Format Update for the Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021

Update to the format of the Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 following Gamer Koala Team’s withdrawal from the competition.
Announcements

The format for the Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 will be updated following the withdrawal of Oceania’s regional representative, Gamer Koala Team (GKT), due to connectivity issues that have the potential to impact the overall competitive integrity of the tournament.

In order to facilitate GKT’s participation in the SEA Championship, Riot Games had planned to fly the team out to Singapore where they could compete on an acceptable latency alongside other Southeast Asian teams. However, strict travel restrictions in Australia meant that options for departure from and reentry to the country are very limited.

Riot Games then worked with GKT to explore the possibility of online play for the team. However, despite ongoing troubleshooting efforts and multiple latency tests run over the past few weeks, the distance between GKT and other Southeast Asian teams resulted in latency conditions that were suboptimal for a fair and equitable competition.

After exhausting all possible options for participation, GKT decided to withdraw from the SEA Championship 2021. While this outcome is disappointing, Riot Games recognises GKT’s performance in the season thus far and will compensate the team with USD 10,000, equivalent to the amount GKT would have been awarded if they qualified for the Playoffs stage.

UPDATED TOURNAMENT FORMAT

The Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 is structured in 3 stages:

  • Stage 1 - Play-ins: September 14 - 20, 2021
  • Stage 2 - Group Stage: September 23 - 26, 2021
  • Stage 3 - Playoffs: September 30 - October 3, 2021

The withdrawal of GKT will impact the Group Stage where 12 teams are scheduled to compete. To fill GKT’s vacated slot, an additional stage, the Play-ins Last Chance Qualifier, will be run on Monday, 20 September.

The Play-ins Last Chance Qualifier will feature the 2nd place teams from Play-ins Brackets A, B and C. The three teams will compete in a Single-round robin Best-of-2 games series, followed by a final Best-of-5 games series to be played by the top 2 teams of the round-robin. The winner of the Bo5 will fill the spot vacated by GKT and move on to the Group Stage.

For more information on the remaining qualified teams, overall tournament format and broadcast schedules, please refer to this All You Need To Know article on the Wild Rift Competitive Play website.