Teams Advancing to Knockout Stages of MSI Will Earn Top Seeding for Worlds
Riot announced today that the four teams advancing to the knockout stages of May’s Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) will earn their region top seeding for Worlds.
The group stages of League of Legends’ first international competition in Shanghai will grant a top four seed for their region to the teams that make it through.
Failure to Make it to the Playoffs Lowers Region’s Placement at Worlds
In line with this change, regions that fail to field a team through to the playoffs (from May 13 to 15) will see a lowered placement at Worlds’ seeding time, while the total number of teams per region remains the same.
“In previous years, seeding has been subjective; we tried to place teams based on historical precedent, but that wasn’t responsive enough to their current strength,” said Riot’s director of esports Whalen Rozelle in the announcement. “By using the most recent international tournament (MSI) to influence the group seeding, this process should be a lot more meritocratic and transparent.”
First Pool at Worlds will Consist of Teams Reaching Final Four at MSI
The Worlds 2015 seeding structure’s Pool 1, which consisted of the number one team from China, Korea, North America, and Europe, will now consist of whichever regions reach the final four at MSI.
If an International Wildcard (IWC) qualifiers team (Japan, Oceania, Turkey, or South-East Asia) were to advance from the MSI groups, they would secure a spot in that first pool. This gives them an advantageous position to avoid playing against the three other strongest teams during groups.
Seeding at Worlds to Reflect Regional Strength
This new system does not guarantee the teams that win at MSI a spot at Worlds; they must still perform well during the Summer Split. However, it does set the region hierarchy for the year’s biggest tournament.
“One of our goals is to have seeding at Worlds be more representative of regional strength,” continued Rozelle. “This helps to do that in two ways: it rewards the top four regions appropriately and provides flexibility within Pools 2 and 3 to give IWC more than just an all-or-nothing shot at a Pool 1 berth.”
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