2012 League Of Legends World Championship
Honoring Stanley's winning performance as Shen during the 2012 World Championship. Trivia All of theses skins represent the symbolic aspects (or most played champion during Worlds) of each winning player of a team for the respected World Championship year. The World Championship final was watched on Twitch by over 32 million people making it one of the most viewed Esports events of 2013. The 2013 viewership numbers saw a large jump from 8.2 million in 2012. In addition to this Staples center was sold out by fans eager to watch their favorite teams win the prestigious championship. As part of our ongoing commitment to building and sustaining a long-term future for the fans, players, teams, and partners of League of Legends esports, we’re proud to announce the host regions for the 2019, 2020, and 2021 League of Legends World Championships. We want to ensure that our event experiences are among the best in sports. T1 (previously known as SK Telecom T1 or SKT T1) is a South Korean esports team operated by the T1 Entertainment & Sports, a joint venture between SK Telecom and Comcast Spectacor. At the end of 2003, SK Telecom took the StarCraft Team Orion (formerly 4U) by Lim Yo-hwan under contract and set up the team under the conglomerate's banner. Lim Yo-hwan took the role of team captain.
Every year, Riot makes a set of commemorative skins for the team that wins Worlds.
To qualify for a Worlds skin line, players must either participate in two play-in or group stage games “that had an impact on the team’s advancement” or participate in at least one knockout stage game. Players must play the champion at least once during Worlds to be eligible for the skin.
Fans can purchase the skins in-game every year following their release. The skins are only available for a limited time but previous years’ skins become available for purchase again during Worlds.
Which team had the best championship skin? We’ve looked back at nine years worth of skins and evaluated each one based on overall concept, graphics, animations, and creativity to determine the definitive ranking of every League of Legends Worlds skin.
9. SK Telecom T1 (2015)
For T1’s second world championship, they opted for a pretty simple and straightforward design for Alistar, Azir, Elise, Kalista, Renekton, and Ryze. The champions are dressed in the team’s blue and white LCK uniforms, with matching red headphones that resemble SKT’s winged logo.
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s Ryze is probably the best skin among the six, as it features his signature Worlds 2015 roll on the recall animation.
2012 League Of Legends World Championship Final
Upon its initial reveal, these skins received a harsh backlash from the League of Legends community. Summoners complained about how bland this particular line up was, with almost little to no details that represent the Korean team.
8. Samsung White (2014)
Another fairly understated Worlds skin, with Rengar, Singed, Talon, Thresh, and Twitch dressed in blue and white casual clothing that represent SSW. While we like the streetwear concept, they’re all dressed in identical white sneakers, which makes the uniform look a little bland.
The team’s logo can be found on each champions’ weapons like in Thresh’s hook and Twitch’s Chem Crossbow.
2012 League Of Legends World Championship Game
The best skin of this bunch is probably Heo “PawN” Won-seok’s Talon, as his blades have glowing particle effects.
7. SK Telecom T1 (2013)
T1’s first championship features skins for Jax, Lee Sin, Vayne, Zed, and Zyra. The skins sport blue and red colors with gold wing accents on Lee Sin’s shoes, Zyra’s headset, Zed’s shadow blades, and even Vayne’s crossbow.
Our favorite feature is Jax’s stave, which resembles the Summoner’s Cup.
6. Fnatic (2011)
The very first set of Worlds skins featured Corki, Gragas, Janna, Jarvan IV, and Karthus in Fnatic’s signature black, yellow, and orange colors.
The team logo is prominently displayed on each champion, and we’re particularly keen on Janna’s skin, which holds a cool staff with a humongous glowing Fnatic emblem on top.
5. FunPlus Phoenix (2019)
The latest set of champion skins features Gangplank, Lee Sin, Malphie, Thresh, and Vayne in reigning world champion FunPlus Phoenix’s red, yellow, and orange colors.
There’s definitely a power ranger aesthetic going on here with a unified look and matching helmets for the entire team. Some nice additional details include the team’s logo appearing inside the recall circle animation.
Despite fan anticipation for a Nautilus skin, Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang chose Malphite for his skin as a tribute to his supportive wife.
4. Invictus Gaming (2018)
iG’s calm and collected exterior is reflected among these six black and white championship skins for Camille, Fiora, Irelia, Kai’Sa, LeBlanc, and Rakan.
The monochromatic look is clean without being boring thanks to lots of feathered details that bring to mind a fallen angel aesthetic.
Top laner, Kang “TheShy”Seung-lok, claimed that the Fiora skin will motivate Summoners to play harder to witness the skin’s magnificent effects.
“This skin motivates people because Fiora’s ulti is very difficult to use. But if you hit all the vitals, a massive iG logo appears. This can only be done by people who are good at the game,” said TheShy.
3. Taipei Assassins (2012)
Taipei Assassins’ championship skins feature Mundo, Ezreal, Orianna, Nunu, and Shen and despite being eight years old still boast one of the best concepts we’ve seen so far. The team’s branding really shines through, with Nunu’s skin even taking up the face of the team’s mascot.
2. Samsung Galaxy (2017)
Samsung Galaxy chose Ezreal, Gnar, Jarvan IV, Rakan, Taliyah, and Xayah for their 2017 skins, and based the concept on traditional Korean culture.
“Back then our concept was based on the Choson Dynasty. We wanted to make the champions with that traditional Korean style,” explained support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in.
There’s a ton of detail in these skins. For example, Xayah’s flower is the Korean national flower and Rakan’s recall hat is a traditional Korean hat for passing government tests.
The level of detail, the unique winter theme, and the subtle without being too flashy glowing details, make these skins the second-best of all time.
1. SK Telecom T1 (2016)
The top spot on this list goes to T1’s 2016 skins, which feature Ekko, Jhin, Nami, Olaf, Syndra, and Zac.
Each champion has been transformed in a stunning red and gold color scheme with unique animations and elaborate details.
We also love the recall animations, which all feature the player’s signature, the team logo, and a unique animation.
It’s also worth noting that this is the only Worlds skin line that comes with a special ward skin honoring the team’s legendary ex-coach, Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun.
READ MORE: FunPlus Phoenix’s Worlds 2019 Championship skins have been revealed