League of Legends teams from around the world are making their way to North America in preparation for the League World Championship, which is set to begin tomorrow. While other squads from regions around the globe have already arrived in Mexico City and New York—the sites for the first two stages of the event—some European squads, including G2 Esports, have not yet made the trip across the Atlantic.
On his personal livestream earlier today, G2 jungler Jankos explained why his team hasn’t traveled to New York.
“We wanted to go around this time, as well, but we were not allowed to,” Jankos said of the situation. “From my understanding, the hotel in New York is not ready for European teams, and that is why us and Rogue can’t go.”
Rogue and G2 qualified directly for the group stage of the World Championship thanks to their respective first and second-place finishes in the LEC summer playoffs. The other two European teams, MAD Lions and Fnatic, will begin their Worlds run at the play-in stage in Mexico City. Those two teams have already arrived in Mexico, and will play their first games at the tournament tomorrow, Sept. 29.
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“If we were to go on our own, we’d be allowed,” Jankos said. “So let’s say we book our own hotel, we get our own PCs. That is possible. But, from my understanding at least, our flight is booked on a later date and we can’t go yet.”
Jankos refused to say when G2’s flight is scheduled to leave for North America, as he wasn’t sure if he could disclose that information on his stream.
Other group stage-qualifying teams, including T1, have already arrived in North America. Players who have come to the region are taking part in Champions Queue, an invite-only, high-stakes, solo-queue-like experience that’s meant to replicate the feel of a competitive game.
The play-in stage of Worlds is set to begin in Mexico City tomorrow, while the group stage of Worlds is scheduled to kick off on Oct. 7. G2 and other group stage squads have nine days to arrive in North America and begin practicing before the main event of the tournament begins.
Published: Sep 28, 2022 02:03 pm