This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.
On Friday, the Season 4 World Championship will begin the playoff portion of the tournament with the quarter-finals, to be held in Busan, South Korea. Less than three years prior, in December of 2011, Busan played host to the World Cyber Games. That event, putting together 18 teams from 17 different countries, can, in hindsight, be looked upon as the birth place of true international League of Legends competition.
The first LoL WCG tournament, in 2010, had only been a four team invitational event. Riot's Season 1 Championship, in mid 2011, had been contested between Europe and North America, primarily, with the Phillipines and Singapore getting a representative each. IEM VI Guangzhou, in October of 2011, had put teams like CLG, Millenium and SK Gaming against a number of Asian sides, but it wasn't until WCG 2011 that the Koreans got involved in offline competition and true World Championship level tournaments, of the international flavour fans have now come to expect, could be said to have taken place.
WCG 2011 is a strange tournament, as the nation vs. nation format meant a number of well known players were competing with other players from their countries and sometimes against team-mates from their real teams. It had an American team winning the title, a Korean side falling early and countless names competing which would only become more famous, as time continued on its winding path. This is the story of WCG 2011, the birth place of true international League of Legends.
-Saintvicious
-Reginald
-Chauster
-Xpecial
Filled with familiar names, the eventual gold medalists were composed of players from three NA teams, as Dyrus had yet to join up with Team SoloMid (TSM). Representing the latter was Mid laner Reginald and Support player Xpecial. Counter Logic Gaming, arguably still the top NA side, provided Jungler Saintvicious and AD Carry Chauster. Finally, Dyrus hailed from Epik Gamer, who had placed top two three times in the latter half of the year to close out in strong fashion.
The American side would lose only a single game during their march towards the gold, falling once to fellow Americans Team Dignitas in the quarter-final. The semi-final win over Millenium and final against ex-Gameburg Team were clean sweeps.
The following year, Dyrus' addition to TSM sparked that team's run of domestic dominance in NA, while CLG continued to be contenders for the NA crown, but fell from being legitimate world beaters.
-Mokatte
-Czaru
-Makler
-cinku
Two months prior, and before being dropped by the Gameburg organisation, the ex-Gameburg Team had won the Samsung Euro Championship, which admittedly had not been against a very competitive field. At this WCG, the team from Poland began slowly, falling to Singapore's Flash eSports in the group stage. In the playoffs, though, they would quickly assert themselves. Drawing MaKNooN's EDG in the quarter-finals amazingly did not end their WCG run, as the Poles won the series 2:1. In the semi-finals they would upset Canada's CLG and reach the gold medal game, where a loss to CDE handed them the silver medals.
All of the members of the team would go on to become better known as Meet Your Makers's Polish team, from 2012 through to 2014. With slight roster changes, that team would record top four finishes at three IEM events and qualify for the LCS Summer season.
-TheOddOne
-bigfatlp
-Chaox
-Elementz
Much like CDE, CLG was primarily composed of players from TSM and CLG, the two premier teams in North America. The CLG trio of Mid laner bigfatlp, Top laner HotshotGG and Support Elementz were joined by TSM Jungler TheOddOne and AD Carry Chaox. With such a star-powered line-up, CLG were considered a heavy favourite to win the gold medal, especially after finding themselves on the opposite side of the bracket to teams like CDE, Dignitas and Millenium.
After defeating iG, CLG were in contention for a medal, but an upset at the hands of the Poles left them having to battle Millenium for the bronze, which they successfully secured. Following the event, there would be internal drama as HotshotGG and Chaox each made statements regarding the team's seriousness and teamwork during the event.
-Linak
-Tidus
-YellOwStaR
-Kujaa
France were one of the few countries in attendance to be able to send a full starting five. Four of the five members (sOAZ, Linak, YellOwStaR and kujaa) had finished second at the S1 Championship as against All authority (aAa) in June of 2011. Moving over to Millenium and losing German Mid laner MoMa, they finished 4th and 5th-6th at IEM VI Cologne and IEM VI Guangzhou. The line-up had since fragmented, but they would send that starting five to the WCG.
In the group stage, the team were beaten twice, losing to EDG and Orange eSports. Placed onto the harder side of the bracket, they were able to defeat the Flash eSports team that had taken down ex-Gameburg in the group stage. Facing CDE in the semi-final, sOAZ and company were defeated and went on to play in the bronze medal game, where they fell to HotshotGG's CLG.
sOAZ and YellOwStaR would go on to play for aAa again, finishing top four at the IEM VI World Championship in March of 2012. By the beginning of 2013, both were starting members of fnatic, where they remain today. Talented jungler Linak would be banned from competitive play prior to the start of season 3 and essentially retired at that point.
-Jatt
-scarra
-L0cust
-imaqtpie
Surrounded by drama during their qualification attempt, Team Dignitas should have been a favourite for the title, on paper. Sending their full starting line-up, this was the team which had won IPL3 only two months prior, albeit with LoCicero as a sub for Voyboy. In the group stage of WCG, they found themselves upset by China's iG and then drawn against fellow American side CDE in the quarter-final. Despite giving CDE one of their closest series, Jatt and the gang exited WCG without a medal or a top four finish.
All the members of the team, minus Jatt, would continue to compete together going into 2012, but the Jungler went on to become a commentator and Riot employee going forwards.
-Equivocal
-Kailing
-ly4ly4ly4
-d4rkness
For all intents and purposes, this was the Singapore Sentinels team often remembered from 2012 as the team which helped create the perception that teams from SEA sucked and thus TPA would not be a threat going into the S2 World Championship. At WCG, they were able to score group stage victories against Germany's Team Acer and the eventual silver medalist ex-Gameburg team. A loss to Millenium in the quarter-final ended their run outside of the top four, though.
-XiaoXiao
-Chr1s
-Wh1t3zZ
-illuSioN
Looking at the line-up now, one sees a whole host of top tier Chinese talent, but at the time very little was known about iG. The third best team in China were able to defeat both Dignitas and the Araneae and xPeke led MYM side in the group stage. CLG stopped the Chinese side in the quarter-final, preventing a medal attempt.
Tabe, who was playing AD Carry for this iG team and would later switch to Support, would go on to play for OMG and later Royal Club, along with Wh1t3zZ, finishing second at the S3 World Championship. illuSioN and XiaoXiao were long-time members of future iG line-ups, often considered China's second best team and the side which eventually unseated the unbeatable World Elite line-up of early 2013. illuSioN remains the Jungler of iG to this day.
-MOKUZA
-sxspp
-May
-Rush
The first offline appearance of a Korean team in LoL did not give much reason to believe the game would eventually be dominated by that nation, as StarCraft had been. Defeating Millenium in the group stage was a solid result, but a three game loss at the hands of ex-Gameburg was nothing to make the West cower and tremble.
MaKNooN is now known as one of the great Korean LoL players in history, but back then the Top laner was only known for his play on the North American soloq ladder. sxspp was another name for HooN and Rush would later be known as Hiro. Those three, along with MOKUZA, would go on to become NaJin e-mFire in 2012, finishing 5th-8th in the first OGN season, Spring.
MOKUZA would be known as a well respected Jungler in 2012, while HooN remained a Mid lane presence in the Korean scene right up until the beginning of 2014, playing in teams like ahq and Jin Air Stealths. Hiro is retired and now coaches World Elite in China. May played for Xenics Storm in 2012, finishing third in the first OGN season.
-Faamy
-CitizenWayne
-Yellowpete
-nRated
CitizenWayne was known as a European star Mid laner in 2012, playing in OGN Spring with Na`Vi and later on rejoining Team Acer, where he played again with Schabs. Yellowpete is famous for time as the AD Carry of Counter Logic Gaming Europe and Evil Geniuses, securing a number of top tournament finishes. nRated would play for aAa, fnatic and now SK Gaming, competing at this World Championship. The German team were surprisingly put out in the group stage, with losses to Flash eSports and ex-Gameburg team.
-Araneae
-Exterminare
-heiN
-Babeta
Featuring xPeke, S1 Championship and IEM VI New York winner with fnatic, some may have expected this Spanish side to potentially make a run at a medal. Alongside xPeke was Araneae, who would go to qualify for the S2 World Championship with SK Gaming in 2012. Babeta and Exterminare would play with GIANTS in the first LCS split of 2013, famously scoring wins off Gambit.
In this tournament, losses to iG and Dignitas ensured the Spaniards did not reach the playoff portion.
-Lilballz
-NeXAbc
-MiSTakE
-A800
Three of the members of this Taiwanese side (MiSTakE, Stanley and Lilballz) were to become S2 World Champions as core members of the Taipei Assassins in 2012, but at this time they were just an unknown team from Taiwan. Going 2-2 in their group, with wins only over the Swedish and Malaysian teams, showed no hints of the powerful side TPA would become by the next year. At the time of WCG, MiSTakE was the AD Carry, not the Support player he would become in the future.
-Sommie
-Maka
-kestrel
-Rashaasii
The only member of any significance in this Swedish side was kestrel, who would play as the AD Carry of the Sju Sjösjuka Sjömän team, formed by Jree, which defeated Team Acer and GIANTS to place top four at Dreamhack Winter 2012. At WCG, they were only able to defeat Orange eSports.
-NIXWATER
-Sai
-Itachi
-Et
Junie and NIXWATER are best known as the Support and Mid laner, respectively, of Saigon Jokers in 2012. That team attended the S2 World Championship and were even able to score an upset win over Team Dignitas in the group stage there, signalling to many that scarra's men were on full bore tilt after their strategy for CLG.EU had been leaked. NIXWATER continues to compete with Saigon Jokers to this day.
Photo credit: no elo, cybersport.pl, inven, aceresport, mmogamer.es, ESL, Garena
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