Last Updated: April 15, 2020
Spoiler Alert: that spear lands and it kills that Senna for match point
This is your guide to determining the rules and restrictions for your League of Legends 1v1 tournament. I have broken down each possible option you have for your tournament and I also embedded prewritten rulesets (TO BE ADDED SOON) with my pre-made formats and how to include each element I mention in the overview into your own rulesets to ensure transparency and make sure players understand what you mean (TO BE ADDED SOON).
I have also created a beginner’s guide catered towards people who don’t understand the game but still want to run a tournament. That beginner guide will include all the information present here, but it is broken down and explained in a way where unexperienced individuals would understand the game and its choices (COMING SOON).
This article is long, don’t feel required to read it all, you can just go to the summaries of each section, but feel free to read the other parts for extra clarification.
For new organizers, I highly recommend reading the section about Tournament Codes if you are unaware what they are or how to obtain them!
Overview
Pre-Made Formats
Shortest Games
Map: Howling Abyss Mode: Blind pick
Win Condition/s: 1 kill, 100 CS or first turret (players only need to achieve one)
Tournament Format: Single elimination bo3 (bo5 finals) or double elimination bo3 (bo5 grand-finals and bracket reset)
Duration
Duration (per game): 3 – 12 mins per game (1 min 40 sec max lock in, 1 min average load in, 1 mins min kill time)
Average (per game): 7 mins per game
Duration (per match): 8 – 40 mins per bo3 match
Average (per match): 23 mins average per match
Buffer: 3 – 5 mins per match
*averages are lower than an actual average since 1v1 games tend to be shorter than longer + best of 3 games can end in 2 games.
This ruleset creates the quickest gaming experience for participants, and this was the ruleset I used for my 1v1 Me, Yo! 2019 tournament. The map Howling abyss jump-starts games in comparison to Summoner’s rift due to the start at level 3 and 1400 gold in addition to the restriction of being unable to recall. Blind pick saves some time over draft mode while they both have a low requirement for regulating. 1 kill, 100 CS or first turret as win conditions are very quickly doable, although you could change CS to 50 if you desire games to end before 7 mins (97 cs per side have spawned and clashed at the middle by 7 mins).
Overall, this is the ideal mode when you are restricted for time, but the lack of banning does cause some uproar, especially from more skilled players (I haven’t heard any complaints from my lower-ranked players).
Single Elimination
Here we calculated the duration of a tournament based on the minimum, average and max time written above. Each section has the buffer time added. This data looks at how long a tournament would take with 1 match at a time, 5 matches at and an unlimited number of matches at once (taking into consideration of prerequisite games.
Each time includes buffer:
Min – 8 mins matches (aprox 3 min/game) + 3 min buffer
Average – 23 mins matches (aprox 7 min/game) + 4 min buffer
Max – 40 mins per match (13 min/game) + 5 mins buffer
*The maximum is really a worst case scenario, its very unlikely to occur
Double Elimination (COMING SOON)
Most Skilled Based
Map: Howling Abyss
Mode: Mirror Picks + Mirror Runes/Items/Summoner Spells
Win Condition/s: 1 kill, 100 CS or first turret (players only need to achieve one)
Tournament Format: Single elimination bo3 (bo5 finals) or double elimination bo3 (bo5 grand-finals and bracket reset)
Duration
Duration (per game): 3 – 12 mins per game (1 min 40 sec max lock in, 1 min average load in, 1 mins min kill time)
Average (per game): 7 mins per game
Duration (per match): 7 – 40 mins per bo3 match
Average (per match): 22 mins average per match
Buffer: 4 – 7 mins per match
*averages are lower than an actual average since 1v1 games tend to be shorter than longer + best of 3 games can end in 2 games.
This ruleset focuses completely on the skill-based competition. Forcing mirror picks with mirror runes and items creates identical odds for both players to win and only how they play will determine their success. Howling abyss reduces the possibility to gain unfair advantages like getting jungle and another wave’s XP or tower gold. This provides a straightforward and easily controlled environment. Win conditions could vary, but these are very standard.
This mode, however, is not enjoyable by casual players, players with very limited champion pools or people who really don’t enjoy playing certain champions. At the same time, some people may be too good at one a champion while their opponent is not, leaving them not wanting to play. Not to mention that your referees will need to double-check both parties’ runes in-game for confirmation (this makes playing this ruleset remotely a pain).
Single Elimination
Here we calculated the duration of a tournament based on the minimum, average and max time written above. Each section has the buffer time added. This data looks at how long a tournament would take with 1 match at a time, 5 matches at and an unlimited number of matches at once (taking into consideration of prerequisite games.
Each time includes buffer:
Min – 7 mins matches (aprox 3 min/game) + 4 min buffer
Average – 22 mins matches (aprox 7 min/game) + 5 min buffer
Max – 40 mins per match (13 min/game) + 7 mins buffer
*The maximum is really a worst case scenario, its very unlikely to occur