League of Legends will always have deep connections with South Korea, and this year that’s even more prominent as the tournament heads east, following the new winners DRX who managed to scoop the prestigious title in 2022.

Wherever someone is based they have the option to watch the Worlds 2023 as it makes its return to South Korea, five years after the country last hosted the event, and while the Swiss stage and the knockouts are still a little while away, the play-ins are almost upon us.

Going to the Play-Ins is Probably Off Limits

People who live in South Korea or have the desire to travel to Seoul for the sake of watching LoL might find that they are out of luck, tickets for this event sold out extremely quickly and some have even accused scalpers of getting there first. We don’t know if that’s true, but there is a huge following for the game in South Korea and this means that big events like the Worlds are in demand, even for the early stages before we reach the knockouts.

The tournament is going to be played at impressive venues around South Korea with the play-in phase taking place at the LoL Park in Seoul, a venue built with League of Legends in mind. The venue holds around 500 people and with so many League fanatics around it is no surprise that so many people were left disappointed on the ticketing front, even with five days of action there.

LoL Esports, Twitch, and YouTube

For those who are ready to watch all of the action once the tournament starts, there are plenty of ways to tune in and see if there are any early picks for who might win the Summoner’s Cup.

You can follow the whole tournament for free courtesy of the developers, the whole thing will be shown on the LoL esports website and there will also be streams featuring summarizers and commentators in different languages. The official LoL esports Twitch channel is another great place to watch the matches and reactions.

Site Coverage of Esports Tournaments

The sites that offer gambling markets for League of Legends and other esports tend to be really hot on their coverage, as it is in their interests to provide a lot of detail to customers. Some of the tournaments are streamed directly via gambling sites.

The tech-loving citizens of Asia may have already adopted cryptocurrency gambling as the main method of backing esports markets, and it is the crypto sites that are offering the most coverage of big tournaments.

League of Legends Worlds esports betting is particularly popular due to the fact that this is arguably the biggest event in the LoL calendar, so there are millions of people wanting to tune in and watch the games, and possibly even gamble on them.

Crypto casinos offer markets throughout all of the different phases of the tournaments, and during the play-ins that start in October, the markets will mainly relate to the two teams that will qualify and go through to the Swiss stage of the tournament, plus there will be markets on the individual matchups.

In big LoL tournaments like this, crypto sites may also offer markets on things like the first characters to be slayed, which is quite a quirky way of doing things, unique to the mechanics of League.

Crypto sites have been quick to link up with esports through sponsorship as well as detailed coverage, it is thought that the majority of Bitcoin transactions now involve gambling which goes to show the crossover that the two industries have, and why crypto gambling is so popular. Whether people want to gamble or not, these sites provide information on the fixtures, format, and favorites for the tournament as well as individual matchups.

Teams Involved in the Play-Ins

For anyone looking to follow along, it may be very helpful to check out the teams that are involved in the World Championships, and seven of the eight play-ins teams have been determined already:

• Movistar R7
• PSG Talon
• CTBC Flying Oyster
• GAM Esports
• Team Whales
• ⁠DetonatioN FocusMe
• LOUD

The last team will be determined through a qualifying tournament that is yet to finish. As well as the official coverage from the game’s developers, knowing the teams participating might mean that you can follow along on Instagram, Twitch, or their other platforms. A lot of the teams share their own unique content such as interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

Getting Ready

The eight teams will be gearing up for the tournament to start on 10th October, as the two teams are drawn into double elimination brackets, with the first games being best-of-three and then the latter matchups being best-of-five to determine which two teams will make it to the Swiss stage, a newly-revamped version of the group stage that will feature many of the world’s best teams.