While Champions Queue may finally be providing players in EMEA access to high-quality League of Legends outside of general competition, its time slots have both fans and players worried about its usage.
On last night’s edition of the Post Game Lobby following the second day of the 2023 LEC Winter Split, Team Vitality’s mid laner Perkz expressed dissatisfaction with the scheduled start time for the upcoming EMEA Champions Queue. The queue’s first split is expected to begin tomorrow evening and run on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10pm CET (3pm CT) to 2am CET (7pm CT).
Perkz noted that, while acknowledging the reasoning why Champions Queue is taking place at this time, he and many other pro players don’t want to be playing high levels of League at such a late time of night into the early morning. He suggested that Riot move the starting time back an hour, which he believes would allow players to get at least one or two games in without succumbing to fatigue.
“A lot of pro players want to go to bed by 12am or 12:30am and not play Champions Queue until 2am,” Perkz said. “I think it’s just way more healthy for us humans to not have to play until 2am. Now I can queue up for one game, maybe two, and it’s like 12am.”
Fans gathered in a Reddit thread to echo Perkz’s sentiment, noting particularly that players have already been victim to massive delays in the first week of the 2023 LEC Winter Split that have removed the possibility of early nights for them—now leading directly into more late nights with Champions Queue.
The Champions Queue initiative began in North America last year, allowing LCS, Academy, and amateur players access to an exclusive server with dedicated time slots where they could play specifically against one another. But since its release, Champions Queue has been the subject of harsh debate among fans and players alike due to its lack of usage—though some of the most glaring issues were addressed last year.
As of now, EMEA Champions Queue will begin tomorrow evening with its current format in place, though changes may occur over time due to this feedback, as they have in North America.
