Compete in Lore & Legends!

Everyone can reach for the crown—it’s your time to join the battle.
Esports

A new competitive season is about to begin, and every tactician can participate. Last set, we saw many new faces arriving for the first time at the Tactician’s Crown, our world championship, proving once again that no matter what, every tactician has a shot of greatness with our roadmap of tournaments. Sharpen your blades, channel your mana, and get ready, because here’s your full guide to the Lore & Legends competitive ecosystem.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?

Starting with Set 16, all tournaments will be hosted on our new website: https://competetft.com. Players of all regions must register on the site to get their Compete Cards—a new feature that lets you showcase yourself as a TFT competitor, register for events, and access your Tournament Realm credentials.

COMPETITION STRUCTURE

With Lore & Legends, Teamfight Tactics enters its most ambitious global structure yet, introducing interregional tournaments, refined qualification paths, clearer progression, and the return of the world’s best players to compete for the Tactician’s Crown. 

But let’s start with the basics, the regular roadmap (find specific details for each stage below in the article)

  1. Ladder Snapshot: Each server’s Ranking Ladder qualifies the top players based on their performance during the set. The best performers advance directly to the Regional Finals.

  2. Sub-regional Tournaments: Local events offering prizes and qualifying spots for the Tactician’s Trials and Tactician’s Cups.

  3. Tactician’s Trials: The first official tournament of the cycle in each region. 256 players begin their competitive journey after earning spots from the Cup Snapshots (AMER/EMEA/APAC) and Sub-regional Tournaments (AMER/APAC).

  4. Tactician’s Cup: Top players from the Tactician’s Trials, along with leading Cup Snapshot and Sub-regional players, form a 128-player pool in each region to compete for a place in the Regional Finals.

  5. TFT Pro Circuit: The 32 top players from the previous set compete in a closed, elite tournament. Three weekends of competition determine direct qualifiers for the Tactician’s Crown, while others may advance to Regional Finals Week 1 or 2 based on results.

  6. Regional Finals: 64 top tacticians from previous stages compete during two weekends to determine the best players in each region, their representatives at the Tactician’s Crown, and define slots for the Set 17 TFT Pro Circuit.

  7. Tactician’s Crown: The global finals, where the 40 best tacticians from the Regional Finals and TFT Pro Circuit compete for the world championship—the highest stage and ultimate achievement in competitive TFT.

Together, the structure looks like this:

THE PRIZES

Players aren’t just competing for the glory of being recognized as one of the best tacticians in their region—or even the world—they are also competing for significant cash prizes:

  • Tactician’s Cup: $25,000 USD ($12,500 USD per cup)

  • Regional Finals: $50,000 USD

  • TFT Pro Circuit: $90,600 USD ($30,200 USD per cup)

  • Tactician’s Crown: $450,000 USD

In total, prizes exceed $150,000 per region, with an additional $450,000 at the Tactician’s Crown.

THE DATES

Take a look at the competitive roadmap in the image below, where you’ll find some of the most important dates for the weeks ahead.

  • December 17 (EMEA & AMER) / 18 (APAC) - January 5. Don’t forget to sign up for the Tactician’s Cup 1.

  • January 6. Say cheese! The Cup Snapshot 1 will be shot.

  • January 9-11. Watch the first TPC Event: the Shurima Cup.

  • January 10-11. Get ready for the Tactician’s Trials 1.

  • January 16-18. Make sure you keep your eyes on the Tactician’s Cup

HOW TO WATCH & FOLLOW

Don’t forget to drop a follow on the CompeteTFT X Account, where we’ll keep you updated with all the latest news from the TFT Esports ecosystem! That’s also where we’ll announce co-streamers and broadcast channels for each competition.

More TFT Channels:

Now, let’s dive into each tournament format details… brace yourselves!

FORMAT DETAILS BY TOURNAMENT

  1. Ladder Snapshot 

If climbing the ladder is your specialty, this is your moment to earn a spot in our competitions! During Lore & Legends, six Ladder Snapshots will be captured on select Tuesdays at 9PM PT for AMER / 9PM CET for EMEA / 9pm SGT for APAC. These snapshots grant Ranked Ladder Points to the top 30 players in each region, points that play a key role in qualifying for the Regional Finals.

For this set, the snapshots will be taken on the following dates:

  • December: 23rd, 30th

  • January: 6th, 13th, 27th

  • February: 3rd

  1. Tactician’s Trials 

This qualifier spans two days (Saturday and Sunday) and features 256 tacticians who earn their places through the Cup Snapshot for EMEA and the Cup Snapshot + Sub-regionals for AMER and APAC. 

If you’re wondering what a Cup Snapshot is, it’s a way to capture the current order of the Ranked Leaderboard at the moment the snapshot is taken. This will be the order and rank that players will have for the next tournament. They are usually shot the Tuesday before each Tactician’s Trials and they are different from the Ladder Snapshots.

In this set, all the Tactician’s Trials will follow the standard Trials format, rather than the automated tournament system tested during K.O. Coliseum. There will be two Tactician’s Trials in Lore & Legends, happening on these dates:

  • Tactician’s Trials 1: January 10-11

  • Tactician’s Trials 2: January 31 - February 1

Each weekend, Day 1 kicks off with 256 players battling through 4 games. Lobbies will be reseeded every two games based on players’ points. The Top 32 will qualify for Day 2 immediately while the bottom 32 will be eliminated. Afterwards, the remaining 192 players will play two more games. Then, the Top 96 of those players will join the 32 from before to make it into the second day.

Day 2 follows the same structure: 4 games with reseeding. By the end of the fourth game, the Top 16 will qualify for the Tactician’s Cup and the bottom 24 will be eliminated. The other 88 tacticians will advance and play two more rounds. All in all, 64 players will qualify to the Tactician’s Cup.

  1. Tactician’s Cups

Each Tactician’s Cup is a three-day competition featuring 128 players battling for spots in the Regional Finals and a portion of the prize pool. Lore & Legends will host two Tactician’s Cups:

  • Tactician’s Cup 1: January 16-18

  • Tactician’s Cup 2: February 6-8

The competitors qualify through several different routes:

  • Tactician’s Trials: The Top 64 players from the AMER & EMEA Tactician Trials will make it to their respective Tactician’s Cup.
    • APAC: The Top 76 players will make it to their respective Tactician’s Cup (20 from VN, 28 from KR & 28 from APAC)
  • Previous Cup: The Top 9-16 tacticians of the Tactician’s Cup 1 will get a spot in the Tactician’s Cup 2.
  • Cup Snapshot 1:
    • AMER: 15 from BR, 5 from LAN, 6 from LAS & 26 from NA
    • EMEA: 46 from EUW, 11 from EUNE & 7 from TR
    • APAC: 11 from VN, 10 from KR, 6 from TW, 4 from OC, 4 from JP &  5 from SEA
  • Cup Snapshot 2: 
    • AMER: 13 from BR, 4 from LAN, 5 from LAS, 22 from NA
    • EMEA: 41 from EUW, 9 from EUNE & 6 from TR
    • APAC: 9 from VN, 8 from KR, 4 from TW, 2 from OC,  2 from JP &  4 from SEA
  • Sub-regionals:
    • AMER: 4 from BR, 4 from LATAM & 4 from NA
    • APAC
      • Tactician’s Cup 1: 10 from VN,  2 from KR
      • Tactician’s Cup 2: 10 from VN, 2 from KR, 1 from TW, 1 from TH & 1 from SEA

On Day 1, 128 tacticians compete across 4 games. Then, the Top 16 will qualify for Day 2 and the Bottom 24 are eliminated. Then, the remaining 88 will advance and play two more rounds. Once the dust settles, the 64 players will advance to Day 2 in total.

On Day 2, we’ll follow a similar structure. After four games, the Top 8 will qualify for Day 3 and the bottom 8 will be eliminated. Afterwards, the remaining  48 tacticians will play two more games. By the end of the day, only the Top 32 will remain.

On Day 3, this will get serious. The day will split into four stages:

  • Top 32 play 3 games, with reseeds after every 2.

  • Next, Top 24 then play 2 more games.

  • Then, Top 16 will play 1 more game.

  • Finally, the Top 8 face off in a last game with, again, no reset. The tactician with the highest total points after all three stages wins the tournament.

  1. TFT Pro Circuit

The TFT Pro Circuit is the Tier 1 competitive ecosystem where the Top 32 players from each region fight for Pro Points, a juicy prize pool and spots in the Regional Finals. These will be the dates of the 3 TPC cups in Lore & Legends:

  • Shurima Cup: January 9 - 11

  • Bilgewater Cup: January 30 - February 2* 

  • Demacia Cup: February 13 - 15

*The Bilgewater Cup will be played between paired regions, creating a unique cross-region showdown throughout the event. The tournaments will be fully drafted with the winner of each region’s Shurima Cup making the first pick for their Home Cup and then initial lobbies will be seeded with 4 AMER / 4 EMEA and 4 APAC / 4 CN, ensuring that each lobby is evenly split for maximum interregional competition.

On Day 1, 32 tacticians will play 6 games, with Snake Reseeding every two. After them, the Top 24 will advance to Day 2.

Day 2 will split into three stages:

  • First, 24 tacticians will play 2 games.

  • Then, the Top 16 will advance and play two more games.

  • After those games, the Top 4 will advance to Day 3 and the middle 8 will play two last games. The Top 4 after them, will also qualify for Day 3.

On Day 3, the 8 remaining tacticians will play with a checkmate format, where the first player who achieves 20 points and wins one more game will be crowned the winner of the tournament and qualify directly for the Tactician’s Crown.

Pro Points:

  • We’re making some changes to Pro Points rewards in order to better reward the most consistent players across regions in the TPC. First, and most importantly, the Top 1 Pro Points earner of APAC, EMEA, and AMER will qualify to the Tactician’s Crown. 

  • Additionally, the Top 4 Pro Point earners will receive additional prize money at the end of the set, rather than just 1st place.

  • Lastly, to avoid potential issues with player incentives in the Checkmate format with the addition of the Tactician’s Crown slot, Day 3 of the third TFT Pro Circuit Cup (Demacia Cup) will now award 4 Pro Points to all participating players, rather than awarding different point values based on final placement.

All details about schedule, participants and more information will be announced in upcoming articles.

  1. Regional Finals

The Regional Finals span six intense days, bringing together the region’s 60 best tacticians to battle for the championship title.

  • Week 1

Day 1 begins with the Play-ins Phase, where 16 tacticians compete for the final 8 slots in the tournament. The participants are:

  •  Bottom 4 Pro Points

  •  Ranked Ladder Points earners.

    • AMER: Top 3-7 NA, Top 2-3 BR & Top 1 LAN

    • EMEA: Top 5-10 EUW, Top 1 EUNE & Top 1 TR

    • APAC: 2nd from VN, KR, TW & SEA, Top 2 OCE & JP

  •  9-10th of each Tactician’s Cup

These 16 tacticians will compete in 4 games. After which:

  • Top 4 will qualify for Day 2.

  • Bottom 4 will be eliminated.

  • Middle 8 will play 2 more games. The Top 4 of those two final games will also qualify for Day 2.

Then, the Battle Stage will start. On Day 2, these 32 tacticians will join the ones coming from the Play-ins Phase:

  • Top 17-28 Pro Points

  • Ranked Ladder Points earners.

    • AMER: Top 2 NA, Top 1 LAS & Top 1 BR

    • EMEA: Top 4 EUW

    • APAC: Top 1 from VN, KR, TW & SEA

  • Top 8 of each Tactician’s Cup

They will play 6 games. After that, the Top 32 will advance to the next day with points carrying over to the Elimination Stage.

Next, on the Elimination Stage, on Day 3, 16 players reach Week 2 after fighting through these four phases:

  • Tacticians will play 2 games, where the Top 4 will advance to Week 2 and the Bottom 4 gets eliminated.

  • Then, they will play 2 more games after which the Top 4 will make it into Week 2 and the Bottom 4 will get eliminated.

  • After that, the remaining 16 tacticians will play 1 game. Then, the Top 4 will advance again and the Bottom 4 will be out.

  • Finally, one last game will decide the final 4 tacticians who qualify for the second week of the regional finals.

  • Week 2

We’ll start the second week with the Battle Stage. On Day 4, the 16 players who qualified from the first week will be joined by the Top 16 from the TFT Pro Circuit.

Then, the initial lobbies will be determined by a draft, with the Top 4 Pro Point earners making all of the selections. After 6 games, the Top 24 tacticians will advance to Day 5 with their points carrying over.

Next, coming back to the Elimination Stage, on Day 5 we’ll have three phases too:

  • First, 24 tacticians will play 2 games.

  • Then, the Top 16 will play two more

  • Next, the Top 4 will qualify for Day 6, the bottom 4 will be eliminated and the middle 8 will play 2 more games. The Top 4 players of these last two games will participate on Day 6.

Finally, on the Grand Finals, on Day 6, if all the players have already qualified for the Tactician's Crown, the 8 remaining tacticians will play with a checkmate format, where the first player who achieves 20 points and wins will be crowned the champion of the region. If not, the 8 tacticians will play 6 games and the one with the most points after that will win. Each region will also have Tactician’s Crown slots up for grabs for the best performers, keep an eye out for more information on those!

  1. Tactician’s Crown

Only one tactician will rise above the rest to claim the $150K grand prize, the Tactician’s Crown, and the title of Lore & Legends Champion. We will have three days of legendary combats and the grand reveal of what’s next for TFT.

Day 1 begins with the 40 best players from all over the world.

  • Round 1

    • 40 players will be drawn into their 5 starting lobbies and play 6 games total

    • The lobbies will shuffle after every 2 games; lobbies will be shuffled based on the total points earned throughout the day

    • After Game 6, the top 32 players will advance to Day 2, and the bottom 8 players will be eliminated

Day 2 continues with a high stakes day where players will be eliminated more frequently.

  • Round 2

    • Players retain their points from Day 1

    • 32 players will be split into 4 lobbies and play 2 games

    • After Game 2, the top 24 players will advance and the bottom 8 players will be eliminated

  • Round 3

    • 24 players will be split into 3 lobbies and play 2 games

    • After Game 4, the top 16 players will advance and the bottom 8 players will be eliminated

  • Round 4

    • 16 players will be split into 2 lobbies and play 2 games

    • After Round 4, the top 4 players in Total Points across Day 1 & 2 will advance to the Finals and the bottom 4 Players will be eliminated

    • The 5th-12th place players in Total Points across Day 1&2 will advance to Round 5

  • Round 5

    • 8 players will play 1 game

    • The top 4 players in Total Points across Day 1&2 will advance to the Grand Final

On Day 3, we will have the Finals with the 8 best players of the tournament

  • Checkmate Format

    • The first player to hit 20 points AND then secure a first-place finish will be crowned the Lore & Legends Champion!

All details about schedule, participants and more information will be announced as we get closer to the event.

Every season, veteran players steeped in the Lore and rising Legends alike join the Convergence in pursuit of greatness and glory. Don’t miss the chance to test your skills, gain experience, and reach the crown. See you in Runeterra, ready to write the next chapter of your competitive journey!