Every Esports tournament organized must bring some value to the participating teams, whether it be prestige, a claim to be the strongest, or more realistically, monetary rewards. It is these attractions that draw in audiences and motivate players to give their all. Therefore, major annual tournaments for popular games like the Worlds – League of Legends, Major – CS:GO, or The International – DOTA2 are always noteworthy events.
However, before discussing the most important tournaments for their respective games, domestic tournaments also have similar significance but with an influence limited to a specific region. For League of Legends, performing well in leagues like the LPL, LCK, and VCS helps top teams secure their spots at the Worlds. Furthermore, performing well in domestic competitions also helps teams attract sponsorships, aiding in their organizational sustainability.
So apart from the super tournament, the Worlds, and domestic leagues, we also have Rift Rivals or the Rift War. Although it is an international tournament, in recent years, this event has shown its “meaninglessness” as well as creating many inconveniences for players and organizations.
First, regarding its significance, Rift Rivals is organized to compete for supremacy between two regions. However, in the Esports world, only Europe and North America still value this. Ask players in the LPL like FunPlus Phoenix or Invictus Gaming if they care about this? Or is their main goal still the Worlds?
Speaking of the Worlds, Rift Rivals does not provide participating teams with any points to compete against other opponents for a spot at the Worlds. Players spend nearly a week competing in a tournament that does not benefit them, so the performances of the teams are somewhat lackluster. Moreover, the prize money of $20,000 per team is negligible compared to the time spent traveling for such a tournament.
“But Rift Rivals is an opportunity for teams to practice and train against the strongest teams,” someone might argue in defense of this tournament, but the reality is otherwise. Ask if strong teams would reveal all their strategies to win in a meaningless tournament? Just look at how FunPlus Phoenix played casually in this tournament and then went on to win the Worlds to see that the Rift War is not taken seriously by strong teams.
Not to mention the inconveniences regarding travel for players, Rift Rivals is organized as an onLAN Tournament, requiring teams to gather at one location. After competing, they return to their domestic leagues and continue to play 2-3 matches a week. Just thinking about the continuous flights is exhausting, let alone the competition. That’s why before the tournament even began, Perkz from G2 Esports demanded Riot remove Rift Rivals altogether.
And when Riot Games announced the cancellation of Rift Rivals due to the outbreak of Covid-19, this was actually more good news than concern. Teams and players avoided the exhausting travel to a meaningless tournament, and Riot Games could save time and focus on upgrading another tournament that has received a lot of complaints, the All-Star event, in short, a win-win situation for both sides.
