Riot Games is shifting tournament priorities within Legends of Runeterra, removing official broadcasts from all 2022 Seasonal tournaments.
Broadcasts for regional Seasonal tournaments within LoR have helped support the digital card game and its professional players via exposure outside of local regional tournaments. These broadcasts are coming to an end in 2022, though. The official LoR dev video for 2022 revealed that Riot will no longer support broadcasts for Seasonal tournaments and will instead focus on one main broadcast for Worlds.
Seasonal LoR tournaments aren’t getting removed, according to design director Andrew “RiotUmbrage” Yip. The team is removing the Seasonal tournament broadcasts to “double down” on LoR Worlds 2022 with the goal of making sure it’s “the best experience possible,” according to Yip.
The schedule for new LoR cards is also changing in 2022, which may have an impact on Seasonal tournaments. Previous Seasonal tournaments were held every two months prior to a new set or expansion getting released. A Curious Journey was the final expansion within the final region, Bandle City.
Instead of regional expansions or new sets, the LoR team will release standalone expansions throughout 2022. The standalone expansions will vary in size, adding champions to PvE and PvP. The only official standalone expansion dates released by Riot at time of writing will take place in May and July, along with Seasonal tournaments during those months as well.