Fnatic and Cloud 9 are the last teams to qualify for the League of Legends World Championships as they win their respective regional gauntlets

  • Fnatic will return to Worlds after missing out on last year's tournament in the US
  • Cloud 9 have won every single NA LCS gauntlet, this year being their third time
  • Both will compete in the World Championship Play In to try and make the groups

The EU and NA LCS are officially over for another year as Fnatic and Cloud 9 won their respective regional qualifiers. 

Now we know all of the 24 teams that will compete in one of the biggest eSports tournaments of the year - the League of Legends World Championships.

Both Fnatic and Cloud 9 will be the third seed for their regions and will have to compete in the Play In to reach the group stages.

Fnatic qualified through the gauntlet for the LoL World Championships by defeating H2K 3-1

Fnatic qualified through the gauntlet for the LoL World Championships by defeating H2K 3-1

Cloud 9 have won ever single North American LCS gauntlet since the system was brought in

Cloud 9 have won ever single North American LCS gauntlet since the system was brought in

Fnatic missed out on the World Championships last year and after a poor run in the Spring Split it looked like they were doomed for another disappointing season.


However, after parting ways with coach Nicholas 'NicoThePico' Korsgard and bringing in young jungler Mads 'Broxah' Brock-Pedersen, their fortunes changed.

Fnatic impressed in the Spring play-offs then decimated the Summer Split, topping the tough Group A which included all three of Europe's teams that have qualified for Worlds.

Yet Fnatic surprisingly were eliminated from the play-offs at the hands of Misfits. They had to settle for third place and a best-of-five series against H2K which they had to win in order to secure their qualification.

And that is exactly what they did with little difficulty. Martin 'Rekkles' Larsson is the only player left from last year's Fnatic squad and the pain of missing out on Worlds was still haunting him.

He made sure there wasn't a repeat of that this year as he and his team cruised to victory in the first game, with Rekkles earning an impressive score of 7/0/2.

Fnatic are a  more cohesive team compared to last year's squad which didn't qualify for Worlds

Fnatic are a more cohesive team compared to last year's squad which didn't qualify for Worlds

WORLDS 2017 TEAMS 

  • South Korea:

- Longzhu Gaming 

- SK Telecom T1

 - Samsung

  • China:

- EDward Gaming

- Royal Never Give Up

- Team WE 

  • Europe:

- G2 Esports

- Misfits

- Fnatic 

  • North America:

- Team SoloMid

- Immortals

- Cloud 9

  • Taiwan:

- Flash Wolves

- AHQ Esports Clubs

- Hong Kong Attitude

  • Vietnam:

- GIGABYTE Marines

- Young Generation

  • Rest of the World (Wildcards):

- Lyon Gaming (Latin America North)

- Rampage (Japan)

- Dire Wolves (Oceania)

- Team One Esports (Brazil)

- Gambit Esports (Commonwealth of Independent States)

- Kaos Latin Gamers (Latin America South)

- 1907 Fenerbahce (Turkey)

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The second game was a lot trickier as H2K gained a 5K gold lead. H2k held a lead for the first 32 minutes of the game but by 37 minutes Fnatic had won a team-fight and finished the game.

That stunning comeback deflated H2K who were easily dispatched of in just 23 minutes as Fnatic showed why they have been so dominant this summer with a 3-0 victory.

Across the pond Cloud 9 and CLG, two of the biggest teams in North America, faced off in a best-of-five series for the first time in their storied histories.

Cloud 9 have won every single NA LCS gauntlet in history and kept that streak going.

They won the first ever gauntlet in 2015 when they started the gauntlet from the bottom. They had only just survived relegation that split and then had to go on a miracle run to defeat three teams in a row, which they somehow did.

This time however, it was a much smoother ride for Cloud 9 who were put in the final of the gauntlet automatically.

CLG put up a tough fight though and early on targeted Juan 'Contractz' Garcia who has had an impressive debut season.

However, Cloud 9's team fighting was too strong for CLG in the late game. In game two, Darshan Upadhyaha resorted to attempting a backdoor while playing Jax but Jung 'Impact' Eon-Yeong defended valiantly.

CLG pulled one game back in the third match but Cloud 9 replied strongly in the fourth game to win the series 3-1 after an impressive performance from Zachary 'Sneaky' Scuderi.

The ADC finished game four with a score of 9/0/8 and dealt a whopping 81.7K damage in the 52 minute game.

Cloud 9's owner Jack Etienne had already booked the team flights to South Korea to practice for the World Championships, before the gauntlet had even started.

That is the confidence he has in his team, although it was probably a mind-game as well to put them under pressure.

The World Championships Play begins on September 28. Considering how well the wildcard teams performed last year, it should make for an entertaining tournament.

Cloud 9 owner Jack Etienne bought his team tickets to South Korea before they qualified

Cloud 9 owner Jack Etienne bought his team tickets to South Korea before they qualified