Riot Games have recently announced a new Wild Rift tournament for China called Ionia Cup. This tournament will be an off-season tournament where the tier-1 and tier-2 professional teams from China will go up against each other. Tencent previously announced the Ionia Cup during their Esports Summit. The tournament is said to be equivalent to League of Legends LPL Demacia Cup, the off-season tournament of the PC counterpart. The Wild Rift Ionia Cup is set to begin on September 5th, 2022.
Wild Rift Ionia Cup: Tournament Format
The tournament will be held in two stages. The first stage is a single elimination bracket, and Stage 2 is the Final Race.
Single Elimination Competition
The single-elimination competition is divided into WRT breakout, 16-in 8, 8-in 4, and the fifth-place battle.
- WRT Breakout: A total of ten WRT teams will be participating in the WRT Breakout. The matches will be held in a Best of 5 (Bo5) format. The team to win two Bo5s will move to the next round. All the match-ups will be decided through a lottery system.
- 16 in 8: The 16 in 8 is a BO5 single-elimination knockout round, with 12 WRL teams and 4 WRT promotion teams participating, and the team that wins the BO5 will advance to the next stage.
- 8 in 4: The 8 in 4 stages is a BO7 single-elimination knockout round, with eight teams from the previous stage participating. The team that won the BO7 will advance to the next stage, and the loser will enter the battle for fifth place.
- Battle for fifth place: This stage is a BO3 single-elimination knockout, totaling two rounds. The four loser teams from the previous stage will participate in this round. The team that wins two BO3 games will get a fifth place and advance to the next stage.
Final Race
This final match is divided into three rounds, 5 in 4, 4 in 3, and 3 in 1. When a team wins the target points, it can advance to the next round. When all the qualifying teams in the first two rounds are determined, the game will end on that day. The remaining teams will be eliminated, and the team that first wins the target points in the last round wins the championship.
All teams in the final match will be ranked in order and will play in this order. The winner will earn points and continue the game; the loser will step down to the bottom, while the next team will play in order.
Wild Rift Ionia Cup 2022: Participating Teams
12 WRT and 10 WRL teams will be competing in the tournament for a prize pool of $145,000. The list of all the participating teams is provided below:
WRL
- JD Gaming
- Rare Atom
- J Team
- Team Weibo
- Keep Best Gaming
- Oh My God
- EDward Gaming
- FunPlus Phoenix
- ThunderTalk Gaming
- Nova Esports
- WHG Esports
- OneChamp
WRT
- Lupine
- Trace Esports
- Bilibili Gaming
- Team Nebula
- ShowTime
- MLT Gaming
- MAY
- FYG
- MRL
- LCY
Final Thoughts
The Chinese Wild Rift Esports scene has been rising since Nova Esports was crowned as the Wild Rift Icons Championship champion. With so many leagues and off-season tournaments, the fans are waiting to see some intense battle throughout the season.
What are your thoughts about the Wild Rift Ionia Cup 2022? Let us know the comments below.
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