League of Legends World Championship 2019: live stream details, predictions and key players

G2 and FPX face off in the finals of the 'biggest event in history of eSports'

Visitors watch international teams play during the tournament of the computer game "League of Legends" on May 8, 2014 in Paris (AFP PHOTO / LIONEL BONAVENTURE)

The City of Lights will become the City of Legends this Sunday, as the world championships for one of the planet's most popular video games comes to Paris.

The finals of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship mark the pinnacle of eSports competition, with nearly 100 million people viewing last year’s event.

Months of intense clashes have whittled 24 teams down to just two: G2 Esports (G2) and FunPlus Phoenix (FPX). It is being billed as Europe vs China, with the home team of G2 hoping to become the first Western team to lift the Summoner’s Cup in eight years.

Follow live coverage of the League of Legends World Championship finals

After unexpectedly beating three-time world champions SK Telekom T1 in the semi-finals last month, G2 are the slight favourites. They also appear to have the backing of the CEO of Riot Games, the game developer behind League of Legends.

At a press conference up the Eiffel Tower on Friday, French CEO Nicolo Laurent described the finals as ”the biggest event in the history of eSports”. When asked if he had a favourite, he hinted that he would be supporting the European team.

“As a CEO I’m supposed to be impartial so I’m not gonna tell you my favourite is G2,” he said. “Instead, I’m going to say I’m going to hope for a full five-game match for the best of eSports.”

If they do win, they will become the first ever team to win every single tournament in a single year and will immortalise their names in the annals of the storied online battle arena game.

Key players

Marcin ‘Jankos’ Jankowski plays as the jungler for G2 and his consistent heroics from the shrubbery have provided the solid foundation upon which the team has built its success in 2019.

Jankos, who names Chuck Norris as his role model, is an eSports veteran after five years of top-flight League of Legends competition. The 24-year-old Polish star is only the second European player to reach 1,000 career kills and will be hoping to add to his impressive tally on Sunday.

G2 and FPX pose for photos ahead of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals in Paris (The Independent)

Key to FPX’s progression to the final was Kim ‘Doinb’ Tae-sang. The team has built its playing style around the 22-year-old Korean, whose self-sacrificing lane awareness and idiosyncratic champion picks have made FPX so strong this year.

At Friday’s press conference, which took place halfway up the Eiffel Tower, Doinb trash-talked his opponents in his typically confrontational style. With G2’s Perkz missing from the event due to an unspecified illness, Doinb suggested he had psyched out his adversary by singing loudly the night before through the walls of his hotel room.

Not showing any of the pressure of the occasion, Doinb took the opportunity to claim that the European team were only there because of the luck of the draw. “If they’d met us in th quarter finals or semi finals, they would not be in the finals,” he said.

How to watch the live stream online

Tickets for the finals at the 20,000-capacity AccorHotels Arena in Paris sold out in 10 minutes. Those not lucky enough to get a ticket will not be short of options to follow the action.

The best-of-five series between G2 and FPX begins at 12pm GMT on Sunday, 4 November, and will be preceded by a performance from True Damage – an augmented reality hip hop group comprised of League of Legends champions.

G2 Esports compete against Misfits Gaming in final of the ‘LCS‘, the first European division of League of Legends, at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris on 3 September, 2017 (AFP via Getty Images)

ESports fans will be able to watch the opening ceremony and finals across a variety of platforms, including the official League of Legends Twitch channel and Riot Games’ LoL eSports site.

A live stream will also be hosted on YouTube.

Predictions and odds

The performance of both teams through the worlds mean there is little to separate them in terms of betting odds, with G2 placed at 4/5 and FPX at 9/10.

Ultimately, it could come down to the individual battles played out across each lane and in the jungle. FPX may just have the edge in the top lane, while G2 are expected to have an advantage in the bottom lane.

The middle lane clash between Doinb and G2’s Rasmus ‘Caps’ Borregaard Winther is too close to call, meaning what happens in the jungle between Jankos and FPX’s Gao ‘Tian’ Tian-Liang.

Bookies have G2 as slight favourites and it might be their home advantage that clinches it for them.

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[10 November 2019 14:21 · anthony.cuthbertson]

"We're not going down easy."

[10 November 2019 14:24 · anthony.cuthbertson]

We're back underway and FPX are laying waste to G2. The Chinese team are up to 13 kills now, with a 10,000 gold lead. 

There seems no way of coming back here.

[10 November 2019 14:26 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Doinb is on a rampage. The score is now 20-4 to FPX.

[10 November 2019 14:31 · anthony.cuthbertson]

FPX swarm the Nexus and they have destroyed it!

They are now one win away from the World Championships.

[10 November 2019 14:32 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Two games down but is it all part of G2's masterplan?

[10 November 2019 14:39 · anthony.cuthbertson]

The teams are back on stage for game three. It's now or never for G2.

[10 November 2019 14:44 · anthony.cuthbertson]

The crowd is behind them. "Let's go, let's go G2".

G2 have come back from 2-0 down before. Can they do it when it matters most?

[10 November 2019 14:57 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Five minutes into the third game and it's a cautious start from both teams. It remains 0-0.

[10 November 2019 15:06 · anthony.cuthbertson]

First blood to G2 for the first time this match. An important start.

[10 November 2019 15:09 · anthony.cuthbertson]

FPX get one back to level it at 1-1. Just under 20 minutes gone and it's far too close to call.