Should Riot make LoL Worlds double elimination? – Amazing & Munchables

With the 2020 League of Legends World Championship finally coming to a close, Maurice ‘Amazing’ Stückenschneider and Joseph ‘Munchables’ Fenny have discussed why having a double elimination bracket could have made the final event of the year “a lot more interesting,” in Dexerto’s recent Worlds 2020 review.

After just over a month of League of Legends action, Worlds 2020 finals have now been decided, with a highly anticipated clash between Suning and DAMWON Gaming set to kick off on October 31.

However, with top teams like G2 Esports and Top Esports dropping out in the Semifinals, the current format of Worlds’ playoffs has sparked debate among the LoL community and many are now wondering if single elimination is best for the event.

Speaking on the topic in our Worlds review, Amazing highlighted that there is currently too much emphasis on the group stage, proposing a change to invite more teams to Worlds and to introduce a double-elimination bracket in the Playoff Stage, to fix the issue.

Should Riot add double elimination to Worlds 2021?

“I do think inviting more teams and having a 32-team Group stage,” Amazing suggested, revealing his ideal Worlds format, “then you have 16 teams in the knockout stage, it will make the whole thing a lot more interesting and then have double elimination.”

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As it stands, the single-elimination bracket has a lot fewer matchups than the proposed double-elimination format would have, and if it was changed fans would get to see potential clashes such as G2 vs TES in the lower bracket this year.

“Make Worlds a really long tournament, I think double elimination – simply because of the best-of-5s we don’t get to see – is a really good argument,” the Misfits coach added, “for example G2, they could have played Top Esports now for a place in the finals.”

Playing devil’s advocate on the issue, Munchables argued that, despite being favored amongst the community, a double-elimination Worlds Playoff Stage could actually add some entry barriers for viewers. Particularly with traditional sports fans tuning into the League of Legends Championship, who might not understand the format.

“I think a big goal of Riot right now, is to pull in non-endemic viewers right?” Munchables explained, highlighting the aspect of drawing in new viewers, “Double-Elimination is a foreign concept to a lot of classic sports fans. So immediately you are adding an entry barrier there.”

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Despite countering with some flaws in each format, the pair seemed to agree that, overall, a double-elimination format would provide more entertaining matches for League of Legends fans to enjoy.

As of now, it remains unclear if Riot Games have any intention of shifting the format for the following year. But, even with some interesting points being raised about the event, we will likely have to wait quite a while to see what is chosen for Worlds 2021.