The continents will gather in Toronto as League of Legends (LoL) teams from Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania are set to go head-to-head in the Scotiabank Arena for the 2022 World Championships, bringing the top players and fans together for this immersive Esports experience.
The last time a significant LoL match was held in Toronto was during the 2016 North American Summer League Championship Series semi-finals when TSM defeated Cloud9. It is the first major esports tournament to come back to a Canadian city.
LoL is gaining recognition as an internationally popular game with a massive following. It is classified as a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, a subgenre of online games in which two teams play against each other.
The 2020 LoL World Championship finals were held in Reykjavík, Iceland because of European COVID-19 restrictions which impacted travel for certain players. The game between Chinese powerhouse Edward Game and reigning world champs, Korea’s DWG KIA, broke records reaching more than four million viewers at the peak, according to Esportscharts.
Esports fans in Toronto, like Faizan Khan, are excited to host the event and have top LoL players and teams from around the world for the semi-finals.
Khan, who started playing LoL six years ago, is hopeful that he’ll be able to secure tickets for next year’s event.
“I was unable to see it when they came last in 2016, so I really want to go this time for Worlds,” Kahn said. “I always have a tier list on who I support. I root for my favourite underdogs the North American teams and, if they get eliminated as usual, I root for European teams. If they’re out then I support whoever I think is playing the best out of the rest. I don’t root for Asia.”
Eduardo Tessis, a fan and amateur player, describes LoL as a game that requires a lot of team-play, tactics, strategies and coordination, which makes it a perfect Esports game for competitive play styles.
“I think league is the perfect mix of a great game and great community,” Tessis said. “The biggest issue for me is the barrier of entry, it’s a really hard game to get into if you don’t know anything.”
Toronto is one of four cities in North America that won the prize to host the 2022 World Championships. Others include Mexico City, New York City and San Fransisco.
The top teams will first complete the play-in tournament that will first take place in Mexico City, then make its way to New York City for the quarterfinals. After which the tour will stop in Toronto for the semi-finals before completing the tour in San Fransisco for championship finals.
Official dates are still to be determined, though past championship dates indicate Toronto will be hosting LoL in the autumn of 2022.