One of the marquee international events in League of Legends esports is set to kick off next week in China.
The Asian version of Riot’s popular inter-regional tournament, Rift Rivals, will feature 12 teams from the LPL (China), LCK (South Korea), and LMS (Taiwan) in a battle to prove regional superiority.
Rift Rivals’ debut last year was an incredible success, and this year’s schedule is loaded with even better matchups. First reported by League esports journalist Ashley Kang, the official schedule was released by Riot on Weibo last night.
The group stage of the event will feature a series of matches between the regions, and begins on Thursday, July 5. The schedule is as follows, with each game scheduled to begin an hour after the last one:
July 5
- Royal Never Give Up vs. Flash Wolves (game starts at 2am CT)
- Invictus Gaming vs. Machi E-Sports
- EDG vs. Afreeca Freecs
- KT Rolster vs. MAD Team
- SK Telecom T1 vs. Machi E-Sports
- Rogue Warriors gvs. KT Rolster
July 6
- EDG vs. G-Rex (game starts at 12am CT)
- KINGZONE DragonX vs. Flash Wolves
- Rogue Warriors vs. MAD Team
- Invictus Gaming vs. SK Telecom T1
- Afreeca Freecs vs. G-Rex
- Royal Never Give Up vs. KINGZONE DragonX
There is plenty of drama built into the first two days. Flash Wolves will play against their former star jungler Hung “Karsa” Hua-hsuan, who’s now with Royal Never Give Up.
Friday’s games are even better. We’ll get the deciding game between KINGZONE DragonX and Flash Wolves, who were tied 3-3 after six exciting games at MSI. it gets better with Song “Rookie” Eui-jin facing Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok in a battle of mid lane stars when Invictus Gaming take on SKT—that is if Faker is in the lineup. We finish that day with a rematch of the MSI final where KINGZONE will try to prove that they can beat Royal Never Give Up.
After the matches on Thursday and Friday, will be a semifinal match on July 7 and a final on July 8, both starting at 2am CT. The final will determine which region gets bragging rights until Worlds.
