EU Masters gets underway as all participants are confirmed

League of Legends’ European tournament in the style of the Champions League has kicked off as all participants have been locked in.

European Masters brings together the top teams from each of the semi-professional European Regional Leagues, giving players a platform to prove that they are the region’s best outside of the LEC and deserve a shot on the game’s biggest stages. Since the tournament’s inception in 2018, 13 EUM finalist players have gone on to appear in the LEC.

With ERL seasons drawing to a close, some EUM participants were still not yet confirmed less than 24 hours before play-ins were set to begin. The NLC’s Riddle Esports only booked their place after beating BT Excel in a playoff series on Sunday 16th August, while their seeding was also decided the same day in another series against Fnatic Rising.

Hosts LDLC OL start in the play-ins

The play-in group stage saw 16 teams compete across four groups, where the top eight each now move on to a best-of-three knockout to reach the main event. A double round-robin was played out for each group from August 17 to August 18 to determine which teams would move on.

The play-ins conclude with four best-of-three series on Thursday August 20, with the action getting underway at 18:00 CEST.

Spring 2020 champions LDLC OL, whose roster features legendary support Bora “YellOwStar” Kim,  began their EU Masters defense at the play-in stage. Their native LFL is still yet to crown a winner for this split, instead taking a break to host the LFL 2020 EM Qualification tournament to find its representatives. LDLC’s 3-2 loss at the hands of Misfits Premier means they miss out on a group stage bye while the latter are joining GamersOrigin in the main event.

Other title contenders entering in play-ins include Germany’s GamerLegion, a team that was disappointed to be eliminated during the group stage in EUM Spring and have since reached a third-place finish in the Prime League for the second consecutive time. Also joining them is the NLC’s Riddle Esports with a roster featuring ex-LEC mid laner Chres “Sencux” Laursen, who will be hoping to earn another shot in Europe’s top league.