Cover-Credits:
At the start of 2023. Riot Games introduced a dedicated Champions Queue server in League of Legends for EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) players. The server went live on 24th January alongside the League of Legends EMEA Championship Winter Split 2023. Now, with the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2023 just around the corner, Riot Games and League of Legends Esports (LoL Esports) announced the return of Champions Queue (CQ).
Riot Games stated that it will be opening Champions Queue on 30th April and it welcomed players from all over the globe to London. It noted that the MSI 2023 Champions Queue will be tailored to ensure that all players are able to practice in a highly competitive environment with and against their fellow competitors.
Last year too, before the start of Worlds 2022, Riot Games enabled Champions Queue which toured the region of North America, moving to the server closest to each stage of the tournament.
MSI 2023 Champions Queue opens on 30th April
Champions Queue is an invite-only, adaptive server that allows pros and development players to practice in an organized environment. All eligible players are given access to a server that will schedule, track, and organize games between players. Just like the Worlds 2022 CQ, this one will have admins on-hand to act as the point of contact for players if they happen to encounter issues.
“To give players a low latency environment ahead of the MSI procession, the tournament server will move to the server closest to the MSI, in Frankfurt, and will support zero-delay streaming by any player or spectator with CQ access,” said Riot Games, in its blog post.
Notably, champions disabled in MSI 2023 will also be disabled in the Champions Queue and therefore, players won’t be able to play either Milio or Yuumi.
According to Riot, one of the following criteria must be met for a player to be eligible to use the MSI 2023 Champion Queue:
MSI 2023 players (including substitutes)
League of Legends EMEA [Europe, Middle East & Africa] Championship (LEC) starting lineup players
European Regional League (ERL) players and LEC substitutes who are currently Challenger rank in 2023 on live servers (this does not include their peak, it must be their current rank)
Players from MSI-qualifying leagues who are bootcamping in EMEA
ERL and ex-pro players who are vetted and approved by the EMEA CQ
Player Council (Ex-pro players are those who have played in at least two Splits in a LoL MSI-Qualifying region)
As spectators, most of these Champions Queue matches will be livestreamed by the players themselves on Twitch or by other content creators who have access to the server and have permission to stream the games. Riot Games noted, “The spectator/co-stream pool of MSI CQ will also be expanding, offering streaming access to select content creators globally.” Lastly, the Champions Queue will be active starting from 30th April till 21st May.
