Who can participate in NA Champions Queue during season 13 of League of Legends LCS?

Participating in League of Legends Champions Queue has been a major topic of debate since its inception. This topic took even more precedence during Worlds 2022, when players like Faker got griefed by semi-professional players prompting the former to quit the mode.

As a result, Riot Games has set very specific criteria that need to be met to take part in Champions Queue during season 13 of the LCS. This is because this server is supposed to be a platform where professional players test their skills in the same solo-queue environment.

However, if there are Masters level players within the same lobbies, then the quality of the game deteriorates massively. This affects the experience for everyone, which is something that others do not enjoy.

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Full details regarding participating in Champions Queue ahead of League of Legends season 13

The Champions Queue for League of Legends season 13 will open on January 12, 2023 in North America. Obviously, it is exclusive only to that region and cannot be accessed from anywhere else.

However, this year Riot Games has created some strict criteria that need to be met before a player participates in Champions Queue.

The following are the criteria:

• Every LCS player who is part of an active roster.
• Every NACL (North American Challengers League) player who is part of an active roster.
• Every LLA player who is part of an active roster.
• Players who are part of a team currently placed within the Top 16 for NACL (player must be ranked at Grandmaster or more in solo-queue).
• Past players from the LCS or Academy (player must be ranked Grandmaster or above in solo-queue and must have approval from the Champions Queue council).
• Players who do not fit any of the above criteria but have been part of Champions Queue in 2022 as well as Champions Queue Worlds and have ranked in the top 25 during any of the Splits in the past year.

Thus, it seems that this mode will only be dedicated towards current and former professional North American League of Legends players.

Former players need to have at least Grandmaster rank and need to be approved by the Champions Queue council. This means that they need to be at the top of their game and should be actively involved in the scene to take part.

Overall, it is understandable that Riot Games is doing this as Champions Queue came under a lot of criticism during Worlds 2022. Several low-skilled Master ranked players were also entering this mode.

College players were getting into League of Legends' Champions Queue where they could not compete with top professionals. This created a massive imbalance that pushed some top stars like Faker away from Champions Queue in the first few days.

It goes without saying that this not only hampered Riot Games' reputation but also that of the competitive League of Legends scene in North America. Thus, these changes have been implemented to ensure that the quality of Champions Queue does not deteriorate any further.