Wild Rift SEA Champions 2022: Everything you need to know

The new League of Legends: Wild Rift esports season is already underway, with the 2022 Wild Rift SEA Champions (WCS) kicking off on Friday (25 February).

The WCS is the highest level of competition for Wild Rift esports in Southeast Asia, with six regional competitions in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Teams in the WCS will be competing for the lion’s share of prize pools that range from US$100,000 to US$160,000, a chance at the WCS 2022 Championship, and a chance to represent Southeast Asia at the Wild Rift Global Champions Icons LAN event in Europe.

“Fans can expect some heart-stopping matches this season as teams face old rivals and battle against some new faces,” said Chris Tran, Head of Esports for Riot Games Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Riot also acknowledged the return of some of the best players in the region — Warich "G4" Kittiwattanawong from EVOS Esports Thailand, James "Hamezz" Santos from Team Secret Philippines, and Tống "Kiral" Thái Dân from SBTC Esports in Vietnam.

Here’s everything you need to know about WCS 2022:

Schedule

The Group Stage Stage of each competitive league will be from 25 February to 27 March. The Playoffs will then commence from 1 April to 10 April, with 10 April being the grand finals of each league.

The winners of the six regions will then participate in the WCS Finals to compete for the SEA Champions title. The date for the WCS Championship will be announced sometime within the season.

Format

In the Group Stage, all six competitive leagues in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan & Hong Kong) will compete for five weeks in a best-of-three double-round robin season.

The top six teams in each league will advance to the Playoffs where they will play in a double-elimination bracket. The top two teams from the Group Stage will start in Round 2 (Upper Bracket) while the other four teams from the Group Stage will start in Round 1 (Lower Bracket).

Winners from both brackets will face each other in the grand finals, where the top 1-2 teams will represent their country at the WCS Finals.

Prize Pool

Each region has a prize pool that ranges from US$100,000 to US$160,000. Prize pool per region are as follows:

Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore

Total Prize Pool: US $100,000

• 1st – US $20,000 (qualified for WCS Championship)

• 2nd – US $16,500

• 3rd – US $14,000

• 4th – US $11,500

• 5th – 6th – US $10,500

• 7th – US $8,500

• 8th – US $8,500

Philippines, Thailand, WCS Masters (Taiwan, HK, Macau), & Vietnam

Total Prize Pool: US $160,000

• 1st – US $30,000 (qualified for WCS Championship)

• 2nd – US $25,000 (qualified for WCS Championship)

• 3rd – US $22,000

• 4th – US $19,000

• 5th – 6th – US $17,000

• 7th – 8th - US $15,000

Participating Teams

Riot has invited two teams in each country’s league to be part of the WCS where they will face six other teams that have qualified from the WCS Qualifiers. Here are the teams that will be participating in each region:

WCS Indonesia

• MBR Gamma (Invited)

• BOOM Esports (Invited)

• Echo Fortius

• Persis Esports

• The Black Horse

• Pasopati Esports

• Papa Gaming

• Cursed Moon

WCS Masters (Taiwan, Hong Kong, & Macau)

• ONE team (Invited)

• Flash Wolves (Invited)

• TQQ Esports

• MESPORTS

• QWQ

• PVP

• LFD

• FTG

WCS Malaysia & Singapore

• Sem9 (Invited)

• Reach the Peak

• Upcar Esports

• Team Watermelon

• TODAK

• PathSeeker

WCS Philippines

• Team Secret (Invited)

• FENNEL Adversity (Invited)

• LF Adoption

• Rex Regum Qeon

• Cerebrum Wildrift

• Sunsparks

• GrindSky Esports

• Team Underground (Formerly AXS)

WCS Thailand

• EVOS Esports (Invited)

• Buriram United Esports (Invited)

• INVATE Esports

• Lynxeno

• Alchemy

• Oxygen

• Mercenary New Generation

• Arctic Fox

WCS Vietnam

• SBTC Esports (Invited)

• Team Flash (Invited)

• MDH Esports

• Cerberus Esports

• Saigon Phantom

• Royal Palace Esport

• AS Esports

• The Legendary Ganker

On Thursday (24 February), Team Pacquiao.GG announce their entry into Wild Rift Esports Philippines under the name Team Underground, where most of the players were former members of AXS, the top team in the WCS Philippines Qualifiers.

The remaining qualified teams for WCS Malaysia and Singapore will be announced shortly.

Where to Watch:

Wild Rift Champions South East Asia will be broadcasted in English and regional languages throughout all regions starting from 25 February in Wild Rift Esports official YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter accounts.

Fans can keep updated on WCS by following these social media pages as well or visiting the official website.

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.