Qin Feng's declaration of "Million-Dollar Prize, National Championship" stirred up a storm in the player community, sparking an overwhelming response. The fervor of public opinion, the players' anticipation, and the potential social impact all signified that this inaugural National City Hero Championship had to succeed, with no room for failure. The hype had reached its peak; what was needed next was a solid framework—the tournament format—that could systematically guide this fervent emotion and ultimately transform it into an exciting, fair, and landmark event.
Inside Riot Games' core conference room, the atmosphere was serious and focused. A giant electronic screen displayed a national map, densely marked with hundreds of preliminary selected cities for the qualifiers. Qin Feng, Xiao Zhang, Wu Tong, Li Ming, Chen Ran, and the newly promoted Head of Event Operations, Zhao Dong, gathered together. Their mission was to draw a clear and rigorous competition path on this grand map within three months.
"We already have the hype; now the key is how to channel this energy through a reasonable tournament format into a continuously burning flame, rather than a chaotic explosion," Qin Feng stated directly, setting the tone for the meeting. "Zhao Dong, why don't you start with your initial ideas?"
Zhao Dong took a deep breath and walked to the screen. His previous experience accumulated at other sports event companies now came into play.
"President Qin, colleagues. Based on our goals of nationwide coverage, balancing fairness and efficiency, and ultimately presenting high-level competition, I suggest adopting a three-stage model: 'Online Qualifiers -> City Finals -> Offline Central Grand Finals.'"
He operated the computer, and hierarchical markers began to appear on the map.
"First, there's the Online Qualifiers, which has the broadest coverage." Zhao Dong pointed to all the marked locations on the map. "We will set up competition zones in over a hundred major cities nationwide. Players will register online and participate as teams. Considering the extremely large number of participating teams, the initial online matches will use a'single-elimination system' to maximize time and server resource savings, quickly filtering out teams with a certain level of skill."
"Single-elimination, won't that be too brutal? Some strong teams might be eliminated due to one round of mistakes..." Wu Tong raised a question.
"In the qualifier stage, what we need is efficiency," Qin Feng affirmed Zhao Dong's plan. "Luck is also a part of strength. Moreover, this can maximize teams' desire to win and avoid 'practice' style matches. We want strong teams that can withstand pressure."
Zhao Dong zoomed in on the map, focusing on a single city: "The online qualifiers for each city will last several weeks, ultimately determining a single champion team. This team will earn the honor of 'City Champion' and represent their city, advancing to the next round."
"Only one team from each city?" Xiao Zhang calculated, "Over a hundred cities means over a hundred teams entering the next round, which is still too many."
"Therefore, we have the third stage—the Regional Promotion Tournament." Zhao Dong switched the screen, roughly dividing the country into several major regions such as East China, South China, North China, Central China, Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast. "City Champions within each major region will once again compete in online matches, through intense round-robin or group elimination tournaments. Ultimately, four strongest teams from each major region will be determined to qualify for the National Grand Finals!"
He finally summarized in the center of the screen: "Thus, after screening through the regional tournaments, the 28 top teams (7 regions x 4 teams) from the seven major regions, plus 4 reserved special invitation slots (for example, for Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan regions or special channels), will converge on the National Grand Finals stage, forming the National Top 32!"
This number invigorated everyone present. The Top 32, a common and highly symbolic number in sports events, represented the elite of the elite.
"Finally, and most importantly, is the National Grand Finals." Zhao Dong's voice carried a hint of excitement. "These thirty-two strongest teams, having battled their way through the entire country, will leave the virtual battlefield of the internet and gather together for offline centralized competition!"
"Offline!" Chen Ran's eyes lit up. "This means a real stage, lights, audience, professional equipment, and a lag-free environment! This is the sense of ritual esports should have!"
"Exactly," Qin Feng nodded. "Offline matches can maximally ensure the fairness of the competition, eliminate any disputes caused by network issues, and fully expose the players' status and emotions to the audience, greatly enhancing the viewing experience and drama of the matches. This will be a feast for all league of legends players!"
The meeting delved into a more in-depth discussion about the specific format of the Grand Finals.
"For the Top 32, we will first divide them into eight groups for a double round-robin BO1 (best of one) within each group, determining the top two from each group to form the Top 16," Zhao Dong explained.
"Starting from the Top 16, we enter a more brutal single-elimination tournament, all using a BO3 (best of three) format, until the Top 4 are decided."
"And the final Top 4 matches (semifinals) and the championship battle will adopt a BO5 (best of five) format, which is a greater test of overall strength!" Qin Feng concluded. "Only teams that can endure the BO5 test truly deserve the honor of National Champion. We must ensure that the value of this championship is beyond doubt."
"For such a large-scale online tournament, technical assurance is the lifeline," Li Ming said with a serious expression. "We need to set up independent tournament servers to ensure absolute stability and low latency during the matches. The anti-cheat system must be upgraded to the highest level and staffed with a dedicated team of referees for real-time monitoring."
"The rulebook must be extremely detailed," Wu Tong added. "From player eligibility verification, account requirements, restrictions on champion skin usage, to match pauses, disconnection handling, and codes of conduct (such as passive play, abusive language, etc.), there must be clear regulations and penalty measures. We must create an absolutely fair competitive environment."
The meeting lasted for several hours, with repeated scrutiny of every detail and every possible contingency. From setting up registration channels to scheduling online matches, and then to selecting venues for the offline Grand Finals, stage design, live broadcast plans, commentator choices... A myriad of tasks, but the framework gradually became clear.
Ultimately, a tournament format plan, embodying collective wisdom, was formally finalized. It ensured broad participation while guaranteeing the quality of top teams through layers of selection; it leveraged the efficiency of online matches while ultimately returning to the sense of ritual and fairness of offline matches.
When the official announcement of the "Inaugural league of legends National City Hero Championship Tournament Format" was released, players' enthusiasm was precisely reignited. They were no longer blindly passionate but had clear goals and paths: first to stand out in the city online qualifiers, then to represent their city in the regional battles, with the ultimate goal being a spot in the Top 32 offline Grand Finals and the supreme million-dollar championship trophy!
An orderly yet brutal esports gold rush, sweeping every corner of the nation, officially began. And in Qin Feng's hand, he tightly held the "Scale of Fairness" to measure it all.