Riot Games hasn't been involved in the UK League of Legends scene much, but things are starting to change.

Riot now has offices in the UK, and with the introduction of Mo Fadl as Head of UK Esports, the company is planning big things over the next few years.

As part of a three year plan to develop the competitive scene, Riot is teaming up with LVP to introduce a brand competition called Forge of Champions, giving professional and amateur teams opportunities to compete.

The competitive LoL scene in the UK hasn't received much love from Riot Games until now

LVP is one of the biggest tournament organisers in the world, and is one of the driving forces behind the competitive League of Legends in Spain, which currently has the best scene in Europe at a national level.

Mail Esports caught up with Mo Fadl and co-founder of LVP Sergi Mesonero at Riot's London office to find out how Forge of Champions will work.

What is Forge of Champions?

Forge of Champions will be a competitive League of Legends tournament, mostly consisting of players from the UK and Ireland.

It will have a prize pool of £50,000, the biggest prize pool provided to the UK by Riot Games ever. There will also be two slots in the EU Masters competition in September up for grabs, which brings together the best teams from the various European leagues.

Forge of Champions will be open to up to 64 non-professional teams, and sign-ups will go live tomorrow, June 5. They'll be available up until two hours before each tournament.

The eight teams who were in the old ESL UK Premiership will also be involved.

Forge of Champions tournament structure

There will be four separate preliminary qualifying tournaments, where teams will earn points based on where they finish.

At the end of these four tournaments, the eight teams with the highest point total will go through to the Grand Final playoffs to earn the biggest prize money and a spot in the EU Masters.

A second spot in the EU Masters will go to the team who finished the qualifying tournaments with the highest point total. If that team goes on to win the finals, then the second placed team in the playoffs will get the other spot.

For each qualifying tournament there are two stages. In stage one, the 64 non-pro teams will battle it out in a best of one single-elimination tournament, with the top eight teams going through to stage two.

In stage two, the eight non-pro teams will face off against the former ESL UK Premiership professional teams. These matches will be best of three, and the finals will be best of five.

Stage two will be streamed live from the quarterfinals onward.

A total of £50,000 in prize money will be giving out during Forge of Champions tournaments

Of course, this gives the pro teams the advantage, as they are always guaranteed to be in stage two of each tournament.

'We didn't want to forget that there has been a competition for the past five or six years in the UK,' said Mesonero. 'We didn't want to just say "thanks so much but goodbye." We wanted to recognise that these teams have been competing and are an important part of what semi-professional and professional League of Legends has been in the UK.'

However, it doesn't necessarily mean that each of the eight teams will make it to the finals, as there are plenty of chances for upsets.

'We have some very strong Premiership teams,' said Mo Fadl. 'At least three of them who are strong even on a European scale, I'm pretty sure they'll go to the top eight.'

'But I do expect teams who weren't in the Premiership to go to the playoffs,' said Mesonero. 'Maybe not a big majority of them, but at least a couple, definitely.'

The playoffs will be best of three matches, in a single elimination bracket, up until the grand final, which will be a best of five.

Forge of Champions prizes and qualifying points

The first placed team in each qualifier will win £1,800, 2nd will win £1,200, 3-4th will win £750, and 5-8th will win £500.

Points are awarded from 1st to 16th place (the teams which reach stage two), and the number of points awarded increases as the tournaments go on. For example, winning the first tournament grants you 2,200 points, while winning the fourth tournament gets you 5,500 points.

The eight teams with the highest points total will go through to the grand final playoffs

'We wanted to give a chance to the teams that are not available from the start,' said Sergi Mesonero. 'Even if you're not available to participate in the first or second tournament, you still have a chance to end up in the playoffs.

'You can also look at it another way. We didn't want a team to feel safe if they win the first or second tournament. We don't want them to say "maybe we don't have to play in the last tournament because we already mathematically have the slot." We wanted them to feel nervous to the very end.'

For the Grand Final, 1st will win £10,000 (plus the EU Masters spot), 2nd will earn £5,000, 3-4th will win £2,500, and 5-8th will win £1,000.

Forge of Champions tournament schedule

The first Forge of Champions competition will run from June to September, which will include the four preliminary tournaments plus the final playoffs.

Sign-ups open on June 5, and then the first tournament will commence on June 22. The Grand Final will take place from September 5-6.

'The tournaments last for two and a half weeks,' said Mesonero. 'The first half week will be for the open tournament, and will more or less be from Friday to Sunday. Then we'll have the round of eight the week after, and the semifinals and finals the week after that.'

'All non-streamed match days will be from 7pm, and then broadcast days are a bit different. We need that schedule because each match is refereed. The matches are played on our platform and supervised. We don't expect a lot of people to cheat, but we don't want to make things easy for possible cheats.'

The preliminary tournaments will be played online, as will the quarterfinals of the playoffs.

However, the semifinal and grand final of the playoffs will be held at the LVP Studios in Barcelona.

Who can play in Forge of Champions?

The competition is open to teams from the UK and Ireland, and teams can have up to 10 players on a roster. From the original roster, three changes can be made.

A team is considered to be from the UK or Ireland if at least three of the five players on the starting roster for each game is a resident of any of these countries.

This technically means a roster can consist of three UK / Ireland players plus seven players of different nationalities, as long as the three UK / Ireland members play in every match.

The 64 teams selected for each tournament will be chosen based on their average team elo rating. This should mean the best teams from the region will be playing in Forge of Champions.

The eight pro teams who will be competing are: Diabolus Esports, Enclave Gaming, exceL eSports, Hyperion Esports, Misfits Academy, MnM Gaming, Wind and Rain, and the roster of Raise Your Governors.

The Forge of Champions logo features a scarred lion on top of a stylised anvil with the name

Forge of Champions logo

As with any good logo, there are certain hidden messages and meanings behind the design of the Forge of Champions logo.

'With the lion we wanted to find something that represented the UK scene,' said Fadl.

Eagle-eyed people may have also spotted the scar across the eye of the lion, a nod to League of Legends champion Rengar.

Plus the way the text and its background are formatted is designed to look like an anvil, playing into the 'Forge' aspect of the name.