The defending champions will not be at Worlds 2023.
We are now counting down the days to the start of the League of Legends World Championship 2023, starting with the Worlds Qualifying Series between Team BDS and Golden Guardians to determine the final team at the South Korean LAN. This will give the top 22 teams in the world a chance to lift the coveted Summoner's Cup, which will be looking for a new owner as the defending champions will not be part of Worlds 2023.
As DRX missed out after getting eliminated in the LCK Regional Finals, this makes it the latest org that will not defend its title. Only two of the five championship-winning members of the DRX squad that won last year will be at Worlds 2023, albeit with different teams. That will be HyeokGyu "Deft" Kim of Dplus KIA and Chang-hyeon "Pyosik" Hong of Team Liquid. However, DRX isn't the only big-name team to miss out on Worlds this year.
Hanwha Life EsportsThe only time Hanwha Life Esports made it to Worlds was back in 2021, which was followed by a turbulent 2022 season that saw them finish in last place in the LCK during both the Spring and Summer splits. HLE went on to spend big in the off-season and brought in the likes of Geon-woo "Zeka" Kim and Hwang "Kingen" Seong-hoon, who had won the Summoner's Cup with DRX last year. HLE also went all-in for Park "Viper" Do-hyeon, who won Worlds in 2021 with EDward Gaming.
Unfortunately, HLE could not get much going for them this season. The team could only get as high as fifth during the LCK Spring Split group stage. While they did manage to defeat Dplus KIA, it was Gen.G Esports who sent HLE to the lower bracket before they bombed out to KT Rolster to end up in fourth overall. While HLE did have a slightly better Summer Split group stage performance, they would fall to Gen.G in the upper bracket and then KT in the lower bracket once more.
While HLE did manage to take one map off of both teams during the Spring Split, they got swept by both Gen.G and KT in the Summer Split. Despite all of that, HLE still had one more shot to Worlds 2023 via the LCK Regional Finals. Having placed fourth overall in the LCK, HLE faced up against KT once again for one of two direct spots to the Worlds 2023 Swiss Stage. Sadly, HLE once again fell to KT for the third time this season in a best-of-five setting.
HLE still had one more chance to go through in the lower bracket with only Dplus KIA in their way. But it was Dplus KIA who got their revenge in the end and took out HLE 3-1 to earn the LCK's final direct invite to Worlds 2023. This also meant that Deft had to eliminate two of his former teammates that he lifted the Summoner's Cup with previously.
DRXOne of the biggest talking points of this season has been DRX and its fall from grace. After lifting the Summoner's Cup last season, DRX went through a major roster shuffle with four-fifths of the team moving on to pastures anew with only Geon-hee "BeryL" Cho resigning with the team. With an all-new roster for this year, DRX once again failed to qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational after a ninth-place finish during the LCK Spring Split.
While the team did manage to improve during the LCK Summer Split with a sixth-place finish to qualify for the playoffs, they could only get as far as the first round, which was a 3-0 sweep by Hanwha Life Esports. However, this was still enough for DRX to qualify for the LCK Regional Finals, their last chance of having a shot at making it to Worlds 2023.
Sadly, they fell to Dplus KIA in the lower bracket semifinal, which meant that DRX would not be attending Worlds 2023. As an org, DRX will also not be able to defend its title this season, which means that we are guaranteed to see a new team lift the Summoner's Cup. While the roster shuffles have not helped the team reach a level of consistency like before, DRX this season has looked a shadow of their former selves, especially when going up against the likes of other top LCK teams.
Royal Never Give UpThe LPL has always had plenty of surprises when it came to teams that qualified for Worlds. This year is no different with the likes of Royal Never Give Up missing out after a poor showing during both the spring and summer splits. In both regular season group stages, RNG finished with an 8-8 score but it was in the playoffs where they faltered.
RNG fell to Bilibili Gaming in the second round of the spring split playoffs and to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the first round of the summer split playoffs. The org also lost 3-1 in both series, which meant that they didn't even accrue enough points for the LPL regional finals. This is only the third time RNG has missed out on Worlds with the last back in 2020.
After numerous roster shuffles during the off-season last year that saw them lose three core members, RNG could only do so much with Chen "Breathe" Chen and Yan "Wei" Yang-Wei being the most experienced of the team. It's looking like it's back to the drawing board for the three-time MSI champions, who hope to get the team up and running by the time the Demacia Cup starts in December.
- Read more: China's dominance at MSI
EDward GamingAnother notable absentee from the LPL is EDward Gaming, who many will remember as the Worlds 2021 champions. In the org's 10-year history in League of Legends, this marks only the third-ever time EDG has missed out on attending Worlds. Its greatest run was attending the world championship for five seasons straight from 2014 - 2018.
After missing out for two years straight, EDG would go on to lift the Summoner's Cup in 2021 before failing to defend its title the following year against eventual winner, DRX. The off-season movement saw EDG lose multiple starting members of its lineup and be forced to rebuild, which has led to the performances you see today.
EDG placed third during the spring split group stages, which meant they automatically qualified for the double-elimination bracket portion of the playoffs. However, they could only muster a third-place finish, which wasn't enough to get them to MSI. And during the summer split, it was evident that EDG weren't the same team as before after they finished in eighth during the group stages on the same scoreline as RNG. But it was their playoff run that left many hearts broken as EDG were within touching distance of the double-elimination bracket.
After seeing off Team WE and Oh My God, EDG had just one more best-of-five against Top Esports. Sadly, it was the latter who came out on top to eliminate EDG. Given the team's placements over the two splits, it was enough for them to make it to the LPL Regional Finals as the fourth seed. Their first chance came in the upper bracket finals against LNG Esports, which EDG lost 3-1. They were still given a lifeline in the lower bracket final where they faced off against Weibo Gaming, only to lose 3-1 as well.
100 ThievesAfter two straight appearances at Worlds, 100 Thieves will miss out this year after going all out on a star-studded roster. Having brought in one of NA's best and brightest ADCs in Yiliang "Doublelift" Pang, plenty of people had massive expectations of 100T. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as they failed to qualify for both MSI and Worlds with subpar regional performances.
They were arguably the third-best team during the LCS spring split, which saw 100T finish third in the group stage. Their performances during the playoffs were less than ideal, which saw them get swept 3-0 by FlyQuest before a tightly-contested 3-2 loss against Golden Guardians. And after more roster shuffles during the mid-season, 100T appeared worse off than they originally did at the beginning of the season.
The team went through two four-game losing streaks over six weeks, which saw them end up in eighth overall after losing the tiebreaker against Dignitas. While it was still enough for them to go through, Team Liquid ensured they would make light work of 100T and they did just that with a 3-1 win in the first round of the lower bracket. A top-six finish followed by a top-eight placement isn't exactly a great return on investment, especially if one factor in the fact that they didn't get the chance to attend any international events this season.
Beyond GamingHaving been around since 2021, Beyond Gaming had already set its standards at a high level after the org qualified for Worlds in the last two years. Sadly, that run ends this season after BYG failed to make it three straight Worlds appearances in a row. The org had gone through multiple roster iterations in just three years and this time, it just didn't work out for them.
BYG could only muster a top-six finish during the PCS spring split after they lost to Impunity in the lower bracket quarterfinals. The team also went through roster changes mid-way through the season, which helped them a lot more than it should. The team's overall performance in the group stage improved, which saw them finish in third.
The team also went on an upper bracket streak of sorts, taking out Team Bliss and J Team in straight 3-0 sweeps. But their run was put to an end by PSG Talon, who won the upper bracket final match-up 3-2. BYG dropped to the lower bracket where they faced CTBC Flying Oyster, who managed to prevent a BYG reverse sweep to take the series and the final spot at Worlds.
