The League of Legends All-Star Event is set to make a big return.
The annual All-Star Event will be returning in December, Riot Games announced late yesterday. Taking place at the company’s Los Angeles studios, the competition will feature players from North America, Europe, Korea, China and Taiwan, as well as a sixth wild card team from outside those five regions.
Fans will be able to vote for the five players they most want to see represent each region. Favorites such as SK Telecom T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Fnatic’s Bora “Yellowstar” Kim are likely choices. They could be joined by players from rival teams KT Rolster and Origen, as the all-star voting process allows fans to mix and match players from across each region.
Riot is reconfiguring the All-Star event this year with the addition of the Mid-Season Invitational, a more serious competition held between the Spring and Summer splits. Edward Gaming won the inaugural edition of the tournament, defeating SK Telecom T1 in a tight five-game set.
The assembled all-star teams will be joined by an international wild card team to be determined through a qualification tournament in November. That the wild card team will be able to attend as a whole serves as acknowledgement from Riot that they operate at a lower level than their counterparts from the five biggest regions.
Two such wild card teams will be competing in the League of Legends World Championships without the added advantage of competing against mixed teams. No wild card team has been able to pass from the group stage at the year’s biggest event in the game.
While details remain scarce, we do know that one-versus-one competitions will be making their return, pitting the world’s best players at each position against one another. Riot’s announcement also makes mention of “fun game modes,” meaning that we’ll likely see professional players competing in situations very different from those they normally face during competition.
The event should play host to a raucous crowd, as the stage will be set up to allow fans to surround the players during competition. Here’s hoping no one gets too carried away and throws a used pair of mice at their favorite player.
Image via Riot Games/Twitter
