't doubt his talent as a player, but it is like Riot hire Incarnation on analysis desk because he likes to flame..

Poseidon161Oct 13, 20152 votes

I don't see it happening. SKT already reclaimed their honor by smashing EDG in a rematch. Plus I think that Fnatic vs SKT would just be more entertaining. "AND SK TELECOM HAVE BECOME THE FIRST TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPIONS!!" -What I look forward to hearing on the 31st

I Like CooterOct 12, 20153 votes

poor NA Amumu

FurankiOct 12, 20153 votes

Honestly, I'm not surprised. After seeing three first place teams all fumble hard (Gravity, Team Impulse, Lquid), TSM dropping hard from 1st to 5th with the claim of "we're just testing strategies at this point for worlds", and the final seed for NA being C9 who barely squeaked by at 7th I knew NA would not perform well at Worlds. C9 did well in their first three matches, sure, but they honestly shouldn't have been there with how bad their summer split had gone. TSM had gone into a slump which was obvious as they fell in rankings and proceeded to get clean-sweeped with ease by CLG at the summer finals; and, shows with Dyrus's departure from the team.

As for CLG, they are a good team in NA, but they simply lack that force needed for worlds. Something about their roster this year just did not sit well with me.

Hopefully the NA teams learn from this year and either make some needed roster changes or use the post season to buckle down and train harder.

SusupalaOct 12, 20152 votes

I dont think CLG's roster was the problem. ZionSpartan is arguably the best toplaner in NA. On a good day DL is on par with the worlds best adc's (AN is a god tho), and Pobelter is a really solid midlaner, even compared to the best. Xmithie is the only one i would swap out. IMO they faltered in macro play and decision making rather than mechanics. This is better fixed with better analysis and improved coaching, not roster changes.

FurankiOct 12, 20152 votes

And I agree. Zion is great and he was held back when he was with Team Coast (he was the only reason they won matches last year). The problem in being great on a good day, in DoubleLift's case, is it is too much like Voyboy back when he was the mid for Curse. If you are relying on someone to win their lane and they are a 50/50 player then it can hurt you at the worst times when they are not playing well. If he can get that handled and play top notch at all times he'll be set.

Xmithie is...perhaps where I fill something is off. He may be what I felt was off with their team.

Overall it really is their mechanics, aye. They play well but when it comes to the big matches they just lack that special something other top teams have. I think they can become better from this, but they have to really look at where they messed up, how to fix it, and bring out new strategies.

DartyOct 15, 20151 votes

I just don't get it. Its like every person when they talk about CLG failing always have to put doublelift on the stand and say something negative about him. Dude he had the best stats of an individual player not for his lane as an adc ( he had that too but also) for kills/assists all sorts of awards at the end of the summer split for NA, kill participation. More than one week too he did that numerous weeks and people still give him backlash for beingcocky a year ago and failing CLG years ago. That guy carries hard man and deserves more credit. He actually did really good at worlds even, he isn't the reason they ever loose lane or game. He DOES have good positioning in team fights and when he dives in to deep for a kill its for a reset and usually 90% works out good. So yeah doublelift is honestly just a really good adc and when he's on a good day can honstly hold his own as one of the best ADC's in the world if Imp and Deft get the title and they been honestly playing Good and Bad this time at worlds.

CLG as a whole was amazing this year. I would of trade Xmithie back in the start of the summer split but he has shown vast improvements towards the end of the split consistently even mechanics on difficult champions such as ekko, i think the tank metta just really wasn't his thing. Honestly Aphro just got caught out one too many times at worlds ONCE they went Tilt mode after their first loss to KOO. You can see it in the different style of playing they did where it was as if they were being aggressive but making bad decisions and getting caught out. This happen mostly to Aphro and maybe xmithie but since he's a jungler ill give him the benefit of the doubt.

I look forward to their improvement because i bet they'll be strong coming back and they'll have HuHi with them. Aphro is still a key good player to CLG winning no spite to him just CLG is like good at mechanics i think its mostly some bad decisions and possibly pick/bans. Like when they tried to pick a comp that can early lead on towers in their 2nd rematch to koo but lost because they didnt see they got countered out with the kennan pick and their overall strategy by tahmkench.

Count BuffonOct 13, 20151 votes

I was worried about C9 even after Week 1. They are the first to adapt to a new patch, but not always the first to perfect it. The last time they won at Worlds against a non-wildcard team, they only squeaked by with the NA split push that Murderville, South Korea wasn't quite up to date on yet. I still didn't quite expect a full 4-game collapse, though.

undoubtfulOct 12, 20153 votes

Wow i would love to see a rematch against Fnatic vs SKT in the finals. Fnatic are a lot stronger now when back in the days Rekkles the adc rejoined Fnatic. The since then look really strong and alongside Yellowstar as the Support captain Fnatic have grown since last time the faced SKT.

For SKT they are really strong and alongside the substitute option and MaRin who stepped up to carry SKT, they now have two carries in the team. The ones more tries to claim that there the best team in the world as before failed to qualified in 2014. Now they back ones more and no team will stand in there way.

SKt vs Fnatic will be a real MVP matchup as Fnatic last time took SKT to 5 games. It would be truly flawless, that's what i looking forwards to see.

f1nalcha0sOct 12, 20151 votes

SKT might be the gigantic favs win it all this year again, but I do believe that Fnatic is going to give them hell of a time if they meet up in the finals. Would be the bo5 of the year imo.

LOVE ALARMOct 12, 20152 votes

Nah skt would stomp 3-0 skt is the perfect team imp even said skt is more perfect than ssw

LOVE ALARMOct 12, 20151 votes

Lol fnc vs skt would be skt stomping 3-0 nah skt vs kt would be better fnc has gotten stronger but not strong enough to face skt and make it close

BIG GERMOct 14, 20153 votes

Think group b and group c got switched in the opening at the top?

KinjishiOct 12, 20152 votes

Deleted

nantukoavatarOct 12, 20155 votes

If you look at your own post of the picture of the bracket that you linked, it clearly states that it is is just an an example.That the real bracket would be randomized after the group stages. Riot did this because last year there was talk of teams throwing to get better pairings. Also according to the rules of drawing the bracket they first place all of the one seeds randomly. Than random place the second seeds (on the other half of the bracket from their groups one seed). This is clearly a valid bracket and no fix was made. The fact that the bracket so closely mirrored the example is due to random chance.

nantukoavatarOct 12, 20153 votes

Moreover here is a link to the live random drawing. Please watch and tell me how it was a fix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVDd39XqjAc

Δ ΔOct 12, 20151 votes

thx

nantukoavatarOct 12, 20153 votes

Moreover here is a link to the live random drawing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVDd39XqjAc

Straw Hat LokiOct 12, 20151 votes

You should really make sure you aren't blaming Riot for something as serious as fixing matches where in reality you yourself didn't read their rules properly; which by the way came out a significantly long time prior to even the Group Stage draws.

"No two teams from the same group can be placed on the same half of the bracket (meaning, they would not play until the Finals). In addition, each Quarterfinal will feature one No. 1 seed and one No. 2 seed from Groups. This organization rewards the higher seeds for their performance in the Groups, and prevents rematches before the Finals. Using this guide, the teams will be matched up randomly."

So if you had read the rules above, it would have been clear enough. Furthermore, the picture they released while the released the rules says: EXAMPLE: Knockout Stage in the biggest font of anything on the picture. Not to mention that right underneath it says "Brackets will be randomized live after group stage." Here's a link to that as well: http://riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/full_width_scale/public/Knockout%20Stage%20Structure_0.jpg?itok=mg4bawV5:

Please do your research before jumping on a keyboard and bashing Riot just because you failed to grasp how the scene was going to unfold despite their best efforts to explain it by repeatedly saying what the format was.

PokkuOct 12, 20152 votes

The time format for the Quarter Finals is a bit weird: 12h (am/pm) for CEST, where all(?) countries use 24h time, and 24h format for BST, where 12h (am/pm) is used.

MattacakeOct 12, 20152 votes

If it is drawn: KT vs KOO FNC v EDG FW v OG SKT1 v AHQ

why do they not play as Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun down the list and the days re-jumbled?

CorundromOct 13, 20151 votes

thats so they have time for the casters and stuff to get set up for the next set of matches

Count BuffonOct 13, 20152 votes

༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ C9 I WANT MY ENERGY BACK NOW KTHX ༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ

AnhDopTraiOct 16, 20151 votes

i want mines too >:[

Doge the altOct 13, 20152 votes

I already got my Icon and can't get my championship Riven so might as well go full fanboy #ahqwin

MystryHamzOct 14, 20152 votes

I think KTR will win over SKT1

CelderainOct 14, 20151 votes

Rip NA #WeTried

KaxiOct 14, 20151 votes

No regrets. I'm very happy with how my boys in blue and white did. Props to C9 for almost making the Cinderella come true. I'm rocking this C9 Icon all the way through Worlds.

Now that I don't feel as emotionally compromised due to bias, I feel that I can enjoy the games more thoroughly. FNC-SKT final will be glorious to watch. EDG and KT won't be able to stand up to SKT, but they do have a shot at taking down FNC, which is kinda scary. If FNC can continue their strong game that they showed in Week 2, we'll be seeing a very close Bo5, especially considering SKT must first beat AHQ and then show their hand against OG. FNC will learn a lot from the OG-SKT game.

FNC-SKT Worlds Final Season 5. This is going to be good.

MystryHamzOct 14, 20151 votes