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On Interregional Movement and the Expansion Tournament[]
By RiotNickAllen - Fri 09/05
TLDR:
- A new, global Interregional Movement Policy will be introduced next week that has been independently adopted by and coordinated between the major regional professional and semi-professional leagues. (e.g. EU LCS, OGN The Champions, LPL, NA CS etc.)
- For North America and Europe, the policy will be enforced through a new regional residency requirement. It will apply to the Expansion Tournament and all future events.
- The new NA and EU residency requirement will require teams to have at minimum three of their starting players in any given game meet the new NA and EU residency requirement. Teams will retain the ability to field up to two non-exempt, non-resident players on their starting roster.
- LCS and Summer Challenger Series teams will not be required to change their rosters.
As an international esport, League of Legends benefits greatly from the movement of talented professional players between regions. These players help raise the talent bar across the globe and bring different strategies to their new regions, but it’s important that we balance this flow of foreign talent with helping regional leagues develop their own identities.
Today, we’re introducing a new, global Interregional Movement Policy which will help balance local and foreign talent on professional and semi-professional teams.
The Interregional Movement Policy will be globally implemented, with North America (LCS & CS), Europe (LCS & CS), China (LPL & LSPL), Korea (OGN The Champions, Masters & NLB), and Southeast Asia/Taiwan (GPL & LNL) handling their regional residency requirements individually. This is a global policy that has been agreed upon and coordinated over the last several months between the administrators of these regions’ leagues. Other regions (Turkey, LATAM, etc.) are currently considering adopting the policy.
For North America and Europe, this policy will come in the form of a new residency requirement which will require teams to have at minimum three of their starting players in any given game meet the new NA and EU residency requirement. Teams will retain the ability to field up to two non-exempt, non-resident (see below for a definition) players on their starting roster. Full details on the specifics of the residency requirement will be released next week. The new residency requirement will be a complete overhaul of the current residency requirement and will emphasize having had a sustained and prolonged residence in a region before participating in its league.
We wanted to give you all an idea of the thinking that led to the development of this new policy, and ultimately how we believe it’ll help support the growth and diversity of regional teams and international competition.
Movement of players between regions often helps those regions level up in skill and provides an opportunity for exciting new narratives. In North America, we’ve seen the benefits of talented and exciting players from overseas, including inspirational new storylines and a heightened level of competition.
However, regional differences and variation are also what keeps competition fresh and exciting to watch. Preserving a healthy mix of both local and foreign talent allows teams and regions to develop distinct identities while leaving room for key non-resident players to level up a region. Completely unrestricted movement has the potential to crowd out local professional players entirely, removing opportunities for those players to learn and grow from their interactions with foreign players. Similarly, unrestricted movement can lead to a “brain drain” effect for developing regions that are just starting to level up and are sensitive to a mass exodus of local talent.
Striking the right balance between cross-pollination of talent between regions, developing local talent, and preserving regional identity are what we believe will help keep regional and international competition exciting and meaningful for fans. That’s why with the new Interregional Movement Policy, we’re aiming to strike a balance that will foster growth and welcome foreign talent without hindering regional identity.
Current LCS and Challenger Series teams who do not meet the new residency requirement will not be required to change their rosters - it’s important to us that this policy doesn’t adversely affect players currently in these regions. Players who do not meet the new residency requirement but meet one or more of the following four conditions will be considered “exempt non-residents”:
- Started for an LCS team in 2014.
- Is on the current LCS Active Roster of an LCS team.
- Started for a Challenger Series team in Summer Challenger Series 1 Play-In onward.
- Are on the Active Roster of a team participating in the Summer Promotion Tournament.
For most intents and purposes, exempt non-residents are treated exactly the same as resident players. The chief difference is that if a team has two or more exempt non-resident players, they cannot add additional non-exempt non-resident players to their starting roster.
The classifications are as follows:
- Non-exempt non-resident: A player who does not meet one of the four conditions above at the time of the instatement of the new residency requirement.
- Resident: A player who meets the residency requirement for that region.
- Exempt non-resident: A player who does not meet the residency requirement for that region but met one of the four conditions listed above.
- Once an exempt non-resident has met the residency requirement, they will be reclassified as a resident.
To clarify, here are some of the scenarios that can arise.
Here are some examples of permissible roster moves:
- Team is starting five residents and wants to replace one with a non-exempt non-resident as a starter.
- Team is starting five residents and wants to replace three of them with exempt non-residents.
- Team is starting three residents, two non-residents, and wants to replace a resident with an exempt non-resident.
- Team has three exempt non-residents, two residents, and wants to replace a resident with an exempt non-resident.
Here are some examples of impermissible roster changes:
- Team is starting three exempt non-residents and two residents. Team wants to replace one exempt non-resident with one non-exempt non-resident.
- The team cannot do this - However, they can replace the exempt non-resident with another exempt non-resident or a resident.
- Team has five exempt non-residents, and wants to replace one of them with a non-exempt non-resident player.
- The team cannot do this - if a team has two or more exempt non-residents, they cannot add an additional non-exempt non-resident.
- Team has three exempt non-residents and two residents, and wants to replace a resident with a non-exempt non-resident.
- The team cannot do this - if a team has two or more exempt non-residents, they cannot add an additional non-exempt non-resident.
We’ll share the official rule within the next week, but in the meantime we want to ensure that players and teams are not caught off-guard by this upcoming change, particularly with the Expansion Tournament on the horizon.
Participation in the Expansion Tournament will be limited to rosters that meet the residency requirement. The dates, format, and structure of the tournament will be released next week. Teams who do not qualify for the NA and EU LCS through the Promotion Tournament will automatically qualify for the Expansion Tournament, which will also be pulling teams from the Ranked 5s ladder and will freeze on Sunday, November 2 at 11:59 PM CET for Europe and 11:59 PM PST for North America.
As mentioned before, we’ll be sharing the full details and specifics of the Interregional Movement Policy next week, as well as reasoning behind each aspect of the policy.