Champions Queue, the previously announced high-ranked matchmaking experience for North American LoL players, is now set to launch in early February.
With complaints from LCS players and Challenger players alike about high ping and the difficulties of matchmaking on the NA servers, Riot Games has brought a solution. Champions’ Queue is a west coast-based matchmaking server run through League of Legends’ new integration with Discord.
What is Champions Queue?
The Champions Queue server will be limited to LCS players, Academy players, Proving Grounds players, and some recent LCS alumni. The server will look to allow players to play in a low-ping environment with the rest of the best players in North America. Every day from 6pm-1am local time, players will be able to use the invite-only Discord server to play games alongside their most skilled competitors with voice communication and the ability to cooperate more actively.
The experience itself won’t be the only incentive for skilled players to partake, as $400,000 will be devoted to the best performing players across a variety of splits in Champions Queue. Ideally, such a large prize pool for a matchmaking service that top-level players have already been begging for will provide a top-notch competitive practice environment as opposed to the typical rigors of solo queue. Limiting the player base to more established players, with a public application available for Masters and above players, will more easily filter in those individuals who won’t abuse the privilege.
Champions Queue will have a Spring Season, Summer Season, and Pre-Season Brawl. The two seasons will each have three splits of about a month, with Pre-Season Brawl having one split. Riot is trying to prove that it can listen to its professional players’ feedback, and the new matchmaking option is a good start.
The service will launch on February 7, and the first split will run through March 7. There is a one-week break between each split in a given season to give competitors a chance to decompress.
