The Group Stage is the second phase of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship. The four teams that have advanced from the Play-In Stage join twelve teams that directly qualified for the Group Stage. The Group Stage begins on Oct. 7. All matches will be played at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York City. For the full schedule of the Group Stage, check our overview.

The four groups

A few weeks ago, the twelve teams that had directly qualified for the Group Stage were drawn into four groups of three during the official draw ceremony. This resulted in the following groups:

Group A:

  • Cloud9 (LCS seed 1)
  • T1 (LCK seed 2)
  • EDward Gaming (LPL seed 3)
  • Fnatic (LEC seed 3) — qualified through Play-Ins

Group B:

  • JD Gaming (LPL seed 1)
  • G2 Esports (LEC seed 2)
  • DDG KIA (LCK seed 3)
  • Evil Geniuses (LCS seed 3) — qualified through Play-Ins

Group C

  • Rogue (LEC seed 1)
  • Top Esports (LPL seed 2)
  • GAM Esports (VCS seed 1)
  • DRX (LCK seed 4) — qualified through Play-Ins

Group D

  • Gen.G (LCK seed 1)
  • CTBC Flying Oyster (PCS seed 1)
  • 100 Thieves (LCS seed 3)
  • Royal Never Give Up (LPL seed 4) — qualified through Play-Ins
The Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York City will host the Group Stage matches. (Source: Rebecca Taylor)

Filling the groups

Teams that qualified for the Worlds 2022 Group Stage through the Play-In Stage fill the empty slots in the groups above. While this is a randomized draw, there is an important rule to be aware of: a team cannot be placed in a group that already has a team of their region.

For example, if Royal Never Give Up makes it out of the Play-In Stage, they will automatically be placed in Group D. Group A, B, and C already have a team from the LPL. Similarly, DRX can only be placed in Group C if they make it out of the Play-In Stage, as the other groups already house a team from South Korea.

Worlds 2022 has an exception to this longstanding rule, however. Because the LEC had two teams in the Play-In Stage, it was possible that an LPL team, an LCK team, and both LEC teams made it to the Group Stage. In this situation, one team was guaranteed to be placed in a group that already has a team from the same region in it.

Riot decided that, in this scenario, the LEC’s fourth seed, MAD Lions, would be placed in the group that already has an LEC team in it. If only one LEC team advanced from the Play-In Stage, the standard rule applied.

The Worlds 2022 trophy.
At the end of the Worlds 2022 Group Stage, only eight teams advance to the Knockout Stage. (Source: Riot Games)

The format of the Group Stage

With the groups filled up, the action commences. The Group Stage uses a Double Round Robin system, meaning that each team plays twice against the other teams in their group during this phase of the tournament. Matches are still in a best-of-one format.

The Group Stage is split into two parts. The first part plays out as most competitions do, with teams playing one opponent per day. In the second part, each group gets assigned one day as its “roundup” day. During these days, the teams from one group play against each other once again, concluding the Double Round Robin.

At the end of the Group Stage, the two best-performing teams from each group advance to the Knockout Stage.

You can find the schedule for the Group Stage here. We also have a guide for the Play-In Stage and for the Knockout Stage. For a list of all teams competing at Worlds 2022, click here.