Riot Games Makes Changes to Format of 2020 League of Legends World Championship Due to COVID-19
Riot Games has made some changes to the format of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship due to COVID-19 precautions. The company confirmed that the two qualified teams from the Vietnam Championship Series won’t be able to compete at the tournament this year due to national travel restrictions.
22 Teams Instead of 24
Riot has decided that Worlds will feature just 22 teams instead of the originally planned 24 teams, meaning no other regions will be afforded additional Worlds slots.
Changes to Play-In Stage
The VCS typically had its first seed go straight through to the group stage of the tournament. To accommodate having fewer teams participating this year, Riot has decided to condense the play-in stage of Worlds to involve 10 teams instead of the usual 12.
The 10 play-in teams will be split into two seeded groups of five squads each. Each of these groups will play just one round-robin style set of matches, with the first-place teams both advancing to the group stage and the last-place squads from each group being eliminated.
The third and fourth-place teams in each group will play to decide which squad will play against the second-place team from the other group. The winners of those matches will also qualify for the group stage.
New Format and Fairness
To maintain an even number of teams in the play-in stage, one team that was initially expected to start in the play-in portion of the event will be automatically moved into the group stage. After evaluating past regional performance at international events, Riot decided it would be fairest to give the third seed from Korea’s LCK the spot in the group stage.
Riot clarified that although it would prefer a double round-robin format, it was unable to find a format that would allow them to run a double round-robin for this many teams and still give teams the chance to compete in a best-of-five series for advancement.
A single round-robin with a five-team group still ensures the competitive integrity of the tournament and could make the play-in stage more thrilling and dynamic.
Subject to Change
Today’s announcement also mentioned that this iteration of the Worlds format is still subject to change, especially considering the unpredictability of COVID-19.
Worlds 2020 kicks off in Shanghai on Sept. 25.
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Keywords
League of Legends, World Championship, COVID-19 precautions, Riot Games, format changes, tournament, play-in stage, round-robin, regional performance, double round-robin, competitive integrity