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Rift Rivals, Riot’s annual competition to decide which region reigns supreme at the mid-season point, has returned for 2019. With impressive finishes at both Worlds and MSI, this year’s face off between EU and NA could be the most exciting one yet.
Just like last year, the competitors in this tournament were decided by which teams finished highest in their region last split. For NA that means Team Liquid, TSM, and Cloud9 are their Rift Rivals 2019 representatives. Meanwhile, from EU we have Fnatic, G2 Esports, and Origen.
This time around the tournament will have both a Group Stage and a Finals Stage, just like it has in previous years. The first round of the tournament will have the three teams representing each region all play each other once to determine which region is stronger. After this determination, there will be a Finals best-of-five relay. The region with the better record coming out of the Group Stage will have the opportunity to counter pick the other region in the first three matches. This means the region with the better record in groups will choose which team to send out second in hopes of creating the best match up. In the final two matches, the representatives will be chosen at the same time giving neither side an advantage.
The tournament will once again be held at Riot’s LCS Studio in Los Angeles. Each match will be streamed live on Riot’s Twitch and YouTube channels, as well as on lolesports.com. As a special bonus this year’s tournament will also be extended to a select few secondary streamers who are part of the League of Legends Partners Program. This means that a few streamers will be able to host their own Rift Rivals streams that they can commentate over, which Riot doesn’t normally allow.
Here is the list of approved LPP streamers for Rift Rivals 2019.
Rift Rivals NA vs EU Schedule
Thursday, June 27
- G2 Esports vs Cloud9 — 3:30 pm ET
- Team Liquid vs Fnatic — 4:30 pm ET
- TSM vs Origin — 6 pm ET
- Cloud9 vs Fnatic — 7:30 pm ET
Friday, June 28
- G2 Esports vs Team Liquid — 3:30 pm ET
- Origin vs Cloud9 — 4:30 pm ET
- G2 Esports vs TSM — 5:30 pm ET
- Team Liquid vs Origin — 6:30 pm ET
- TSM vs Fnatic — 7:30 pm ET
Saturday, June 29
- TBD vs TBD — 3 pm ET
- TBD vs TBD — 4 pm ET
- TBD vs TBD — 5 pm ET
- TBD vs TBD — 6 pm ET
- TBD vs TBD — 7 pm ET