Vortex Gaming

Details of the Esports World Cup (EWC) held in Saudi Arabia have been revealed.

The Esports World Cup (EWC) is a large-scale comprehensive esports tournament hosted by the Saudi Esports Federation. Various esports events are held in one place, attracting attention with its massive prize pool and the participation of world-class players.

According to the revealed information, the 'League of Legends' EWC will be held from July 16th to 20th, competing for a total prize pool of $2 million (approximately ₩2.6 billion), the same as MSI. A total of 12 teams will participate, including T1, the 2024 EWC champion, as well as LTA (2 teams from North America, 1 team from South America), LCK, LPL, LEC, and LCP with 2 teams each. This can be seen as a form where T1 and the LTA North America 2nd seed team are added to MSI.

The top 4 teams from MSI automatically advance to the playoffs, and the remaining 8 teams are divided into 2 GSL groups to compete for playoff advancement. The playoffs will be held in a single-elimination format. The match format for the GSL group stage and playoffs has not yet been confirmed, but it is expected that most matches will be played in Bo3 (best-of-three) and Bo5 (best-of-five) formats.

The EWC is being held on a similar scale to MSI, and fan expectations are rising as strong teams from around the world participate. However, some fans are expressing concerns about the match schedule and format. One fan predicted, "There are 8 matches scheduled for the first day, and if Riot doesn't run two matches simultaneously, the opening match and winner's match are likely to be Bo1, and the elimination match and final advancement match are likely to be Bo3."

Also, they argued, "There are 2 group stage matches and 2 quarterfinal matches scheduled for the second day, so the quarterfinals are unlikely to be Bo5." As such, various opinions from fans regarding the EWC's match format are being raised.

웹진 인벤김병호 기자
2025-03-18