LoL Worlds 2023: How does the Swiss-style format work?

The 2023 League of Legends World Championship will feature a new style of tournament that not many spectators will be familiar with, especially after watching the same format for the last decade. This year, Riot Games will debut a Swiss-style format instead of the traditional group stage format to switch up how the majority of the event will be played.

Related: Here’s the full breakdown of all format changes coming to the League World Championship in 2023

This new Swiss stage will bring plenty of incredible moments and ensure the best teams must continue to prove themselves against other top contenders in the stage, while other teams have a chance to get out of a loss streak, bounce back, and find a way to climb to the top.

Before Worlds 2023 begins on Oct. 10, catch up and learn about this new format so you’re ready for all the action once these teams jump onto Summoner’s Rift in South Korea.

Worlds’ Swiss-style format, explained

In a Swiss-style tournament format, the top 16 teams at Worlds 2023 will be placed in a five-round format. There are no more groups, meaning each team has better chances to win instead of being thrown into a dreaded “group of death” with the year essentially ending before the event has even begun.

Teams will only face off against teams with the same record, meaning there will be more opportunities to turn your performances around and break into the knockout stage. There could be some teams that win the minimum of five games in a row, while there could also be teams that are forced to go the distance and play multiple best-of-ones and best-of-threes to earn their place in the next round.

Teams that win three matches will advance to the knockout stage of Worlds, while teams that lose three games will be eliminated from the tournament. Overall, the Swiss stage will have 33 matches made up of 20 best-of-ones and 13 best-of-threes.

Breaking down each round

Round one

Teams will begin the first round of the Swiss stage by playing against another random team from a region other than their own in a best-of-one match. This will kick off the stage and will be an important game to help garner momentum for the rest of the tournament.

Round two

In the second round, the eight 1-0 teams who won their previous match will face off against each other, while the other eight 0-1 teams that lost will face off against each other.

Round three

In the third round, there will be four undefeated 2-0 teams, four winless 0-2 teams, and eight other teams that split the first two matches sitting at 1-1. The 2-0 teams will play best-of-three matches, with the winners moving on to the knockout stage.

The 1-1 teams will continue with best-of-one matches, and the winless 0-2 teams will play best-of-threes, with the losers being eliminated and the winners moving forward to the fourth round.

Round four

At the beginning of the fourth round, two teams will have already advanced while two others will have been eliminated. There are now six teams at 2-1 records, who will all face each other in best-of-three matches for a chance to advance to the knockouts. The other six teams with 1-2 records will also play in best-of-threes, with the losing squads dropping out of Worlds.

Round five

Finally, the fifth and final round of the Swiss stage will feature the six final 2-2 teams, where they will play in best-of-three matches to decide the final three teams headed to the next stage of the event.