Riot announces new TFT Tier 1 esports circuit

Riot Games has announced a new Tier 1 esports circuit for its auto battler title, Teamfight Tactics (TFT).

Each set in TFT’s lifecycle will see three new tournaments, offering a regular prize pool and a more direct path to the game’s premier event series, the Tactician’s Crown.

Within TFT’s updated ecosystem, players can qualify for the Tier 1 circuit at the conclusion of each set based on their performance in that set’s Golden Spatula, a tournament series leading to the Tactician’s Crown.

The format update comes after the reveal of TFT’s newest set, Cyber City, in Riot’s Dev Drop for the game’s upcoming cycle, Set 15. In Cyber City, the top 28 competitors from each region’s Golden Spatula will qualify for the new circuit. Four additional players from each region will be invited by Riot.

Each of the three Tier 1 tournaments introduced with the new circuit will run for three days, with the final day featuring a single lobby of eight players. Moreover, at the end of the set, circuit contestants will compete against the best players from the Ranked Trials and Cups ecosystem who may claim a spot in the next set’s circuit.

Qualifier points will be used to determine player seeding for a set’s Golden Spatula:

However, to maintain high stakes, Day 3 winners of each Tier 1 event will always qualify for the Tactician’s Crown.

Although the new circuit represents a major stepping stone within TFT’s updated ecosystem, players can still advance to the Golden Spatula through cups and the in-game ladder.

In Riot’s latest press release, the publisher also announced an expansion of the Golden Spatula. The event will now span two weekends instead of one, corresponding to an increase from three days to six days.

The new Golden Spatula format includes three stages. The Play-Ins on Day 1 feature 16 teams, with the top eight advancing to the second phase. Throughout Days 2 and 3, the ‘Week 1’ segment sees 48 players compete. The 20 best players from Week 1 then advance to Week 2, where they will compete with 12 additional contestants over two days. The top eight players qualify for the final Day 6 of the competition.

Additionally, the 32 contestants who reach Week 2 of the Golden Spatula also qualify for the tier 1 circuit of the next set.

As TFT heads towards Set 15, Riot will introduce more updates for the game’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 scenes. Despite seemingly consistent investment from the publisher, Riot’s approach to TFT esports has been criticised by its community in the past, especially regarding the persistent problem of matchfixing.

TFT personality Dan ‘Frodan’ Chou commented on the new Tier 1 circuit in a post in X (formerly Twitter): “This should be the best news ever. Riot is finally taking competitive TFT seriously, more than doubling down.

A year-plus of hard work by the esports team overrun by fan outrage due to negligence. Still, will be very hype and we probably will get over it. But damn, what a shame.”