TFT Dragonlands World Championship – TFT Worlds Dates, Prize Pool & Players

Riot Games recently announced the dates for the TFT Championship, and a number of other changes that will make the World Championship bigger and better than ever before. The event is scheduled for the weekend of November 18-20.

Teamfight Tactics is continuing to grow in popularity. The Worlds tournament will showcase set 7 and the recently released 7.5. This year, the prize pool inflated by over 50%, up from $156,000 to $450,000 in total. The winner will take home a whopping $150,000, more than triple of the $48,000 winner’s prize at the Gizmos & Gadgets Championship, which concluded in May.

A tournament featuring a live audience is still some way off, but viewers can stream it on the official Twitch channel.

Prize Money and New Format turn TFT into a real esport

The hike in prize money gives players an even bigger incentive to compete to be the world’s best, as evidenced by the heavy disparity between the rewards for first and second place. The top two will walk away with $150,000 and $75,000 respectively, as opposed to the $48,000 and $32,000 rewards of the TFT Gizmos and Gadgets Championship. The prize money for winners in the third to tenth position range from $25,000 to $10,000.

Aside from the massive monetary stakes, Riot has also promised improvements to the format and overall structure. The new structure is far less cutthroat and offers more reward for consistency, because this time players will have the chance to prove themselves again on the second day. There are 32 players competing at this set’s World championship, and each will play a minimum of 10 games. The previous system where the number of players were halved at certain intervals has been mostly discontinued.

Instead, the Worlds will now follow the standard tournament play, with 32 players to be split into separate lobbies for five games on Day 1. But now, rather than teams being knocked out, all 32 of them will return on Day 2, carrying over all the points from Day 1.

Each player will contest in additional five games on the second day, and the top eight will progress to the next round. This is a vast improvement on the tournament’s earlier format, and has been widely requested by players and fans to decrease variance. It will doubtless be far more effective at deciding the actual best players at the event.

Checkmate Format on Finals Day

The “controversial” Checkmate format makes its reappearance on the final day, applicable only for the Top 8. The players’ points will be reset at the start of Day 3, and they must race to 18 points. Once a player reaches the 18 point threshold, they move into ‘check’. The first player to win a game in check will be crowned champion.

The Western region Last Chance qualifier was introduced in the Set Six TFT Worlds, allowing players from North America, EMEA, Brazil, and LATAM to compete. The introduction of the  Eastern region Last Chance qualifier in Set Seven is a monumental step taken to improve the globalization and diversity of the tournament. The Eastern qualifiers will now include players from China, Korea, OCE, and Japan.

The qualification process varies across regions, but generally transitions from open qualifiers to closed events. This way, the best domestic players will get a chance to prove themselves internationally. Amde from North America has become the first from the region to qualify,  due to his performances in early events. But for the most part, players need to showcase themselves in TFT Set 7.5 and Uncharted Realms.

The full player list is yet to be confirmed.