The 2024 League of Legends World Championship is just over a week away. This is an opportunity for the best players to showcase their skills as they fight for the summoners cup. Some of League’s biggest names, however, won’t be in attendance.
Not everything goes to plan in League esports. Teams expected to go to Worlds at the beginning of the season can sometimes fall flat on their faces. This year is no different, with several global names notably absent from the lineup.
Here are six of the most notable faces missing Worlds 2024.
6 of the biggest names missing LoL Worlds 2024
Deft
It took a five-game Telecom war to decide who would clinch the final Worlds 2024. Unfortunately for Deft, T1 were able to clutch out, meaning the former World champion will not be making the trip to Europe this year. Despite reuniting with his brothers from DRX, Pyosik and BeryL, KT Rolster failed to break into the top four, which would have qualified them for Worlds. KT finished fifth in the Summer Playoffs, followed by a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to T1 for the final Worlds spot in the regional finals.
It’s a sad ending to Deft’s year because he announced he’ll be doing his mandatory military service in 2025. This means, for now, Deft’s career is on hold until he completes his duties.
Ruler
Ruler is one of the greatest League players of all time, but he will sadly miss Worlds 2024. Ruler is frequently mentioned when you think of international competition and the biggest stars. So to see JDG fail miserably after a solid 2023 season is disappointing.
When Worlds comes around, you want the biggest names possible to attend. Ruler is a former world champion, former MSI winner, and two-time domestic champion. Even with JDG finishing third in the Spring split, you would have thought the squad had the experience to see it through and secure one of the four Worlds seeds. This wasn’t the case, finishing seventh to eighth in Summer and losing to LNG in the final qualification match.
Jankos
In the LEC, multi-LEC champion and former MSI champion Jankos crashed out of the 2024 terribly. Team Heretics could not match their VALORANT counterparts as far as international appearances go this season. They had a roster filled with experience and talent, but couldn’t put the pieces together.
Although it was already expected Jankos wouldn’t be making Worlds with this Heretics roster, not to see such a decorated player at Worlds is disappointing. As for Jankos, it appears his time on Heretics could be coming to an end. Wunder, Jankos, Zwyroo, and Trymbi have reportedly been allowed to explore their options ahead of the 2025 season.
Rookie
Rookie, one of the greatest to ever do it, will not attend Worlds 2024 after NiP failed to qualify. After a fourth-place finish in the Spring Playoffs, NiP crashed and burned big time in the summer, not picking up a single victory in their group and finishing rock bottom in eighth. NiP would have to run the gauntlet to secure a second life in the loser’s bracket. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be, losing 3-1 to eventual finalists Weibo Gaming.
Ninjas in Pyjamas’ final shot was in the LPL region finals, but the squad fell short once again, losing to JDG 3-2 in a thrilling best-of-five. This marked the end of Rookies’ year and another World Championship he wouldn’t be attending. Despite a bad year for NiP, Rookie remained in excellent form. Across the entire Summer Split, he was awarded 12 match MVP awards, eight of which were in the group stage—which was impressive, given they went 0-8.
Jojopyun and Blaber
There’s only one place to look in North America, and that is Cloud9. The superteam consisting of multiple MVPs and LCS champions who failed to make it to Worlds 2024. Blaber and Jojopyun were put together to dominate the LCS and propel Cloud9 toward international success, but this didn’t happen in the slightest, missing all three international events and crashing out painfully.
For Jojopyun, in particular, this failure reportedly has had ramifications on his future, with League content creator IWDominate releasing a YouTube video claiming the NA mid has been fired from Cloud9. For Blaber, this is only the second time in his career he has missed Worlds.
