Champions Queue in North American LoL explained
Forgot password
Enter the email address you used when you joined and we'll send you instructions to reset your password.
If you used Apple or Google to create your account, this process will create a password for your existing account.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Reset password instructions sent. If you have an account with us, you will receive an email within a few minutes.
Something went wrong. Try again or contact support if the problem persists.
LCS studio in 2020 with players high fiving the crowd
Provided by Riot Games

Champions Queue in North American LoL explained

The new top-level matchmaking system comes online on Feb. 8

The League of Legends Championship Series has announced the opening day of the new North American matchmaking queue, Champions Queue, which will open on Feb. 7. The LoL queue is exclusive to LCS and Academy players, along with the top 16 NA amateur teams, LCS alumni and players from the Liga Latinoamérica. It will also open up to other high level players via a Champions Queue public application.

Recommended Videos

The LoL queue will be conducted through an invite-only Discord server and will feature “automatic lobby creation, player invites, comms channels and match result reporting, all held on a Tournament Realm that runs alongside the live patch,” the announcement stated. Players will also need to pass a behavior check and all behavior will be reviewed by a council of professional players, LCS staff, the LCS Players Association, amateur players and Riot Games.

The queue will be active daily from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. EST and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST on Mondays. According to the LCSPA Twitter account, which fielded questions surrounding the announcement, LoL players can stream their matches in Champions Queue. The server is also based on the west coast, unlike North America’s primary server in the Midwest.

The council in charge of the queue can also remove players for poor performance and, when the public application do open up, players will need to have a high rank. The council will also look at things like champion pools in deciding to let players enter.

“The council of pro players, amateur players, LCS team staff, the LCSPA and Rioters will be weighing all applicants holistically if CQ expands,” the LSCPA Twitter account said. “Champion pool would definitely be a key factor, so we recommend 1tricks take time to explore some of the other 157 champions.”

LoL Champions Queue structure and prize pool

Champions Queue will also feature a prize pool of $400,000 split between its three seasons and seven splits. Champions Queue will have two seasons, spring and summer, with three splits during each. There is also a preseason which will feature one split.

Prizes will be given out at the end of each split and season because rankings will reset after each season. There is also a points system that will ranks players across the competitive seasons and splits. Fans can watch the Champions Queue leaderboard to see how each player is doing across the year. The spring season runs from Feb. 7 through May 23. Each split will be about a month long with a week break in between. The summer season run from May 30 through Sep. 26 and the preseason event starts after the League of Legends World Championships, from Nov. 17 to Dec. 13.

Author
Image of Declan McLaughlin
Declan McLaughlin
Declan is an esports journalist and part-time editor for Upcomer. He is an avid gamer and League of Legends player. You can find him at the bottom of the leaderboard in most games or on Twitter.