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One of the biggest queries over the past few months in the League of Legends community has been regarding the tournament format of the World Championships.
Many felt that the format of Dota 2's 'The International' was much better and that League of Legends should also follow the double elimination bracket system. Riot Games' president of sports John Needham addressed the same, saying they are currently taking the idea into consideration.
The double elimination bracket is quite interesting as it allows teams that have faced a loss to get a second chance at redeeming themselves. It sometimes creates amazing storylines with Dota 2’s current TI winner Team Spirit being one of them.
How double elimination brackets can affect the League of Legends scene
A double elimination bracket tournament is a format where teams essentially get two opportunities in total before getting knocked out. Tournaments are split into a winners bracket and a losers bracket. Teams that win their respective playoff matches will remain in the winners bracket all the way through to the finals.
However, teams that lose in the winners bracket will drop down to the losers bracket. Those teams will compete against each other and the winner of the losers bracket as a whole will ultimately face the winner of the winners bracket in the grand final. These are also known as upper bracket and lower bracket in some tournaments.
This creates unique opportunities as several teams often change their playstyle and showcase more resilience when they drop down to the losers bracket. Team Spirit in 2021 won The International after having a miraculous run in the losers bracket.
If League of Legends Worlds 2021 had a similar system then someone like T1 who lost to DAMWON KIA in the semi-finals might have had a second chance to qualify for the finals. It is a system where teams often get to rectify small mistakes and thereby change their approach towards the game.
The idea primarily came into focus when every group at League of Legends Worlds 2021 had two Asian teams paired with two Western Teams. The result was obviously disastrous, as the Asian teams dominated, with only Cloud9 and MAD Lions managing to get out of groups.
However, fans felt that western teams would have a higher chance if a losers bracket was in place and they soon started demanding it from Riot Games. It was only on November 3, 2021 that John Needham addressed it, claiming that they would consider this idea for future international tournaments.
He said that they are always looking to implement new things that make the tournaments interesting for the fans. While the format change is being considered, time will tell if it ever gets implemented.
