Worlds Viewers Guide

Dec 1, 2023

Americas

FloppyMudkip - Making a declaration in early 2022 that he wanted to be regarded as one of the best players in the game, Floppy put in the effort and is reaping the rewards. With 2 major wins and a 2nd place this year alone (with that 2nd place being behind Red Pup Games (RPG) teammate Card Gamer no less), he’s widely regarded as the strongest player the Americas is fielding this year. With a flexible style and a monster of a prep group, FloppyMudkip is looking to complete his yearly hat trick with a crown.

Drisoth - Constantly on the cusp of qualifying for the main event under the old system, this year Drisoth was the 2nd player from the Americas locked in for this year's World Championship after winning the first Worlds Qualifier. Known for shouting about stats and for everyone to ‘play good decks’ on social media, Drisoth has an air of authority about him that commands the respect of the competitive scene. But just because he knows the stats doesn’t mean he’s beholden to them, as it was a last-minute gut shot that got him through the qualification process in the first place.

Krios - It’s not uncommon for players to dial things back once they’ve qualified for Worlds - but Krios wasn’t having it. Topping all 4 events in their qualifying Glory for Navori season, Krios has regained focus herein the final stretch with 3 tops in the last 4 events, totaling 7 for the year. Leaning more into an aggressive playstyle at nearly every turn, shards that have had a more lax aggro turnout for the year need to be ready for what AM brings to the international stage.

Card Gamer - Card Gamer’s been around the scene for a while, but mostly in the background. Coming into 2023 there was more and more buzz from players about advice or prep help that Card Gamer had given them, and in his first top cut appearance he lived up to the hype by denying FloppyMudkip his 3rd victory in a row. While Floppy would get his revenge later that season in the top 4 of an Eternal Open, it means these RPG titans are due for an exhilarating rematch to settle the score.

Flock - One of the best aggro players in the Americas, Flock was able to thrive early in the year with the release of Samira. Using her to get back-to-back top 8s in the Glory in Navori Worlds Qualifier and Eternal Open he set himself up for a final push over the finish line at the 2nd Eternal Open with just a top 32, once again with Samira. With his new signature champion nowhere in sight for the end of the year, Flock will need to find a new way to scorch the competition.

GrandpaRoji - There’s a few different ways GrandpaRoji could stand out in your mind; maybe he’s the Taliyah/Malphite guy from Worlds last year, or the guy who qualified for Worlds without a Seasonal top 32 to his name. Arguably neither of those labels are applicable to 2023 Roji, who has been leaning more into meta decks and topping events left and right. But with Taliyah and Malphite both still in the standard card pool, GrandpaRoji has a difficult internal decision to make heading into the main event.

Seku - One of the longest competitive records on the roster, Seku’s been finding success since the very first Seasonal tournament 3 years ago where he made the top 32. Since then, he seems to have found something of a stride as all 3 of his tops in the Heart of the Huntress season contained Vayne, pairing her with Aatrox in Standard and Rumble in Eternal. Across the years however, he’s topped with a variety of archetypes, making him a rather adaptable player to the field.

NNT Space - While APAC is more of the ‘team shard’, it was Brazil who really kicked off and capitalized on the team aspect of LoR in a major way. Team Ninetails (NNT) is the most successful remnant of that bygone era, constantly fielding players into the top level of competition from grassroots to tier 1. As for Space specifically, they and fellow teammate JoJo both qualified by getting 2nd at their season's WQ without topping either of the accompanying Opens. While their personal resumes may be a little light, the fire under them burns as hot as their team's name might suggest.

Da Tank Buster - For most of the lifespan of Legends of Runeterra, the weekend before a tier 1 event there would be a last chance grassroots tournament for players to participate in and confirm their meta read or send them back to the drawing board. Tank was the first player to win such an event and also go on to win the event they were practicing for, in this case the Heart of the Huntress Worlds Qualifier. After a disappointing 0-3 finish at the World Championship last year, Tank is coming back with a new team and a new fire inside of him to win it all.

AJTehPro - For years the Americas shard didn’t have a two-time champion. FloppyMudkip shattered the mold with his back to back wins, but with the year kicking off that way it felt like ancient history as we started gearing up for Worlds. To bookend the year AJTehPro decided to repeat this feat, winning the Fates Voyage: Onward Standard Open and Worlds Qualifier, demonstrating a mastery over the expansion. It’s fortunate for everyone that Worlds is happening one expansion later, or we might have already handed AJ the crown.

Aikado - A man who needs little introduction, Aikado broke onto the scene in late 2021 with a 2nd place finish at the Rise of the Underworlds Seasonal. This earned him a spot at the Worlds Qualifier, which he converted into a top 8 at the World Championship. Since then he’s been a staple of competitive Runeterra, and after a weaker than expected 2022 he dialed in for the new qualification system and has spent most of the year at the top of the global points leaderboard, bookending the year with a top 4 at the first Open and a win at the last.

MajiinBae - Nobody has card game’d quite like MajiinBae this year, who played over half of the tier 1 events on mobile while at some other card games tier 1 event. Having already competed in one World Championship in the last 30 days, Majiin is warmed up for top level competition. With undivided focus heading into the year's ultimate event, everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what Majiin can accomplish at his 2nd LoR World Championship.

Hawk362 - In 2022, there was a long standing community dialogue pertaining to Ekko, and how viable the deck actually was. It had a dedicated subset of players, mediocre ladder stats, and a few deep runs at some tournaments. For a time, it was shocking to see someone outside of Ekkos inner circle bringing the deck into a top cut. But when Hawk topped the Worldwalker Seasonal with Ekko, I thought nothing of it. When he topped the Heart of the Huntress WQ with Ekko, I thought nothing of it. When he top 4’d the Fates Voyage: Onward Open with Ekko I thought nothing of it and when he topped the subsequent WQ with Ekko I again thought nothing of it. But when he won the Last Chance Qualifier, and he had to defeat Ekko to do it, I wept for him.

KidWithThePig - A ‘fun’ fact I’ve been obsessed with when it comes to Kid is that last year they topped the Forces From Beyond Seasonal with an absolutely filthy lineup of Frostbite Foundry, Akshan ‘Inifnite’ Combo, and Shellfolk. I’ve been telling everyone who will listen about this. But the fact that seems to overshadow it every time is that Kid spent pretty much all of 2023 exclusively playing Path of Champions. Perhaps a bit prophetic, Kid must now journey down his own path of champions to claim the crown and become the world champion.

NNT JoJo - Like NNT Space, JoJo qualified off of a WQ 2nd place with no additional tops during that season. This doesn’t mean their road to worlds was an easy one, as to even make it that far in the event JoJo had to eliminate fellow worlds competitor and WQ winner Da Tank Buster, getting revenge for Space. The camaraderie amongst the NNT players has been demonstrated throughout the competitive year, and now it's time to put it to the test and hope for no early round team kills.

NNT Maitri - The term ‘one trick’ is used a little more loosely in LoR than other games, as it's difficult to one trick a deck when you have to find 2 to compliment it every event. For much of their competitive career, it would have been ‘fair enough’ to call Maitri a Viego one trick in a similar vein as GrandpaRoji to Malphite. But unlike Roji’s precious Shurima/Targon duo, Viego received a rather substantial nerf toward the end of 2022. Maitri took in right on the chin, leaving Viego behind and putting up a flurry of top cuts this year with a variety of control decks. While fans of Maitri may be holding out hope for the return of Viego at worlds, I applaud his maturity in leaving his favorite champion behind in pursuit of success.

4LW - Seasonal champion. Double qualifier. Ladder fiend. Spooky Karma enjoyer. 4LW has many titles attached to his name, and ‘worlds qualified’ is not a new one for him. However, with the previous years holding a distinction between the qualifier rounds and the top 16, many players felt as though they hadn’t really ‘made it’ unless they could make it to that final stage, one which has eluded 4LW for the past 2 years. With the new system a little more accommodating, 4LW is ready to mow down everyone who stands between him and the most prestigious title of them all.

ABG Tyguy - For players like Jerzyno the 2nd Glory in Navori Eternal Open was a nightmare, giving a chance for a slightly skewed meta read to be adjusted and rewarded. For players like Tyguy who won the first Eternal Open, it was a nightmare as your lineup was now the one players adapted to, and you helplessly watched as you were passed on the season point leaderboard. Barely finishing in 4th during the GiN season, Tyguy spent the rest of the year clawing together enough high ladder finishes and top 64s to once again finish 4th on the slightly more forgiving yearly leaderboard, qualifying the Americas first eternal champion into his first world championship.

Naś - The sole representative of OCE, Naś demonstrated that sometimes it's about quality over quantity. They have the least amount of top cuts of all the AM yearly point earners with just 2, but those 2 were both Worlds Qualifiers; a top 4 at Glory in Navori and a top 16 at Heart of the Huntress. Wielding a powerful duo of Aatrox in one hand and a Champion Strength deck in the other, Naś is going to have to discover a diamond of a third deck to make up for the difference in competitive experience between them and the field.

ChinosTCG - There’s something to be said about a player who knows what they like, and thats certainly the story with Chinos. With 5 tops under their belt for the year, 4 of them were with Karma/Sett and 3 with Seraphine. In fact, of the possible 15 decks across their 5 tops, only 2 of them did not contain Piltover & Zaun or Ionia. It was with one of these rare off region decks that they accomplished a feat like no other, winning the Heart of the Huntress Eternal Open by defeating 2 time worlds competitor and Invoke aficionado XxWhatAmIxX on a 3x Invoke lineup. If we’re simply talking single feats, Chinos has one of the more impressive ones coming into this event.

Donut - With NNT Maitri qualifying off of Fates Voyage: Onward season points, Donut was able to squeak into the 6th spot on the yearly point totals. Their presence means that half of the 2022 AM worlds players are returning to the big stage, all of whom are hungry to improve upon their performance from the previous year. Donuts had the most shallow results this year of the group having not made it past the top 16, but his persistence is due for a payoff any day now and worlds is the perfect place to cash it in.

EMEA

Aragornn - Our previous years World Champion is still something of a competitive enigma, as he hasn’t competed since he was crowned. Perhaps liking the label of ‘underdog’, Aragornn now seems faced with the task of shaping themself back into top form to defend his title from 4 times the number of hopefuls as previous years. But with a new expansion dropping just before the event once again, the mastermind behind Black Flame Taliyah may just find that hidden gem once again and add a second trophy to his collection.

Ultraman - While some players qualified for Worlds and then took some much earned rest from the fierce competition of Legends of Runeterra, others like Ultraman decided to see how many different ways they could qualify. Securing his spot in January with a win at the World Ender Seasonal, Ultraman still went on to top at minimum one event per season. His deepest run came recently at the Fates Voyage: Onward WQ where he made it all the way to the top 4, coming extremely close to proving he could have qualified again even without his earlier win, and solidifying himself as one of the most consistent players in EMEA.

fmpakYourself (anopheles) - Anopheles has undergone a few name changes throughout the year, so allow me to reintroduce them; they are the Glory in Navori WQ winner and Fates Voyage: Onward WQ runner up. There are of course a few more top cuts littered throughout their record, but winning 2 of the year's 3 WQs would have been an unprecedented level of dominance under the new competitive system. If you’re wondering how they did at the other WQ, they did make it to the top 64 before locking in decks like Karma/Maokai and Chamber of Renewal Renekton. With that out of their system, I expect a strong finish from them at worlds on some of the more traditional decks they’ve been finding success with.

Jerzyno - Back in the Glory in Navori season the community was given a special event; a 2nd Eternal Open set to take place just a week after the first. A runback for those who misread the meta the first time around. Jerzyno got close on the first go around, getting top 16 at the first Eternal Open with Norra/Swain, Plaza Guardian, and Tristana Atrocity. But with that 2nd chance they were able to make a slight adjustment, turning their Norra/Swain into a more traditional Revenbloom Conservatory deck, and win the event. A success story on running multiple events in the same format, Jerzyno’s up for a bit of a challenge in the fresh Worlds format.

Tilted2211 - While the winner of a seasons WQ moves on automatically to the World Championship, whoever gets 2nd likely ends up with enough points to secure an invite as well; such is the case with Tilted. Having a lineup constructed of the 3 most popular decks at the event, Tilted demonstrated solid play to make it through a field of players looking to target any of those decks, showing a level of resilience that should serve them well come Worlds.

Tos - Not everyone is in love with the current format used for competitive Legends of Runeterra, and Tos sparked a heated discussion about it again when he won the first Eternal Open with 9x Concurrent Timelines. 9x lineups (lineups using 3 copies of the same non-champion build around card in each of their 3 decks) have a pretty poor success rate across Runeterra historically, but when they put up a showing like Tos did it sends ripples through the community. Should they find something that clicks with them similarly in the new expansion, everyone else is in trouble.

AtLeastIGotTheCS - While RPG is predominantly an Americas team, they’re not going to let something as silly as national borders stop them from gathering talent far and wide. Winning the same WQ as teammate Da Tank Buster but with 3 completely different lists, RPG displayed a strong understanding of each shards meta, a fact absolutely hammered home when CS went on to get 2nd place at the following Eternal Open. CS’s win was a doom bell ringing for other competitors at the year's sole international competition, showing that as usual he and his team are one step ahead.

Blvckboy - A steady presence in the top 16 of the Heart of the Huntress season, blvckboy’s deepest run into the top 4 of the WQ displayed a unique piece of foresight. You see, before the Eternal Open was dominated by Warden of the Tribes, blvckboy was already showing off the card in his Bandle City variant at the WQ. With Warden going on to become such a dominant force after a slight buff, it leads one to wonder how well that ability to spot potential will serve blvckboy in a meta as fresh as the one at the world championship.

BranchofTurtwigs - Like fellow WQ top cutter and worlds competitor blvckboy, Branch poses the ability to see past the memes and recognize when something has real potential. While most players were using Sump Monument as a way to ignore defense in the deckbuilding process and be as aggressive as possible, Branch used it for his own poisonous Puffcap strategy. Puffcap strategies have a longstanding but polarizing relationship with competitive Runeterra, so when someone is able to recognize the decks meta potential while its often being played as a meme, it’s something to be celebrated.

Temmes - Temmes displayed a deep amount of diversity in their qualifying season, using 9 different decks across all 3 events. With the Open and WQ both being standard it's not uncommon to see players repeat at least one comfort deck for the runback, but Temmes leaned hard into the metagame for each event and kept showing a strong understanding of the meta with their choices. With such a quick turnaround time to learn and understand the Worlds meta, Temmes’ ability to read the meta will be put to the test like never before.

ll Boksör ll - Boksör broke onto the scene this year as one of the most dominant players in EMEA, securing his spot at Worlds after back to back wins to kick off the Fates Voyage: Onward season. In one of the toughest WQs to date, Boksör had to defeat fellow EMEA titans like Ultraman and Anopheles in the top 4 and finals respectively. On top of that he did it all with his own now signature deck, SI Seraphine. It’s been a staple in his lineups throughout the year, and will likely make a return for the world championship.

Schluluflipi - Despite having 6 top cuts this year capping out at top 8, I thought it would be easy to find a pattern in the decks Schluluflipi has used to find the success necessary to become to #1 yearly point earner in EMEA. But alas, the only thing I could find was a tendency to play whatever the #1 deck is at the time. But hey, that’s not such a bad thing. Consistent performances paired with top decks make for a solid player, and an even more solid shot at a deep run.

red montti - Players qualifying through the LCQ have a high chance of being wildcard players, and such is mostly the case for Red Montti. While they didn’t come totally out of the blue, their top 8 at the Glory in Navori Eternal Open with 2 Timelines decks doesn’t speak much to their playstyle; it just lets me know that they’re on the same page as everyone else about Jax’s yearly performance, a champion who reprised his role in Red’s LCQ winning lineup. There are certainly worse champions to have attached to your name, but it’s going to take more than just Jax to get Red over the finish line and into a deep finish at worlds.

APH nvrwalkalone - Nvrwalkalone is a little less of a wildcard than their fellow LCQ qualifier, having multiple tops scattered across the year, but with his top 16s all being in the Eternal format. This ability to thrive in the past may have turned into a strength in the end however, as Nvrwalkalone shocked the Runeterra world by qualifying with Heimerdinger/Jayce; a staple throughout the years that had recently been abandoned by the community after a bad patch for the deck. Relatively identical to pre-nerf builds, I’m looking forward to what other fossils can be dug up to shock the competition. 

The Shak3r - Willing to experiment and ride the wave, Shak3r seems to always be on one of the hot decks of the meta from Janna Champion Strength to Katarina/Vladimir. This finger on the pulse yielded a top 4 and top 8 at each of the Opens for the season, and a slightly less impressive top 64 at the WQ. While the Worlds meta will be less stable and have less public stats than other events this year, it's likely that Shak3r will still be able to get their hands on the secret sauce and show off what the new expansion has to offer. 

PvH - If I asked you how many copies of ‘Iascylla, Figurehead of the Deep’ had appeared globally in the top 64 since its release, you would probably say “What is Iascylla, Figurehead of the Deep?” The answer to the first is probably 3, all of which were in PvHs 9th place Heimerdinger/Volibear deck at the Fates Voyage: Onward WQ. PvH played relatively normal decks outside of that all season (aside from Samira/Seraphine, an Eternal staple, making its way into their Standard lineup) but that slap in that face “what on earth is that deck” factor has been incredibly successful at worlds thus far (shoutout Shellfolk and Black Flame Taliyah).

Kuvira - You’ve got a better chance getting into worlds by making 2nd at a WQ than you do winning an Open, but that didn’t stop Kuvira from slipping in off of an Eternal Open win in the final hour. Known for creating unique lists or tweaking existing ones into incredibly specific versions, fans of Kuvira might have been surprised to see them win the Open with relatively normal looking versions of the 3 most popular decks. 2023 has demanded that of people from time to time (ex. GrandpaRoji), but I have full faith that Kuvira will find something inspired to show off on the world stage. 

IIllllll - IIllllll is a similar story to Schluluflipi; a lot of tops, nothing past a top 16, and no discernable read on their tendencies based on the decks they’ve topped with. There have been quite a few repeats amongst their roster, but it's all things that were meta staples of the time like Heimer/Jayce, Samira/Fizz, Nilah/Janna and the like. They let their hair down a bit at the final Eternal Open, bringing in Feel The Rush and Ryze, but even those don’t separate them from the pack. But I suppose that was always the point of a barcode name in the first place; to not stand out. To blend in. IIllllll is living up to their name to a concerning degree, but now it's time to see if they can live up to the #2 yearly EMEA spot.

Sorry - Kicking off the year with back to back top 8s in the eternal format, Sorry continues to remind everyone that he’s him; the ME in EMEA. Sorry made it through to the qualifying stage of worlds in 2021 with a top 4 at the Rise of the Underworlds Seasonal, where he suffered one of the most heartbreaking and memorable timer losses in Runeterra. After a light 2022, Sorry seems to have reconciled their past by topping every Eternal open we had this year, and every event in the final Fates Voyage: Onward season for good measure. Showing mastery over a broad spectrum of playstyles, Sorry is ready to seize the opportunities that have slipped through their fingers in the past.

Kuraschi - Kuraschi might have the most tops of any player this year (note: I did not fact check this) with 8. The winner of the Worldwalker Seasonal started the year off strong with a win at the inaugural Runeterra Open and top 4 at the first Eternal Open, and then continued his reign of terror for the remainder of the year. Mostly sticking to the meta, Kuraschi might be the most stand out X/Y/Z gamer that EMEA is bringing to the table this year.

Talpinator - It seems most of the EMEA yearly point earners have a few things in common; a large number of top cuts, and almost no discernable pattern to be found amongst the decks they played throughout the year. For Talpinator’s first worlds they’ll have to live up to the reputation their shardmates seem to be setting - that EMEA is coming in to dominate. Talpinator is another rock solid pillar upon which to prop up the region, and maybe even climb to the top themself.

LFR Sokoi - In 2022 Sokoi was the 2nd highest Seasonal Point leader at the end of the year not only in EMEA, but globally. Even coming in at #6 in EMEA for the year, this still puts them comfortably within the top 3 of the other shards. Sokoi’s also been doing it their own way, topping an Eternal Open with Jayce/Lux each season, and making it to the top 8 of the EMEA LCQ with a unique Udyr/Gwen list. It’s time to see what Sokoi’s consistency and creativity can come together to accomplish on the international stage.

APAC

Ă Â Đ Ê Ô Ơ Ư - Perhaps better known by their previous alias ‘GM Nezykk’, they’re one of the most dominant players on their shard (a common theme among the World Ender Seasonal champions). Assuming no other name changes however, it appears to me that Nezykk decided to take the year off after their Seasonal win and very early invite to the world championship.

Newman - Despite only showing up about once a season, Newman showed a proclivity toward Karma/Sett and Ekko/Jinx in the standard format. While they threw it all out the window in their final top 8 at the Eternal Open, Worlds is back to standard and Newmans favorite decks were showing strong performances just before the release of the new expansion. “Comfort is king” is a phrase you’ve probably heard thrown around the competitive arena more than a few times, and comfort for Newman is looking as solid as ever.

EV Mana - Teams play an important role in card games. While most accomplishments of a single player are attributed as efforts of the team, EV Mana has put the team on their back by being the only EV player to make it to the world championship. They’ve had consistent performances across the year with a variety of meta staples with the only exception really being Jax/Quinn, which for those curious looked suspiciously like Vayne/Aatrox. Being the sole hope of EV also means that the team can collectively funnel all of their resources into them, and use it to Effortlessly Violate the competition.

챌린저의실력 - 챌린저의실력 has decided to bravely take on the question “how many different Teemo decks can a person top with in a year” and the answer turns out to be 3. Winning a Glory in Navori Eternal Open with Teemo/Elise burn, I imagine they became enthralled with the idea of aggressively postured Teemo decks. This led to experimentation with Elusives; a successful one even, as they topped a couple of Opens with this as well. To round out the year, 챌린저의실력 pushed the flexibility of Teemo to the very edge by topping the final WQ with good old fashioned Puffcaps. If you’re a Teemo fan in any aspect, 챌린저의실력 is definitely the player for you.

FnP Chenia - Thanks to a huge boost of points from their top 4 at the Glory in Navori WQ, Chenia was the first APAC representative from Worlds 2022 (where they also got top 4) to get back to the pinnacle event where he’ll have a chance at redeeming himself against fellow Korean all-star ReRoll. Leading into 2022 Worlds the two were locked in a tense rivalry, with Chenia getting the better of ReRoll in the qualifier round only to lose the 3rd/4th place decider match at the main event. That set the tone for Chenias year, getting multiple top 4s across the seasons. It's not a bad problem to have been locked into top 4s, but the former King of Runeterra is likely eyeing up a new crown.

Soraharu - Soraharu may have one of the most diverse deck portfolios among competitors with 5+ tops this year. It seems at every event they’ve found a new playstyle to click with, a new angle to attack the meta. The only deck that sticks out to me as a repeat is Veigar/Nasus which they played at the first 2 WQs, paying off in a win at the Heart of the Huntress WQ. It may surprise you to learn this was everyone’s favorite Ascended Dog’s only win for the year despite maintaining a steady competitive presence. Heading into Worlds I can’t say for sure if Soraharu’s trusty WQ silver bullet will make a comeback, but slay fans everywhere have found their best bet to champion them.

KDF ReRoll - While I heralded Seku as one of the longest standing competitive players for topping the first seasonal 3 years ago, ReRoll actually won the first Seasonal. Don’t think that's where he peaked though; ReRoll has been on a tear through the back half of the year, topping all 3 events in both the Heart of the Huntress and Fates Voyage: Onward seasons. After making it into Worlds off the HotH season ReRoll broke out some one-of-a-kind technology for his victory lap season, topping both standard FV:O events with Cosmic Call Yuumi/Jack and Cosmic Call Jayce. Unfortunately for ReRoll this means they won’t have their secret weapon for their long awaited rematch with Chenia, but it feels like even more of a loss for those of us who get to witness it.

THC Raphterra - For the most part, 2023 has been a year of heroes becoming villains; long standing ‘one tricks’ abandoning their creations and leaning more into the meta to find success. Some players have done the opposite, using the year to discover an off-meta champion with whom they click and fostering that relationship. For Raphterra, that’s Varus. Raphterra has 4 tops in the back half of the year, kicking things off with Varus/Samira at the Heart of the Huntress WQ where he got 2nd. At the Eternal Open that season he moved Varus into a Sivir/Akshan deck instead. This would lead to a small break with Varus as Akshan was paired with Pantheon at the next event, culminating in a final pairing of Akshan and Varus at the Fates Voyage: Onward Open. In this essay I will

SuperTIMELINE69 - You’ll notice a lot of single players from a team representing APAC at Worlds this year, and I can’t tell if SuperTIMELINE69 is one of them or not. “Super X 69” isn’t an uncommon naming convention on the APAC shard, but whether it’s a team or a meme is not clear to me. Regardless, it may surprise you to learn than Timeline is not exactly a Timelines player; they prefer to utilize the transform mechanic with Neeko, with whom they got back to back tops at the Heart of the Huntress WQ and Eternal Open, making it all the way to the top 4 in standard. They were another player who got on the Warden of the Tribes train early, playing 6x Warden at the WQ before its meteoric rise and 9x Warden once the secret was out in Eternal. For spectators hoping for the widest champion representation possible at Worlds, TIMELINE is your best bet for a Neeko lifeline.

FnP J01 - Once regarded as the best player in the world, J01 finally has a chance to prove himself at the world championship. In the earlier days of Runeterra J01 went on a ladder tirade claiming rank 1 on multiple servers, consistently exceeding upwards of 2000lp, and often doing it with enough 1 ofs to make you think every deck he played was Seraphine. He even managed to sit at the top of the EMEA ladder during EU Masters qualification season, often regarded as the most cutthroat ladder environment in the games history. He’s also been one of the most consistent tournament players on the APAC shard, consistently topping nearly every tier 1 event throughout 2021 and 2022, making it as far as 2nd place at the Worldwalker Seasonal. Now that he’s finally tasted victory at the Fates Voyage: Onward WQ, he’s looking to make sure that’s not just another 1 of.

Aurora1 - Aurora seemed like the clear favorite from APAC coming in to the 2022 World Championship with one of the most dominant tournament records of any of the qualified players. Unfortunately not everyone adapts perfectly to playing on a new expansion, and Aurora failed to make it out of groups to the top 16. Unphased by this he came into the year with the same competitive gusto, repeating his competitive success of the previous year with a top 4 and a win, once again securing his spot at the world championship. This year however he’s flying solo, dropping his ABG tag from the previous Worlds and his BLCK tag from earlier in the year. Now it’s just Aurora against the world, and he’s back with a vengeance.

ABG Belcoot - The 2nd Seasonal, Cosmic Creation, is where a lot of the ‘legends’ were put into Legends of Runeterra. While most of the glory goes to the victor, looking back on it over the years you see more and more recognizable names in the top 4, like Belcoot. There Belcoot would fall in the semi-finals to the eventual winner of the tournament. At the Fates Voyage: Onward WQ the same thing would happen; J01 defeated Belcoot in the semi-finals and went on to win the event. And I bet you can’t guess what happened at the FV:O Eternal Open when Belcoot ran into Aurora in the top 4. While ‘losing in the top 4 to the eventual winner’ is a salty story many wish could be their legacy, Belcoots probably fed up with it and looking to break the curse.

Zetavzee - While everyone who got 2nd place at a WQ made it to the world championship, Zetavzee is one of the only ones who only got 2nd place. Usually it would take another top 64 at least at one of the accompanying opens, but with 2 of the players above them in the point race already being qualified they managed to sneak in. Not only that, but as far as I can tell that 2nd place finish is the only result Zetavzee put up all year, making them something of an enigma. There’s not much to be said about their lineup from said event either, save perhaps a proclivity for the then dipped in popularity Jax/Ornn. If you’ve been looking for the tournament's darkest horse, look no further. 

Ňtnnthree - Players coming in from the LCQ have the highest potential to be a wildcard, and ntnnthree fits the bill. While their LCQ winning lineup containing Puffcaps and Poros was enough to turn heads and win the hearts of many casual Runeterra fans, it’s actually their Fates Voyage: Onward Eternal Open lineup that caught my eye initially. While many players were last minute defaulting back to 2023 staples like Jax/Ornn, ntnnthree reached all the way back to the 2021 beta season and pulled out 9x Mistwraiths. The health buff onto Frenzied Skitterer may not have turned many heads, but ntnnthree saw something there that no one else did. Unafraid to look into the abyss, I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us at Worlds. 

Hỏa Vân Tà Thần - Perhaps the darkest horse in the tournament, almost nothing is known about Hỏa Vân Tà Thần. They have no previous competitive record that I could find, and played solid midrange decks through the LCQ that wouldn’t turn any heads. Truly we have no idea what to expect from this player, something that leaves audiences’ and players’ imaginations alike to run wild with all the terrors of the new expansion. 

Keih - Keih is coming into Worlds as the global point leader for the year with some of the most off-meta decks you can imagine. I’m talking Bilgewater Kalista/Gwen. I’m talking Anivia. I’m talking 9x Champions Strength on multiple occasions. Keih is a lineup wildcard, and coming into Worlds with the position that they hold should terrify competitors. When you look right, Keih’s gonna hit you from above. 

Tinh Yeu Chap Va - With APAC usually being one of the less aggressive regions, Tinh Yeu Chap Va shines as one of the shards smork-ier personalities. Elusives, Wildfire, Overwhelm, Sion…while these aren’t what many people would consider pure aggro, it’s leaning really aggressive for the more experimental APAC shard. Internationally APAC has had mixed results when trying to play aggressively, leaving a giant question mark on Tinh Yeu Chap Va’s potential performance this year.

GreenSlimey - Slimey is one of the more midrange leaning players coming out of APAC this year, but isn’t opposed to mixing it up with the occasional value pile (though that's mostly in eternal). This has made it hard to get an accurate read on them as about half of their top cuts were in eternal, including their deep run of a top 4. There they thrive on Aphelios and Viktor piles, but in standard they go back to the more traditional Demacia style decks. It’s a nice change of pace to not see someone embrace the non-CS aspects of Demacia, but I’m sure they’ll adapt however they need to come Worlds (as long as adapting requires playing midrange).

Lets See - Many players seemed to attach themself to a meta deck they clicked with for a good portion of the year, and those who picked Jax/Ornn were heavily rewarded. Lets See wasn’t one of those players though, instead leaning into the more control-y staples like Heimer/Jayce and Illaoi/Swain. With nearly all of their favorite archetypes being nerfed on a few fronts, there’s really no telling what Lets See will cling to for Worlds. But they’ve shown a frankenstein level of creativity in the final event of the year, jamming a couple copies of The Bandle Tree into their Tristana Atrocity deck. Super gluing 2 decks together is a bold strategy, and one I hope to see repeated. 

yata64 - Yata64 managed to string together enough top 8+ finishes to make it to Worlds without topping a single Worlds Qualifier, an impressive feat given how many players only needed a 2nd place at such an event to accomplish the same goal. Yata’s success has primarily come through a mix of Jax/Ornn and Eternal, often combining the two. They did break out some inspired technology with Draven/Samira burn in their 2nd place finish at the Heart of the Huntress Eternal Open, but it didn’t seem to be a consistent theme amongst their lineups. If Jax/Ornn remains a strong contender for the crown, Yata will likely be one with the crowd.

Kh0a - The final player to qualify for the world championship, Kh0a earned their spot through a tiebreaker match for the 6th yearly spot against Pisukaru and Kuro. Due to the tiebreaker system within the tiebreaker tournament they were a favorite from the jump, as the final tiebreaker of ‘highest placement at an Open/WQ’ would ensure the Heart of the Huntress Eternal Open champion would be the one to make it through. The 3-way point tie decider ended in another 3 way tie with each player going 1-1, and that final tiebreaker came into play. The pressure is now on Kh0a to keep the momentum going, and show that being the last in isn’t the same as being ranked 64th.