Worlds 2022 Update

Sep 27, 2022

Worlds 2022 is right around the corner—we hope everybody who has qualified is honing their skills and everyone else has their eyes set on those remaining seats. Mark your calendars and strap in because we’ve got some dates and some exciting news that’ll shake up the competition this year.

World Championship Match Format

Players will compete using the Best of Three Pick & Ban, Champion-Locked format, and will fight through Regional Qualifiers and Group Stage, culminating in a Top 8 Final in order to crown the 2022 World Champion.

We’ll be releasing a Worlds-focused balance patch 1.5 weeks prior to the Regional Worlds Qualifiers, during The Darkin Saga: Domination patch. The World Finals are an opportunity for the very best of the best to test their skills, and will take place alongside the release of the final chapter of The Darkin Saga which will also be our final expansion of the year.

We know this is a big change, but we’re confident that this new format will create some of the most unexpected, exciting, and just plain fun to watch games of the year. We want every player of Legends of Runeterra to watch Worlds and we think this change will help make that happen.

Now– I know what you’re thinking. “That’s different! When will we have time to deckbuild and experiment?” We got’chu. While we are committed to creating one of the most unique watch experiences, we are still taking precautions to let our pros practice and workshop the new content so they can compete at their absolute best.

• Regional Worlds Qualifiers will be held on November 19-20.
  • Qualified players will receive an email with additional details.
  • Our Worlds Balance patch is expected to be released on November 9. Qualifiers will be a 7-Round Double Elimination Bracket.
    • Top 6 from Americas and Top 5 from APAC & Europe qualify for the World Finals
• World Finals will be played December 8-10, directly after the release of the last expansion of the year.
  • Finalists will be given early access to the content in order to scrim and prepare.
    • Competitors will be contacted separately and given further details surrounding this closer to the date. They will also be given the opportunity to invite one friend to the early access for additional preparation.
• December 8-9, Group Stage: Players will compete in 4-player pods where the top 2 advance to the Top 8.
  • Deck lists will lock before the Group Stage for the remainder of the event.
• December 10, Top 8: Players will play a single elimination bracket and a World Champion will be crowned.

Editor’s Note: We originally expected to hold Regional Worlds Qualifiers on one day, but the sheer amount of matches required led us to add an additional day to play the final matches. We hope this change will allow players to rest before the final matches.

Qualifying for Worlds

With all of the news out of the way, let’s do some house cleaning. These are the following ways to win a seat at the Legends of Runeterra World Championship:

• Place Top 4 in a Seasonal Tournament: A Curious Journey, Worldwalkers, Forces From Beyond or place Top 8 in Awakening.
• Place Top 22 among the Seasonal Tournament points-earners. (Based on a combined score of a player’s placements from the last 4 Seasonal Tournaments).
• Place Top 22 among the Ranked Tournament points-earners. (Based on a combined score of a player’s Top 2 Master rank placements over the last 4 seasons).

You can view the most up-to-date list here. The final worlds point update containing our Worlds qualified players will be dropping in the third week of October after the conclusion of the Awakening Seasonal Tournament.

A full overview of the points system can be found here.

Duplicate Qualifications

• Players with duplicate qualifications consume slots in the following order: Seasonal Tournament Finishes first, then Seasonal Tournament Points, then Ranked Qualifications.
• I.E. If a player is qualified with both Seasonal Tournament Finishes and Seasonal Tournament Points, their spot will be locked for Seasonal Tournament Finishes and the next competitor for Seasonal Tournament points will be promoted to occupy the now vacant position in that list.

Worlds 2022 Prizing

Placement	Prize (USD)
1	$40,000
2	$25,000
3	$18,000
4	$15,000
5-8	$12,000
9-16	$6,750

Participants of Worlds Qualifiers will receive an exclusive Worlds Competitor cardback and icon.