This article is part of our Game Side series.
Nearly 10 months ago, I started joking with my boss about covering the League of Legends World Championship, something both of us originally laughed off. Although I had a glimmer of hope that I would one day be considered legitimate enough to be sent to cover the event, I assumed my chances of making my way there this year were near zero and I'd spend another year sitting alone in my bedroom watching the stream and stifling my cheers so I didn't disturb my roommates. My idea of how that particular weekend was going to go couldn't have been further from the truth.
That all changed when I found out I would indeed be able to attend the LoL World Championships. The reality of going to Los Angeles had set in and eventually destroyed any attempt I made at studying for my mid-term exams. It got to the point where I was stuck re-watching last year's finals in a desperate attempt to quell my excitement. While I was able to satisfy my need for action, I certainly couldn't anticipate the action that was to come in LA.
Come the next morning, we were headed out for the press conference and I got my first taste of Los Angeles traffic. That was probably the single most depressing thing on this trip and made me wish Worlds was held in my town. Traffic jams, closed roads, and crazy drivers are all words that accurately described the experience, and frankly I'm afraid of discussing it more without suffering some PTSD.
I digress. Upon arriving at the press conference, my experience at Worlds officially set in. It was especially amazing to know that after spending the better portion of a year watching Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and the rest of the gang play games over 5,000 miles away, I was within 30 feet of them. When the press conference came to an end, we were met with another surprise as Riot had provided food and drinks to the press in a ballroom so that we could mingle. I was able to meet some a bunch of different people, all the way from a French esports television channel to representatives of the Fine Brothers. It was pretty amazing to see people from all sorts of different companies around the world congregate for the same purpose; watching people play video games.
Immediately after, we were able to get a first hand look at League Fest which was yet another amazing point in my trip. Inside the carnival like setup, we got to go down the Riftwalk, which was full of some extremely impressive art from members of the community. It reinforced the fact that I chose the right career choice as art is certainly not my forte. Immediately after, I was able to sit in on the first live Prime Time League, and even made it onto the stream as a member of the audience.
The next day was when the action truly kicked in, however. After enduring LA traffic once again and finally making my way to Staples Center, I began to see what the event was truly about. The line outside the Staples Center was packed. Thousands of people lined up and wrapped around the building waiting their turn to see two of the best teams in the world compete for a chunk of five million dollars and a chance to hoist the Summoner's Cup.
After hanging out for a while and chatting with a couple other press members, we were finally allowed into the arena as the crowd started making their way into the Staples Center. What I saw left me in awe. The arena had completely transformed, and their was a huge transparent curtain hung up on all four sides of the center of the stage that had a projection of the team's logos, as well as a countdown until the opening ceremony. The speed at which the arena filled up was amazing -- it couldn't have been more than five minutes before the barren stadium was completely packed. It really put into perspective how many people were there once the arena was full. After seeing everyone in line I could guess there was a relatively large amount of people, but with everyone packed in like sardines, it became a reality, especially considering I was forced to raise my voice just to carry on a casual conversation with someone seated next to me.
I decided to walk around and take some more pictures, and before I knew it, the opening ceremony was about to start. It was easily one of the most entertaining moments of the trip (outside of the actual games themselves) and I've rewatched it over and over again on Riot's Youtube channel to relive the moment. The opening cinematic was projected onto the huge curtains in the center of the stage and had everyone silent; a drastic and noticeable change from the previous half hour of constant buzzing. There's simply no way to describe the artistic display Riot put on. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, Zedd came out and started to perform Ignite. Now, I'll be the first to say I didn't like the song at all when it first came out; I kept comparing it to Warriors by Imagine Dragons and it just didn't come close in my eyes. That was completely different than the impression I got live. I won't go into too many details, but listening to Zedd perform it live completely changed how I felt about it. That combined with the light show that was going on (spoiler: I REALLY like light shows) made it one of the best performances I've ever seen.
Following the performance, the members of SKT T1 and Samsung took the stage to be introduced to the audience. After some entertaining player entrances, it was finally time for the games to begin. The electricity of the crowd was amazing. Even though nothing extremely important was happening, people were cheering during pick-and-ban like Faker had just secured a pentakill and won the Summoner's Cup. Although I thought this was the loudest the arena could get, I was drastically mistaken. Throughout the game, it got louder and louder; people were cheering for anything and everything. I quickly found myself enveloped in the game and screaming alongside them. Game 1 was back and forth, but ultimately SKT found the victory after a 55 minute slugfest and that's when I knew for sure that this series was going to be the best I had ever watched.
Game 2 was an entirely different story. After nearly losing the first game, SKT stepped it up massively to assert dominance. After a surprise Kindred pick by Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong that made the crowd go wild, SKT fell behind slightly in the early game, but were far from out of the game. Bae "Bengi" Seong-ung and the rest of the team found Ambition and Lee "Cuvee" Seong-jin out time and again to simply crush their enemy into the ground. With each and every kill, the arena went wild, making it difficult to hear the casters over all of the cheering. As quickly as they got into the game, SKT finished it, outclassing Samsung on all fronts to earn a 30-minute victory. As it looked like SKT would sweep the series, I got pretty disappointed. Although I had wanted them to win the tournament at the start, I had become invested in the Cinderella story that was Samsung's run, from barely making it into Worlds to securing a spot in the Finals, dropping only one game in the process. I was sad that they might be eliminated in three quick games, but I took solace in the fact I was able to watch some amazing games, and see the Demon King himself while I was there.
As the teams got into the draft for Game 3, my expectations were a bit lower than coming into the start of the series, and the energy in the audience had noticeably lowered. That changed rather quickly as Samsung picked Aurelion Sol, something that hadn't even been looked at during the previous two games. I was excited to see the first "Time Dragon" of finals, as the blissful kid next to me kept calling it. Game 3 started like the last two, and SKT quickly gained a lead, further solidifying the idea that Samsung was going to be swept. However, after being dominated for the better half of the game, something clicked inside Samsung. At the 30-minute mark, they made an aggressive play to pick off SKT and claim Baron, closing the gold gap from nearly 10k to just a few hundred. That allowed the match to continue, stretching into the 70-minute mark. The level of excitement in the crowd was indescribable. Every time the underdog Samsung got a kill, everyone screamed and cheered. I quickly lost my voice as I couldn't control myself when they were finally able to topple the Nexus.
I sat in awe after Samsung came back and won a game that they had no business winning, waiting in anticipation for Game 4. Reminiscent of Game 2, Samsung earned a decent lead early to start the fourth contest, but this time didn't throw it away. Playing cool and calculated, they exploited SKT every chance they got and claimed victory in 50 minutes. Here's where things really got insane in the venue. It was time for Game 5 and that meant Silver Scrapes. I thought the crowd couldn't get any more excited than they did during the comeback of Game 3, but they definitely did. The combination of the music and the crowd was deafening to say the least and I'm still not sure my hearing has recovered. It did the job though, and despite having been cheering for four hours straight, the entire arena was fully charged again and ready for the final game.
That energy quickly dissipated however as the game progressed. As Samsung began to falter, struggling to keep up with the expert rotations from SKT, the crowd also began to lose energy. It seemed as if the long drawn out series and begun to take its toll on both the crowd and the team. As SKT put the final touches on the destruction of Samsung's Nexus, the air seemed to come out of the arena, but for just for a moment as, in an instant, Staples Center lit up with a blast of fireworks and flames in celebration for the now three-time champs. As SKT gathered in the center of the stage and hoisted the cup together, the crowd powered through their exhaustion to cheer on the legendary team one more time.
Now that I'm back home in Eugene, I'm still rather exhausted but I have never had an experience as valuable as attending this event. Not only did I get to experience the energy of the crowd live for the first time in my life, but I was also able to simply set everything going on in my life aside and enjoy myself the most I have in recent years. Though it may be a cliche, this was truly one of the best times of my life. I was able to eat amazing food, meet new people and see history being made. In terms of professional impact, I got to experience first hand how the journalists I look up to form content which has given me new insight to improve both myself as a person and the content I produce.
