Runeterra's Seasonal Tournament - Cosmic Creations - lands next weekend, giving you the chance to face the very best Runeterra players! Fancy yourself amongst the game's best players and winning a prize of $10,000? Here's all you need to know about the tournament and how you could qualify!

Fiora Card Image

What is the Seasonal Tournament?

Runeterra's Swiss-system tournaments will have a total of 1,024 players from each of the Americas, Europe, Asia and Southeast Asia. They will brave it out against one another in open rounds. These open rounds will entail 5 Swiss Rounds in a best-of-three format until just 32 remain. This style of tournament means players are never knocked out, although the math would suggest that you would need to win each of your 5 games to have the best chance of qualifying for the playoffs!

Other rules and stipulations include:

  • Players choose 3 different decks with no duplicate champions/region combination and a maximum of one deck without any champions at all.
  • Pick-and-ban: Players ban one of the opponent's decks before the match commences.
  • Once you win with a deck, you cannot use that deck for the remainder of the matchup.
  • Each round lasts a maximum of 70 minutes, after which the winner is the person with the most individual game time left - watch out if you're thinking of bringing 3 control decks!

After a hectic opener, 1,024 players will be reduced to 32 who will return the following week for a single-elimination tournament (sudden-death) until each region has their victor!

Sounds Good! How Do I Qualify?

There are 2 ways of qualifying for the Seasonal Tournaments. The first is the ranked route, where the top 700 master players in each region will qualify. This varies from each region, but if you're looking for a safe target then reaching 126 LP in Europe and roughly 200 LP in the Americas was enough for the last tournament and should be enough for the top 700 this time around.

If you're overwhelmed by the task of qualifying through ranked then you can opt for qualifying through the Last Chance Gauntlet. 324 players have the chance to qualify if they achieve 7 wins on their 1st attempt in the Last Chance Gauntlet. Achieving 7 wins in a weekly Gauntlet - also known as a Prime Glory - counts towards a win in the Last Chance Gauntlet; The first 324 players to finish will qualify for the Seasonal Tournament. Check here for some tips on mastering the Pick and Ban format in the Gauntlet! 

What Decks Can I Expect to Face in the Tournament?

RubinZoo, a game designer for Riot confirmed in this tweet that there will be no balance changes prior to Cosmic Creations.

As such, like all of Runeterra's tournaments, it goes without saying that the top meta decks will be on show this weekend. If you weren't tired of grinding out victories against Twisted Fate Aphelios decks like this then expect to see them everywhere in Cosmic Creations. Freljord and Shadow Isles control decks with cards such as Anivia or Feel The Rush will be popular as ever, such as this one, so either tech against them or master them if you're looking to go deep in the tournament.

When is the Tournament?

The tournament lands this Sunday 21st Feb, but you'll have to watch out for the cut-off times before that.

It is important to remember that the first 324 to achieve Prime Glory in the final Last Chance Gauntlet will qualify. After the open rounds have concluded, the playoffs will take place the following Sunday 28th for the top 32 players, which will be streamed live on Twitch if you didn't manage to make the cut!

Hopefully, this inspired you to climb through the ranks this week if you weren't too busy in the Labs. What more do you want to see from Riot in terms of competitive game modes? Perhaps a World Championship that doesn't separate each region? Let us know what you think in the comments below!