- Riot Games is set to take on Hearthstone on Twitch with its seasonal LoR tournaments.
Legends of Runeterra has become one of the most popular CCGs in the gaming industry and its latest expansion Monuments of Power had an interesting section in the patch notes. Riot Games is pushing a competitive esports scene for the game in a seasonal format. Seasons in LoR last two months and each season will allow the top 1024 players from each region to compete in the upcoming seasonal tournaments.
The cash prize for the tournament winners is set at $10,000 and smaller unannounced cash prizes for those who make it to the top 32. There will be special card backs and icons to earn for just participating as well!
How to Qualify
There are currently four region shards and the top 700 players in the Masters ladder will be eligible to qualify for the tournaments. Another 324 players from each region will also be able to qualify via the Gauntlet format. Gauntlet allows players to use their own decks and compete to 7 wins without conceding two losses in the row. There will be special Last Chance Gauntlets to enable players to qualify for the tournament before each ranked season concludes.
If you are unable to make it to the top 1024 by a small margin, there may still be hope for you. A waitlist will be in place to ensure any slots that remain unused get filled up by eligible players on the waitlist. The tournaments will be held digitally and players will not have to travel to any venues. The tournament will be split into two days where the first day will see the top 32 players emerge to compete on Day 2. All Day 2 matches will be streamed on the official Riot Games / Legends of Runeterra channel. The first tournament is scheduled to take place between Dec. 6 – Dec 13.
Tournament Format
The tournament will follow the Swiss format where players need to win with each of their decks. Up to forty cards go into a deck with two different champions. Runeterra allows up to three copies of any card compared to Hearthstone’s two which adds deck consistency. Players may not have the same champions in multiple decks but they may repeat their regions across decks.
Before a round begins, players get to ban one of their opponent’s decks and proceed to compete in a best-of-three format. Players may use different decks on day one and day two. The rounds will last 75 minutes maximum to ensure the tournaments are paced properly. The higher seed player automatically wins if the time allotted is used up.
Here is what each match will look like:
- Five-minute ready phase
- One-minute ban phase
- One-minute to pick decks
- Play session
If players want to be optimal with their playtime, they need to complete all matches in under 25 minutes each. To prevent higher seed players from abusing the auto-qualification rule, there will be a chess-like clock system but details have not been shared by Riot Games yet.
What About Casual Players?
Riot has confirmed that more tournaments will be coming soon and custom community tournaments may be made available next season in-game. It will allow community tournaments to take off. Spectator Mode is expected later this year before the first seasonal tournament enable players and admins to spectate matches.
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