With changes coming to the League of Legends EMEA systems and formats around its various leagues, the Director of LoL Esports EMEA took to Twitter to answer questions, including how EU Masters and Worlds will be impacted.
The League of Legends EMEA Championship is undergoing big changes come 2023 as the format and number of splits have changed. The Director of LoL Esports EMEA, Maximilian Peter Schmidt, answered questions on Twitter about the changes to the LEC and the wider EMEA ecosystem.
One of the bigger questions fans had was about League of Legends World Championship qualification. With the Turkish and Commonwealth of Independent States leagues consolidating in the European Regional League system, meaning they will no longer have direct invites to Worlds, fans were speculating that the winner of the EU Masters tournament might have the slot in the international event instead.
Schmidt shut down that speculation, saying that the winner of EU Masters will not go to Worlds.
“International event formats will change and format and sending will be communicated later on,” Schmidt said when asked what will happen to the Turkish and Russian seeds.
EU Masters not getting a Worlds seed and other questions answered
Schmidt went on to explain how the Group Stage of each split will lead into the Playoffs in the LEC now that the format includes round-robins and best-of-three series. He said to think of the new Group Stage and Playoffs as one big double-elimination bracket with teams that don’t lose in the Group Stage getting double elimination in Playoffs.
He also said that the new winter split in the LEC will not qualify teams for the Mid-Season invitational, just a direct invitation to the Season Finals. Schmidt also specified that if a team wins multiple splits that the Season Finals will fill the extra slots with the teams earning the most Championship Points throughout the entire season.
The LEC and the ERLs are set to return in 2023 with the new format.