Should World's Champ Autoqualify for Play-in stage?

MysterQ·Sep 30, 2017·2 votes·319 views

So previously "World's Curse" was winning and then not qualifying next year. That curse doesn't exist, but it had me thinking.

Should the World Champs automatically qualify for one of the Play-in stages? Each major region still gets 2 seeds in Group, 1 in Play ins. So Korea would keep 2 in group but also have 1 in playin.

Lots of details to work out. But in most other games (maybe not sports) the current champ gets a position at least at the bottom of worlds to give them a chance to fight back up. But in LoL you have to constantly requalify. I understand in League your roster may change, the team may just get bad, etc. But I think it might be interesting.

That said, having Koreans in the playins doesn't seem fun. They will likely win. But if another region ever does win, it gives them a chance.

Thoughts. Maybe the winning region can have 4 spots. (Split champ, point, last chance, WC). WC does not play in last chance but can qualify the other two methods. If they don't qualify, then the region sends 4 (2 playins), if they do qualify, the extra playin can go to a new region.

4 Comments

2 Weeks VacationSep 30, 20171 votes

Team winning Worlds isn't about which "Team" win Worlds, its more about which "Region" win Worlds

MysterQSep 30, 20171 votes

For the Team that wins it, it certainly isn't that way. For America/Europe it may be that way, but that is only because we haven't stood there in awhile/ever. I mean of course Korea wants a Korean team to win. But within those Korean teams they are rooting for specifics. In America we can only dream of one team even making it out, so we all hope for it lol. But this is an individual team game.

And if you read, this still does benefit the region that wins. Maybe too much so Korea, but if someone ever pulled an upset. They could get 4 spots, 4 group spots, potentially 4 in the top 8 which is a huge advantage for that region.

Dr PoroSep 30, 20171 votes

The winning region already gets a guaranteed third seed in the group stage (pool 2) while the other main regions have to qualify their third seed through.

I prefer giving these rewards to the regions over the teams because a specific team can be very viable in performance. For example Origin reached the semi finals in Worlds 2015, but was then one of the worst performing teams in EU LCS summer 2016 and spring 2017 even lost the promotions 2017, removed from LCS.

Not only can the teams drastically change, the game itself changes too. If you're guaranteed to get a spot in Worlds, why bother doing your best during the spring and summer splits? It would make the pro scene less competitive imo.

Games that I know with this "champion's curse" are usually hugely affected by RNG.

MysterQSep 30, 20171 votes

You are right, the winning region gets three seeds. But as we have seen, coming out of the PlayIns was a joke for every third seed.

Yes I already said a winning team can be variable. That is why I said give then a playin spot, not a group spot. So if they fail all season and fail the playin, they lost their chance. Maybe it is excessive to see a championship team lose constantly, but it would still seem fair to give them a chance.

If you honestly believe one of these teams will not try hard in their regions, I have to doubt your idea of esports in general. Yes a free ride is nice, but these guys are competitive people, they want to win, they want to keep their fans, they want to prove they are dominant. But yes, maybe they keep their pocket picks hidden (if that even matters considering the meta changes).