At 2019 World Championship, all LPL teams will start at Group Stages.
On 16th of June PST, various sources told that there will be a shift in seed prioritization from 2019 Worlds. All three LPL representatives for Worlds will begin the tournament from Group Stages. This implies the 3rd seed for the LCK, who were previously granted a direct ticket to Group Stages, will now have to start the tournament from Play-Ins.
The rumored change is presumably a reflection of the strong performance that the LPL teams had in the international tournaments over the last 24 months. The LPL representatives won 2018 Mid-Season Invitational, 2018 Rift Rivals and 2018 World Championship. Meanwhile, the LCK has is yet to claim a single international tournament ever since 2017 World Championship at the fall of 2017, for which Samsung Galaxy took away the title.
2019 World Championship will be held in Europe, with the finals held at Paris, France.
