{{Short description|2012 esports tournament}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:''League of Legends'': Season 2 World Championship}} {{Infobox tournament | name = Season 2 World Championship | sport = ''League of Legends'' | year = 2012 | image = LoL S2 champsionship logo.png | image_size = | caption = | location = Los Angeles, California | start_date = October 4 | end_date = October 13 | administrator = Riot Games | tournament_format = | host = | venues = Galen Center | teams = 12 | purse = US$2,000,000 | champion = Taipei Assassins | runner-up1 = Azubu Frost | matches = 31 | points = | tries = | goals = | attendance = | noaverage = <!-- Set to 1 to exclude average attendance per match --> | mvp = | top_scorer = | top_try_scorer = | stat1_label = | stat1 = | stat2_label = | stat2 = | previous = 2011 | next = 2013 }}
The '''''League of Legends'': Season 2 World Championship''' was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game ''League of Legends'', held from October 4 to October 13, 2012, in Los Angeles, California. It was the second iteration of the ''League of Legends'' World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was won by Taipei Assassins who defeated Azubu Frost 3–1 in the final.
== Background == [[File:Taipei Assassins at LoL World Championship (2) 2012.jpg|thumb|right|Taipei Assassins, the champions of season 2]] After Season 1, Riot announced that {{usd}}5,000,000 would be paid out over Season 2. Of this $5 million, $2 million went to Riot's partners including the IGN Pro League and other major esports associations. Another $2 million went to Riot's Season 2 qualifiers and championship. The final $1 million went to other organizers who applied to Riot to host independent ''League of Legends'' tournaments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://competitive.na.leagueoflegends.com/competitive/season-2/introduction |title=League of Legends Season 2 |accessdate=February 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115133917/http://competitive.na.leagueoflegends.com/competitive/season-2/introduction |archive-date=January 15, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The Season 2 World Championship was held in early October 2012 in Los Angeles, California to conclude the {{usd}}5 million season. Twelve qualifying teams from around the world participated in the championship, which boasted the largest prize pool in the history of e-sports tournaments at the time at {{usd}}2 million, {{usd}}1 million going to the champions, until The International 2013 beat it the next year. The group stage, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches took place between October 4 and 6. The grand final took place a week after, on October 13 in the University of Southern California's Galen Center in front of 10,000 fans, and were broadcast in 13 different languages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2644650/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl|title=The League of Legends Season 2 World Championship Live from the Galen Center (TV Movie 2012) - Plot Summary - IMDb|website=IMDb|accessdate=October 8, 2014}}</ref> In the grand final, Taiwan's professional team Taipei Assassins triumphed over South Korea's Azubu Frost 3-to-1 and claimed the {{usd}}1 million in prize money.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ingame/taipei-assassins-triumph-league-legends-world-finals-1C6448579 |title=Taipei Assassins triumph in 'League of Legends' world finals|website=NBC News| accessdate=February 26, 2014}}</ref>
Over 8 million viewers tuned in to the Season 2 World Championship broadcast, with a maximum of 1.1 million concurrent viewers during the grand final, making the Season 2 World Championship the most watched esports event in history at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/league-of-legends-season-2-championships-most-watched-esports-event-of-all-time-6398663|title=Riot: League of Legends Season 2 Championships most watched eSports event of all time|accessdate=October 19, 2014}}</ref>
===Controversies=== ====Format==== Several top teams missed out on the World Championship, including S1 champions Fnatic and Azubu Blaze. (Till 2022, Fnatic had only missed the Worlds for two times, the second was in 2016.)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://gamurs.com/articles/the-greatest-tournament-of-all-time-the-storylines-of-ipl-5 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-07-21 |archive-date=2016-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822163456/https://gamurs.com/articles/the-greatest-tournament-of-all-time-the-storylines-of-ipl-5 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==== Cheating incident ==== During the quarterfinal round of the Season 2 World Championship, Jang Gun Woong of team Azubu Frost cheated by turning his head to look at the big screen which was positioned behind him. The screen, which presents an overview of the game, is meant to be watched only by the crowd, as it displays elements that are supposed to be hidden from the players inside the game. This led to Azubu Frost being fined {{usd}}30,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/08/league-of-legends-playoffs-soured-by-allegations-of-cheating/ |title=League of Legends playoffs soured by allegations of cheating|newspaper=PC Gamer|date=8 October 2012| accessdate=June 25, 2014|last1=Sykes|first1=Tom}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/10/10/league-of-legends-tournament-cheaters-fined-30-000/|title=League of Legends tournament cheaters fined $30,000|accessdate=June 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510220409/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/10/10/league-of-legends-tournament-cheaters-fined-30-000/|archive-date=May 10, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2663221|title=World Playoffs - Rule Violations|accessdate=June 25, 2014|archive-date=September 28, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928073752/http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2663221|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==== Technical issues ==== During the last quarterfinal best-of-three match on October 6 between European team Counter Logic Gaming EU and Chinese team Team WE, multiple technical difficulties occurred. Roughly twenty minutes into the second game, the network connection in the arena went down, terminating the live stream on Twitch and disconnecting all ten players from the game, forcing a remake of the game. Then, roughly sixty minutes into the third game, the network went down again. A final attempt was made at finishing the third game, but due to more network outages and technical issues, including a player's defective computer which had to be replaced, the last game and the following semifinals were rescheduled to be played on October 10 in the Galen Center, which was still undergoing construction work. The cause of the connection issues is uncertain, but is suspected to have been caused by faulty hardware.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcgamesn.com/leagueoflegends/league-legends-season-2-playoffs-day-3-recap-network-failure-suspends-play-riot-postpone-finale-clg-eu-v-world-elite-match-semifinals|title=League of Legends Season 2 playoffs Day 3 recap: Network failure suspends play, Riot postpone finale of CLG EU v. World Elite match, semifinals {{!}} PCGamesN|accessdate=October 16, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.destructoid.com/league-of-legends-season-two-world-playoffs-rescheduled-236387.phtml|title=League of Legends season two World Playoffs rescheduled - Destructoid|date=10 October 2012|accessdate=October 16, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZrNyvJrzk|title=CLG.eu vs WE - Game 3 - Season 2 Quarter Finals - YouTube|publisher=Riot Games|date=October 12, 2012|time=0:00|accessdate=October 16, 2014}}</ref> This incident, which was called "拔网线"(lit:unplugging the network cable) by many Chinese LoL fans, was seemed as a conspiracy that denied Team WE from winning the championship, whom later won the IPL5 by beating Azubu Blaze, Moscow Five, CLG Europe and Fnatic.
== Qualification == The Participants qualified through the Regional Finals: * China: July 26 – Shanghai, China at China Joy – 2 teams * Europe: August 16 – Cologne, Germany at Gamescom – 3 teams * North America: August 30 – Seattle, United States at PAX Prime – 3 teams * Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau: September 1 – Taipei, Taiwan at G1 – 1 team * Southeast Asia: September 9 – Da Nang, Vietnam at Tien Son Sports Palace – 1 team * South Korea: September 21 – Seoul, Korea at the OGN eSports Stadium – 2 teams
== Teams == Of the five first seeds of five regions (China, Europe, North America, South Korea, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau) a random drawing was done to determine which four teams skip the group stage
* The random drawing determined that Azubu Frost would go to the Group stage while the others received a bye
{| class="wikitable" style="white-space:nowrap" !Region !Path !Team !ID |- ! colspan="4" |Starting in the Playoff stage |- |China |Most Circuit Points |Team WE |WE |- |Europe |Regional Finals Winner |Moscow Five |M5 |- |North America |Regional Finals Winner |Team SoloMid |TSM |- | rowspan="1" title="Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia" |TW/HK/MO |Regional Finals Winner |Taipei Assassins |TPA |- ! colspan="4" |Starting in the Group stage |- | rowspan="2" |South Korea |Summer Champion |Azubu Frost |AZF |- |Regional Finals Winner |NaJin Sword |NJS |- |China |Regional Finals Runner-Up |Invictus Gaming |IG |- | rowspan="2" |Europe |Regional Finals Runner-up |SK Gaming |SK |- |Regional Finals 3rd Place |CLG Europe |CLG.EU |- | rowspan="2" |North America |Regional Finals Runner-up |Team Dignitas |DIG |- |Regional Finals 3rd Place |CLG Prime |CLG.NA |- | title="Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia" |Southeast Asia |Regional Finals Winner |Saigon Jokers |SAJ |}
== Venues == thumb|upright=2|Galen Center for the finals Los Angeles was selected as the host city for the World Championship.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sarkar |first1=Samit |title=League of Legends Season 2 World Championships set for October 13 in Los Angeles |url=https://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/9/26/3411310/league-of-legends-season-2-world-championships |access-date=November 22, 2023 |work=Polygon |date=September 26, 2012}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan="2" |United States |- !colspan="2" | Los Angeles |- |'''Groups and Quarterfinals''' |'''Semifinals and Final''' |- |L.A. Live |Galen Center |- |Capacity: 2,300 |Capacity: 10,258 |- |150px |185px |- !colspan="2"|{{location map+|USA|float=center|width=400|caption=|places= {{location map~|USA|lat=34.05|long=-118.25|label=Los Angeles|position=right}}}} |}
== Group stage == The group stage consisted of eight teams, which were drawn into two groups of four according to their seeding. Teams from the same region could not be placed in the same group. The stage was played in a single round-robin format, with all matches contested as best-of-one. In cases where teams finished with identical win–loss and head-to-head records, a tiebreaker match was held to determine first or second place. The top two teams from each group advanced to the playoff stage, while the bottom two were eliminated.
{{stack begin|float=left|margin=true}}
=== Group A === {{#invoke:Sports table|main|style=WL |for_against_style=none|ranking_style=perc
| update = complete | source = <ref name="results">{{Cite web |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/classic-events-revisited-the-season-2-world-champi/1100-6437353/ |title=Classic events revisited: The Season 2 World Championship |last=Shields |first=Duncan |work=GameSpot |publisher=Red Ventures |date=March 28, 2014 |accessdate=April 28, 2021 }}</ref>
|team_order = AZF, IG, CLG, SK
| name_AZF = Azubu Frost | name_CLG = CLG Prime | name_IG = Invictus Gaming | name_SK = SK Gaming
| win_AZF = 3 | loss_AZF = 0 | win_CLG = 1 | loss_CLG = 2 | win_IG = 2 | loss_IG = 1 | win_SK = 0 | loss_SK = 3
| result1 = Q | result2 = Q | res_col_header = Q | col_Q = green1 | text_Q = Advance to knockout stage }} {{stack end}} {{stack begin|float=left}}
=== Group B === {{#invoke:Sports table|main|style=WL |for_against_style=none|ranking_style=perc
| update = complete | source = <ref name="results"/>
|team_order = NAJ, CLG, SAI, DIG
| name_CLG = CLG Europe | name_NAJ = NaJin Sword | name_SAI = Saigon Jokers | name_DIG = Team Dignitas
| win_CLG = 2 | loss_CLG = 1 | win_NAJ = 3 | loss_NAJ = 0 | win_SAI = 1 | loss_SAI = 2 | win_DIG = 0 | loss_DIG = 3
| result1 = Q | result2 = Q | res_col_header = Q | col_Q = green1 | text_Q = Advance to knockout stage }} {{stack end}} {{clear}}
== Knockout stage == thumb|Taipei Assassins lifting the championship trophy
The knockout stage featured eight teams that were drawn into a single-elimination bracket. All matches were played as best-of-three series, with the exception of the final, which was contested as a best-of-five. The auto-qualified team was matched against an opponent from the group stage, and teams that had originated from the same group were placed on opposite sides of the bracket, preventing them from meeting until the final.
{{8TeamBracket-info | boldwinner = high
| RD1-seed1 = {{abbr|AQ|Auto-qualified}} | RD1-team1 = Moscow Five | RD1-score1 = 2 | RD1-seed2 = A2 | RD1-team2 = Invictus Gaming | RD1-score2 = 0
| RD1-seed3 = {{abbr|AQ|Auto-qualified}} | RD1-team3 = Taipei Assassins | RD1-score3 = 2 | RD1-seed4 = B1 | RD1-team4 = NaJin Sword | RD1-score4 = 0
| RD1-seed5 = {{abbr|AQ|Auto-qualified}} | RD1-team5 = Team SoloMid | RD1-score5 = 0 | RD1-seed6 = A1 | RD1-team6 = Azubu Frost | RD1-score6 = 2
| RD1-seed7 = {{abbr|AQ|Auto-qualified}} | RD1-team7 = Team WE | RD1-score7 = 1 | RD1-seed8 = B2 | RD1-team8 = CLG Europe | RD1-score8 = 2
| RD2-seed1 = | RD2-team1 = Moscow Five | RD2-score1 = 1 | RD2-seed2 = | RD2-team2 = Taipei Assassins | RD2-score2 = 2
| RD2-seed3 = | RD2-team3 = Azubu Frost | RD2-score3 = 2 | RD2-seed4 = | RD2-team4 = CLG Europe | RD2-score4 = 1
| RD3-seed1 = | RD3-team1 = Taipei Assassins | RD3-score1 = 3 | RD3-seed2 = | RD3-team2 = Azubu Frost | RD3-score2 = 1 }} {{Smaller|Source:<ref name="results"/>}}
==Final standings== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left" ! Place ! Team ! Prize money |- | style="text-align:center; background:gold;" | 1st | Taipei Assassins | style="text-align:right" | $1,000,000 |- | style="text-align:center; background:silver;" | 2nd | Azubu Frost | style="text-align:right" | $250,000 |- | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center; background:#c96;" | 3rd–4th | Moscow Five | rowspan="2" style="text-align:right" | $150,000 |- | CLG Europe |- | rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | 5th–8th | Invictus Gaming | rowspan="4" style="text-align:right" | $75,000 |- | NaJin Sword |- | Team SoloMid |- | Team WE |- | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | 9th–10th | CLG Prime | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | $50,000 |- | Saigon Jokers |- | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | 11th–12th | SK Gaming | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | $25,000 |- | Team Dignitas |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{League of Legends World Championship}} {{League of Legends|state=exp}}
Category:2012 in esports Category:2012 in sports in Los Angeles Category:2012 multiplayer online battle arena tournaments Category:International esports competitions hosted by the United States 2012 League of Legends World Championship Category:October 2012 sports events in the United States