It’s only been a day since Riot Games revealed the tournament format for this year’s VALORANT Champions, but in a post on the League of Legends subreddit, fans have already raised concerns around what has been a widely unsatisfactory format for the League World Championship.
Even since last year, people have complained about the format of League’s biggest tournament, clamoring for the addition of a double-elimination system to build even more hype and to create incredible storylines through the lower bracket. It also doesn’t help that Riot’s popular first-person shooter, VALORANT, is getting a double-elimination format for its upcoming international event, Champions 2022.
Related: It’s time for Riot to embrace double elimination at Worlds
Every single major region follows this format through the playoffs and it has been host to memorable moments, such as G2 Esports’ undefeated streak through the lower bracket all the way to the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational. Fans have also protested about the one-week break in the middle of the tournament, along with the lack of competitive cross-regional play since there are only seven best-of-fives being played at the event.
“Honestly, at this point, it’s not very exciting to wait for a year for seven best-of-fives, the majority of which are usually not even competitive,” one user said. “How many good series do we usually get at Worlds? One? Two?”
Near the end of Worlds 2021, Riot’s global esports head John Needham even acknowledged a possible format change, saying that “it’s something we’ll definitely consider moving forward.” His statement gave hope to fans looking for more matchups between the best rosters from around the globe. And yet, the World Championship format remains unchanged for 2022, much to the chagrin of the League fan base.
Dot Esports has reached out to Riot to see if there are any format change plans for Worlds in the future in the works.
