After an unlikely final day to the group stage at the 2021 League of Legends World Championships, Group D has descended into pure chaos. MAD Lions have defeated LNG Esports, forcing an unprecedented, four-way tiebreaker scenario to determine who advances to the knockout round at Worlds 2021.
Against all odds, every team in Group D finished 3-3 to force this four-way tiebreaker. So how does everything work?
The Worlds 2021 four-way tiebreaker for Group D
Now that history has been made, Group D has been shuffled into a single-elimination, four-team bracket. The four teams are now set to face off in two matches where the first seed and fourth seed will clash in one game and the second and third seed will match off in another. The losers of both games will be automatically eliminated. The two winners will then face off in a seeding match where the winner will get Group D’s first seed in the knockout stage.
In the event of a 4-way tie seeding is determined by game victory time, which is currently:@MADLions_EN 01:24:132@LNG_Esports 01:30:093@TeamLiquidLoL 01:32:254@GenG 01:41:57
MAD need to win the final game to force the 4-way tie breaker so they will be the last seed
— LoLEsports Stats (@LoLEsportsStats) October 18, 2021
The seeding in the tiebreaker matches is determined by each team’s total time of victory. The fastest team to win their three games were LNG Esports. The slowest team were the MAD Lions. Thus, Gen.G and Team Liquid, who were the middle two teams, are set to face off in the first tiebreaker. LNG and MAD will face off in the second game. As previously mentioned, the two winners will then face off in a third match to determine seeding.
Each of the four teams has something extra to play for. Team Liquid are looking to become the second North American team to make it into the knockout stage at Worlds 2021. MAD Lions are looking to salvage EU’s hopes and make it to knockouts as the lone representatives of the region. LNG Esports can go from play-ins to knockouts with a win in the tiebreaker. Gen.G are looking to make it a perfect four-for-four when it comes to South Korean teams in the Worlds 2021 knockout stage.
