Riot Games has today announced additional info on the upcoming $300,000 TFT Vegas Open, and has spoken to Esports News UK about it.
The global Teamfight Tactics (TFT) LAN event was announced back in May. It will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for 512 players from around the world to compete for prizes. The best player will walk away with $100,000, a special trophy, and the first TFT Vegas Open title.
The TFT Vegas Open will consist of multiple events throughout the weekend: the Main Event, the Second Chance Tournament, and side events.
Today Riot has announced the registration date and cost of competitor passes, emotes as prizes and more. We spoke with Michael Sherman, Global Head of TFT Esports, about the news.
Prizes at TFT Vegas Open: Could exclusive emotes for top-placed players come to other Riot esports?
A prize pool of $308,500 awaits the 512 players who enter the Main Event. The last player standing on Day 3 will win $100,000 USD and a special TFT Vegas Open Trophy. All 128 players that make it to Day 2 will earn a piece of the prize pool.
Additionally, all players will receive exclusive in-game emotes based on their placement in the Main Event.
Unique emotes for tournament placements are:
● All Participants
● Top 256
● Top 128
● Top 32
● Top 8
● 1st Place – One player in the world will earn the 1st place emote
Michael Sherman, Global Head of TFT Esports, told Esports News UK: “We’re very excited about these bespoke emotes! They are not ready to be shown to the public just yet, but we’ll have an update closer to the event.”
Michael didn’t provide an answer to ENUK’s question about these possibly coming to other esports events in the future.
The winner of the Second Chance Tournament will win a trophy and participants of the Side Events will be able to win fun/community prizes.
Registration info including $399 competitor passes, with discounts for higher-tier players
Riot will launch pre-sales for Challenger and GM/Master players so they can purchase their passes before everyone else.
Competitor passes are $399, and ‘to celebrate high-tier accomplishments of the top players, players who are ranked Master+ will receive a discount’, Riot says.
Master and Grandmaster players will be able to purchase their pass for $299, and Challenger players will be able to purchase their pass for $199 USD. The cutoff date for ranked snapshots will be August 30th 12:01AM PT and anyone interested will need a valid Riot Games account in order to register and purchase a pass.
Riot will also have Spectator Passes for anyone who wants to attend. Passes will be $150 and these include admission for all three days and entry to Side Events, as well as access to other onsite activities such as meet and greets, panels, and more.
Passes will go on sale at 7:00 AM PT / 10:00 AM EST on each day:
● September 5th – Challenger Presale
● September 6th – Grandmaster + Master Presale
● September 7th – Spectator Pass Sale
● September 7th – General Competitor Pass Sale
Riot is currently building a custom website that will feature competitor pass sales, and will also serve as a one-stop-shop for all tournament info including bracket info, scheduling, leaderboards and more. Riot said it will follow up with more information when the site is ready for registration.
What’s the thinking behind charging for the competitor passes?
Michael Sherman, Global Head of TFT Esports, told Esports News UK: “This was something we spent a lot of time on. We wanted to make sure that purchasing a pass wasn’t going to be the most expensive part of the trip, but also wanted to make sure that players didn’t buy the pass and then decide not to participate.
“When it came to pricing the passes, we took into consideration many different factors. We first conducted a pricing study with our players to get a better understanding of price expectations and found that players who were more interested and excited to participate, the more they expected to pay for the passes.
“We then looked at pricing for other tournaments and conventions and saw that the price to attend for a three-day weekend typically cost a couple hundred dollars. Finally, we didn’t want the price of the pass to be the biggest expense of the trip.
“When it came to pricing the passes, we took into consideration many different factors. We first conducted a pricing study with our players to get a better understanding of price expectations and found that players who were more interested and excited to participate, the more they expected to pay for the passes.”
Michael Sherman, Riot Games
“In order to celebrate high-tier players, we have dedicated presale windows for Challenger and Grandmaster/Master players. Challenger players will be able to buy their passes first when the presale opens on September 5th, followed by GM/Master players on September 6th. Any remaining passes will then be open for general sale on September 7th.
“The passes will be first come, first served on each day of sales.”
TFT Vegas Open tournaments explained
The Main Event is the tournament everyone will be registered into when they pick up a competitor pass. 512 competitors will enter on Day 1 and only one player will win it all on Day 3.
After players are knocked out from the round of 512, they’ll have the ability to register for a Second Chance Tournament. This is a first come, first serve event for 128 players. The Second Chance Tournament mimics the rest of the tournament format, but in fewer games. The winner will receive a trophy, but no cash prize.
Players who are knocked out of the Main Event may also participate in Side Events that will be set up within the tournament space. These events are for fun and are also open to spectators. All participants can win prizes for playing in these side events.
In terms of Main Event Format seeding, players will initially be seeded based on an average of their Set 9 & 9.5 ranking. After Round 1, players will be seeded via snake draft based upon the points they earn throughout the tournament.
Looking at the Point System, throughout the tournament, points will be awarded to each player based on the results of
each game: 8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 (ie: first place wins 8 points, eighth place wins 1 point).
In terms of the Schedule for the TFT Vegas Open:
Day 1 – December 8th
● Round 1: 512 players will be split into Lobbies of 8 and play 3 games each. The top 4 players from each Lobby will advance to Round 2.
● Round 2: 256 players will be split into Lobbies of 8 and play 3 games each. The top 4 players from each Lobby will advance to Round 3.
Day 2 – December 9th
● Round 3: 128 players will be split into Lobbies of 8 and play 4 games each. The top 2 players from each Lobby will advance to Round 4.
● Round 4: 32 players will be split into Lobbies of 8 and play 4 games each. The top 2 players from each Lobby will advance to the Finals.
Day 3 – December 10th
● Finals: The top 8 players will play in a checkmate format. The first player to earn 20 points, and then get 1st place in a game will be crowned the TFT Vegas Open Champion.
Related article: EMEA TFT Monsters Attack Rising Legends Finals: UK player Kurfuzzled took part
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.
