The first qualifying teams for this year's League of Legends World Championships have been announced, but they will soon be joined by many more. Unlike years past, the 2017 League of Legends WCS will involve a new "Play-In stage," which will see teams compete to even make it to the big show itself, while being part of the WCS still. It's a little complicated, but what isn't, is that there are more teams this year than years gone past. That means your favorite is more likely to have made the cut.
So far we have TSM from North America, SK Telecom 1 from South Korea, Flash Wolves from Taiwan, 1907 Fenerbahçe from the Turkish league and Kaos Latin Gamers from Latin America.
That may not seem like an exhaustive list and that's because it's not. So far only the first qualifiers from each region have been revealed. As it stands we are still waiting on the completion of several major regional championships and series to find out each of the participants, but we do know the first ones and they are mostly made up of previous top contenders.
In total there will be 24 teams competing at the World Championships later this year. Chances are there will be a number of Korean teams present, as three of its top teams will get an automatic buy through the Play-In stage. China will get itself two qualifier spots, alongside Europe and North America. There will also be four international picks depending on the results of the Play-In phase.
