This week several players in the UK League of Legends scene took to Twitter to complain about seeding in the UK Masters.
HOW ARE WE 31 SEEDING AHAAH UK MASTERS IS JOKES
— Skude (@RangeExpire) May 29, 2017
a silver 5 team is seeded higher than us !! 🙂
— Skude (@RangeExpire) May 29, 2017
@RadixNaughty @RangeExpire “only top 8 were seeded
rest was random”
admin sent me that^— Versace (@RadixVersace) May 29, 2017
RangeExpire said: “I heard it’s top 8 that gets seeded, but a roster lower ranked than ours got placed higher, because they’re under an org that is respected while we made a troll name ‘FREE MONEY’.
“Also a Bronze 4 to Silver 2 team got placed higher than us. We got into a game versus Toaster’s team in the second round, while others got into Plat games.
“It is really annoying when you want to try and qualify, then seeding just ruins your dreams!”
We reached out to league operator Multiplay to ask about the seeding.
Jon Kelly, esports league operator for UK Masters, told Esports News UK: “At UK Masters we try to give as much freedom as we can to our tournament administrators, as they’re picked for their expertise and experience and we trust in that, and their judgement regarding decisions they make.
“This also applies to how the qualifiers are seeded, and our admins are allowed to use any method they feel is appropriate (though it must be approved by UK Masters staff beforehand).
“The admin for this qualifier rated teams based on a number of factors, notably their relative performances in previous qualifiers, recent tournament and LAN performances, and their in-game ratings.”
“Naturally no method of seeding is perfect, and while on some occasions teams may be overlooked, the strength of the UK Masters qualifying structure means that every team is given multiple chances to qualify, and their performance in previous qualifiers will be taken into account going forward.
“The admin for this qualifier rated teams based on a number of factors, notably their relative performances in previous qualifiers, recent tournament and LAN performances, and their in-game ratings.
“The Top 8 teams were seeded based on these criteria, and the remaining teams were randomly allocated seeds (this is standard practice for open qualifiers across most tournament organisers).
“We at UK Masters, however, are always open to feedback from players, aiming to make UK Masters a player’s choice in the competitive scene, and I’d like to encourage players to email us at [email protected] – we read everything we receive here, whereas we may miss feedback on social media.
“We endeavour to improve UK Masters based on feedback we receive going forward.”
The news comes as exceL Esports and Sippin the Purp qualify for the UK Masters. They join Radix Esports and NerdRage Pro.
Sippin seems to be a mix team containing The Carter V, Sign of the Time, Bang fanb0y, Rifty and perdition.
There are two qualifiers remaining, taking place next week and the week after.
Oh, one thing we will say. Teams/players, stop changing your names! It makes it a nightmare for us journos (and perhaps league operators) to track who you are. There’s a good article on the Splyce website on this.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
