The Wild Rift Icons Global Championship 2022 is the first global tournament to mark the end of the inaugural League of Legends: Wild Rift esports season. The international event will take place at Suntec Convention and Exhibition Center in Singapore from June 14 to July 9. The tournament boasts an initial $2 million prize pool and will feature 24 teams from 8 regions competing for the top spot.
Wild Rift Icons Format
The Wild Rift Icons Global Championship begins on June 14 with the Play-In stage. This stage lasts until June 18th, with 16 teams divided into four groups. All teams will compete in a double elimination best-of-three series, and the top two teams from each group in the Play-In stage will join the 8 teams already qualified for the main group stage. The 8 teams that are already qualified for the main stage each ended the season as champions in their respective regions.
The main group stage kicks off on June 21 and will last for four days. Here, the 16 teams are split into four groups for a double elimination best-of-three series. The group stage will not mix teams from the same Play-ins group, only containing a maximum of 2 teams from the same region. The two best teams from each group will advance to the next stage.
The Knockout stage will commence on July 1 with single elimination best-of-five formats for both the quarter and semifinals. Moreover, the semifinals will take place from July 5 to 6 with the top 4 teams. The winners of each group will face the runners-up from a different group. The Wild Rift Icons finals will hold on July 9 with a best-of-seven series.
Additionally, the Wild Rift Icons Global Championship will be played on Patch 3.2b which introduced champions Nautilus and Pyke to the game.
How to Watch the event
The Wild Rift Icons Global Championship will be broadcast in various languages on Twitch and YouTube. Viewers who link their Riot Games account to Twitch will obtain cosmetic rewards via drops during the broadcast.
Strongest teams and regions
With 24 teams at the event, there is certainly going a lot to watch out for. From the Horizon Cup and the competitive nature of each regional league, China still remains the region to beat. The Chinese Wild Rift League is one of the only two leagues with four representatives at the Wild Rift Icons.
Furthermore, out of the four WRL teams, FunPlus Phoenix leads the way as the strongest. The Chinese Wild Rift team have won every competition they’ve attended since November 2021, only dropping one game to JDG in the WRL finals.
Aside from China, Southeast Asia is another region to watch out for. SEA’s WCS remained one of the most competitive leagues throughout the season and is the second region with four teams at Icons. The teams include the Flash Wolves, Rex Regum Qeon, Team Flash and Buriram United Esports.
KT Rolster from South Korea is another team to keep an eye out for; the Horizon Cup semifinalists were one of the only teams to remain consistent after the event and continue to dominate South Korea’s Wild Rift scene.
