Forge of Champions Spring 2019 hopes to find UK LoL's next top teams and solo queue stars of the future

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Riot’s official UK League of Legends cup tournament Forge of Champions (FoC) is returning for spring 2019.
The idea is to find the next top teams and players from the UK at a grassroots level, allow them to showcase their talent and give them a chance to qualify for the next UK League Championship (UKLC).
Forge of Champions Spring 2019 will include two online open tournaments, one running from April 12th to 14th and the other from April 26th to 28th, as well as a main event cup (April 30th to May 3rd and May 8th to 9th), then a promotion tournament from May 14th to 17th.
As usual, teams must have at least three starting players in every match who are residents of the UK or Ireland. Players must be 16+ and cannot be part of any European Regional League or other professional LoL official tournament roster, even as a substitute.
The open tournaments will allow participants to enter either as a ready-made team of five, or as solo players who will be matched with other fellow solo players. Matches will be best-of-one and a maximum of 128 teams can enter each open. These teams will be assigned from the highest to lowest seeding using an average division API.
Then, the top two teams from each open tournament (four teams in total) will join the existing nine UKLC teams in a main event cup. Here, matches will be best-of-three, and the four top FoC open teams will face those that finished 6th to 9th in the most recent UKLC split.
From here, the four winners will face the UKLC teams that finished 2nd-5th in the most recent UKLC split.
There will then be quarter-finals, semi-finals and the finalist will face the team that finished first in the most recent UKLC: Diabolus Esports (who have already also secured a spot in the EU Masters).
The winner of the Grand Final will win the Forge of Champions trophy and the lion’s share of the £10,000 prize pool (more on that in a moment).
Then, after the main event, a promotion tournament will take place. Teams must win two games to progress, or if they lose two they will be knocked out. The two teams that progress will face the bottom two UKLC teams from the previous split in best-of-three matches.
The final two that progress through the promotion tournament will qualify for the next UKLC (in this case, the summer split).
In terms of who actually owns an open team slot in FoC, it’s weighted so that the team manager holds 40% decision power and the players collectively have 60%. A team needs at least 50% decision power to make a decision.
Of course, before FoC Spring 2019 begins, we have the UKLC playoffs taking place this weekend (March 30th and 31st).
Misfits Academy won Forge of Champions last year.
 

What is the FoC prize pool?

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There is £10,000 up for grabs in the next Forge of Champions tournament.
Each team that qualifies for the main event will receive £500.
Then, here’s the main event placement prize breakdown:

  • 1st  – £2,350.00
  • 2nd – £1,750.00
  • 3rd –  £1,400.00
  • 4th/5th – £900.00
  • 6th/7th/8th/9th – £462.50
  • 10th/11th/12th/13th – £212.50

Additional prizing will also be offered ‘based on completion of team obligations’ during the main event.
Those who are promoted or retain their spot in the UKLC will receive £500, while those who are relegated will take £125.
You may be thinking that £10,000 is much lower than the £50,000 prize pool offered in the 2018 Forge of Champions competition. However, since then, we’ve had the UKLC introduced, where teams were offered ‘layers of funding’ dependent on league standing, fan engagement, reach and more, rather than a single traditional esports prize pool.
So it’s less of a drop in prize money than it is a different distribution method for a similar sum.
Forge of Champions will be streamed via LVP UK’s Twitch channel.
Sign-ups will open soon. For more info, check out the LVP UK website or read the FoC rulebook.

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