New Format for EMEA Masters 2025: Fearless Draft, New Structure
League of Legends fundamentally altered gameplay in 2025 with the addition of new boss Atakhan, original Champion Mel Medarda and significant system changes including Feats of Strength. The game's spirit of reinvention also extends to its esports sphere—the League of Legends Championship of the Americas, also known as LTA, recently combined former LCS and CBLoL tourneys for the first time.
As of January 23 2025, Riot Games has revealed additional changes to its prestigious EMEA Masters circuit. While these changes don't fundamentally alter the tournament like LTA, they shake up the competition and put a fresh spin on its format. Let's explore everything we know about EMEA Masters 2025 including its key info, format and more.
What is EMEA Masters in League of Legends?
League of Legends' EMEA Masters tournament is designed to feature the game's strongest European, Middle Eastern and African talent. It is part of the prestigious League of Legends EMEA ecosystem.
The League of Legends team previously teased significant ERL and EMEA Masters changes in November 2024. Riot Games has released a full breakdown of what fans can expect. Unlike previous years, the 2025 EMEA Masters will have a three-split format with one Split each in Winter, Spring and Summer. The Winter and Spring Splits will include GLS Group Stage matchups, and early-tournament regional protections will encourage more cross-regional competition.
In addition, the tournament will feature Fearless Draft in its Winter Split. This new ruleset, aiming to provide more diverse gameplay and widen the pro-level Champion pool, forbids players from choosing the same Champion twice in a matchup. For more information on how Fearless Draft works, check our quick guide to the system below.
Recommended Article: League of Legends: How Fearless Draft Works
Riot Games notes this year's tournament will be especially unique with "an influx on content creators and veterans joining [its] EMEA Regional Leagues (ERLs)." EMEA Masters 2025 will pit long-standing players from the game's 15-year lifespan against rising talent in intense matchups.
The mixture of talents means all three EMEA Masters will be must-watch competitions, and we're beyond excited to watch it all unfold with you as legacies are renewed and new stars are born.
- Riot Games
All EMEA Masters 2025 Regions
League of Legends' EMEA Masters 2025 will include 13 regional leagues. The included leagues are as follows:
- France- La Ligue Française
- Turkey- Turkish Championship League
- Germany, Austria and Switzerland- Prime League
- Spain- Superliga
- Poland and Baltics- Rift Legends: Polish Championship
- UK and Nordics- Northern League of Legends Championship
- Italy- League of Legends Italian Tournament
- Middle East and Northern Africa- Arabian League
- Greece and Cyprus- Hellenic League of Legends Championship
- Portugal- Liga Portuguesa
- Czech Republic and Slovakia- Hitpoint Masters
- Balkans- Esports Balkan League
- BeNeLux- Road of Legends
League of Legends EMEA Masters 2025: All Formats
Here's a quick rundown of all EMEA Masters 2025 Splits. Each specific Split (Winter, Spring and Summer) will carry a different format and slight structural differences.
Winter Split
EMEA Masters 2025's Winter Split will be the first to utilize Fearless Draft, where teams cannot play a Champion more than once during a series. It will feature 16 separate teams (each ERL Winter Champion and three additional slots).
The Winter Split will kick off with a GSL Group Stage where four groups including four teams each compete. Each GSL Group Stage match will be best-of-three. Any team that wins two of these match-ups advances, while teams that lose twice are immediately eliminated. The Group Stage features new regional protections so all early-stage teams will face opponents from a different region.
After the Group Stage is complete, the final eight teams will enter a standard bracket and compete in single-elimination matchups to crown the Winter Split's winner.
Stages:
- GSL Group Stage (32 teams, best-of-three)
- Playoffs (8 teams, single-elimination bracket)
Spring Split
Spring Split of EMEA Masters 2025 will also include a GSL Group Stage with regional protection at its start. However, it won't require Fearless Drafts like Winter Split. The Spring Split Group Stage will function identically to the Winter Split's, except its team pool will be larger with 32 team slots. It will include 3 teams from each of the six top regional leagues and 2 teams from every other participating league.
Winning two series will advance a team to the next bracket stage where they can compete in the Playoffs. To accommodate the tournament's overall larger size, 16 teams will advance. These teams will also face a single-elimination standard bracket where one loss will disqualify them from moving forward. Each Spring Split Playoff match will be best-of-five.
Stages:
- GSL Group Stage (32 teams, best-of-three)
- Playoffs (8 teams, single-elimination bracket)
Summer Split
The EMEA Masters 2025 Summer Split will be the tournament's largest event yet with 44 participating teams in fierce competition. Summer Split pulls 4 teams from each of the five strongest ERL leagues, while all other leagues receive 3 team slots. It will begin with a last-chance qualifier (LCQ), where teams battle for qualification to the next stage. 16 teams will participate in this mode's Group Stage (regionally protected similarly to previous Splits so they will have cross-regional matchups). These early Group Stage games will be best-of-three, but the LCQ finals will be best-of-five. Four teams (one from each group) will emerge victorious and progress to the following stage.
The Swiss Stage will include 32 teams. Four of these teams will quality from the LCQs. The Swiss Stage of EMEA Masters 2025 Summer Split will also be cross-regional. Teams with four wins in this stage will advance to the Playoffs.
In the Playoffs, only 16 teams will remain. They will compete without regional protection in a single-elimination bracket. All games in this stage are best-of-five.
Stages:
- Last-Chance Qualifier (LCQ) (16 teams, best-of-three)
- LCQ Finals (best-of-five)
- Swiss Stage (32 teams, teams with 4 victories progress)
- Playoffs (16 teams, single-elimination brackets)
Fans can follow EMEA Masters 2025 at lolesports.com (Riot Games' official site) and watch at the official Twitch account, twitch.tv/emeamasters .
