The League of Legends Championship Series Scouting Grounds will return on November 8 through November 13 Riot Games announced Friday, offering North American amateur players high on the ranked ladder a chance to demonstrate their skill in front of LCS teams.
The LCS will host the five-day event in their Los Angeles studio baring any future COVID-19 restrictions. The rules and regulations surrounding the event are largely unchanged besides the fact that 10 players will qualify from the new Proving Grounds circuit as opposed to all 20 from the solo queue ladder.
How players qualify from Proving Grounds and solo queue
The top two players from each role in the LCS Proving Grounds event will be invited to Scouting Grounds. Players still need to fit into certain criteria, but just participating in the event gives players a shot. If one of the top two players in their role does not meet the requirements, the third best player will receive an invite and so on.
The solo queue selection period, however, is a bit broader. The timeline announced starts on July 27 and ends October 5. Event officials will take note of the ranked ladder every two weeks after the start date and assign points to players based on their placement. These scores are available for players to see, as Riot will select the top two players in each role per their points system and invite them to Scouting Grounds. The officials will also drop each players’ lowest score.
Any additional accounts players have will be added to their overall score.
The event also has a one-trick rule for players who spam one champion to the top of the ranked ladder. Over the course of the scouting timeline, players can only have a maximum of 30% of their games played on one champion. That percentage is 40% for each individual two week section
Eligibility for players at LCS Scouting Grounds
The requirements remain the same as previous years for the event. Players still need to be at least 16 years old and have not played more than two games in any semi-professional or academy league in the past year. They must also not have played in two professional leagues in the past three years.
Players who have played in Riot designated emerging regions and are North American residents may attend the event. Those wishing to participate must also be a North American resident and pass a behavior check by the company. Players also must not have appeared in three Scouting Grounds events in the past five years to remain eligible.
The event kicks off for viewers on November 8. Players and fans can follow along with those possibly on the future invite list by watching Proving Grounds on the LCS Twitch channel and watching the solo queue ladder points system document.
