A new qualification method for the year-ending Champions tournament will be implemented starting in 2024 as part of some significant format modifications that will also increase the excitement and significance of the international Masters events.
Beginning next year, in what will be the second year of the international partnered VCT league system, teams will earn Champions points throughout the year, which will serve as “the unifying mechanism across International Leagues and Global Tournaments, serving as a measure of each teams’ performance and the qualification mechanism for global events,” according to a Riot Games press release today.
The Masters qualification system will be different next year as well, though. Riot has announced that the first Masters event of the year, which should start in late February, will take place in Madrid, Spain. A two-week tournament at the start of each international league will determine the two teams from each league that will attend the first Masters event. Masters Madrid will feature two teams each from the Americas, EMEA, Pacific, and the newly announced China league.
While the VCT used a points system in both 2021 and 2022 to determine which teams qualified for Champions in those years, Riot moved away from that in 2023, with a team’s standings in their respective international league serving as the sole qualifying factor. Riot also used a team’s VCT league standings to determine which teams went to the sole Masters event of the year, which created a problem.
By using the same format to determine who went to Masters Tokyo and Champions 2023, the vast majority of the teams that were attending Masters Tokyo had already booked a spot at Champions, taking away the potential for a high-stakes international competition that had world championship ramifications. With the new system set to come out in 2024, qualifying for Masters won’t be the sole determining factor in who goes to Champions.
Masters Shanghai, which has already been announced, will take place around May 2024, between the first and second stages of each international league season. Pro players, especially on the top teams, should expect a packed schedule next year from the end of January until September.