With playoffs on the horizon, League of Legends esports fans might end up missing the tournament which showcases Europe’s best up-and-coming stars. The EU Masters is the event that brings the best from all of Europe’s regional leagues together – and it begins next Monday.
What is EU Masters
European League of Legends esports has long been blessed with some amazing up-and-coming teams that made their mark on the then-EU LCS. Many big names such as G2, Origen and Misfits Gaming made their way through the ranks of the Challenger Series to take their spot among the greats from those among the pro teams that couldn’t keep up. This was one of the big reasons why many European fans were opposed to a franchised model for the league, fearing that it would kill the groundswell of skilled players. Thankfully, this has not happened – and the EU Masters, the tournament that took the place of the challenger series, is a big part of the reason.
The EU Masters is the esports event that brings the best teams in Europe’s regional leagues together. The top teams from all the different championships – the Spanish Superliga Orange, the Prime League of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (or DACH as they are also known), the UK League Championship of Great Britain and Ireland, and many others – face off in this tournament twice a year.
It is not only a big international tournament with a respectable prize pool – 150,000 Euro - but also the biggest scouting ground tournament in Europe. Many of the LEC’s hottest new players such as Fnatic’s Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek or MAD Lions’ Iván "Razork" Martín Díaz first made their mark there, winning or making deep playoff runs in amateur teams.
The Format
The tournament retains the three stages it had before: play-ins, group stage, and playoffs. The play-in stage will begin next week on April 6 and will feature 16 teams split into four groups. The top two teams of every group are going to a direct elimination round, where the top seed from one group will play the second seed of another.
The event will then have a short pause until April 22, when the group stage starts. The four play-ins winners will join the remaining 12 teams as they are again seeded in four groups with the best two continuing in the play-offs. The groups are double Round-Robin (everyone plays everyone else in their group twice) with best-of-one matches, while the play-in eliminations being a best-of-three series.
The playoffs will also be best-of-three series except for the grand finals, where the teams will play a best-of-five match. The tournament will be played completely online – while in previous years the final part was played in a studio, health concerns have mandated a change.
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Who is playing
All 13 of Europe’s regional leagues will send their best teams to the tournament. The leagues are ranked according to their historical EU Masters performance and this determines how many teams they will be sending to the EU Masters and where these teams will start:
- Ranks 1-2: DACH & Spain: top two seeds in the groups, third seed for the play-ins
- Ranks 3-4: France & UK/Ireland: top two seeds in the groups
- Ranks 5-8: Poland, Nordics, Balkans, Italy: top seed in the groups, second seed in play-ins
- Ranks 9-13: Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic/Slovakia, Benelux and the Baltics: top two seeds in play-ins
Generally, the DACH region, Spain and France have been considered the three strongest, with the UK and Ireland together with Poland being the next tier. Predicting the best teams is going to be somewhat of a challenge, but so far, both FC Schalke 04 Evolution and Vodaphone Giants appear set to be powerhouses.
In the play-in stage, teams to keep an eye on are the Prime League’s GamerLegion, Superliga Orange’s MAD Lions Madrid, and Ultraliga’s K1ck Neosurf. Yet if there’s one thing the EU Masters has shown, it is that these teams are anything but predictable.
So here’s my advice for all you League of Legends esports fans: stock up on your favorite drinks and snacks and make sure your chair is comfy. Between the EU Masters and the LEC playoffs, we’re going to have an entire month full of the top European LoL teams showing what they’ve got. And if you want to know more about the best of Europe’s LEC and how they will be clashing in the playoff, we have a handy guide for you here.
