As part of our ongoing efforts to support and grow the LCS Amateur ecosystem, we wanted to address the community feedback we’ve received around the existing Amateur seeding and team selection process. In order to address the concerns around seeding transparency and team qualification, we’re going to make a series of changes that will take effect in the next Proving Grounds Circuit Qualifier.
Going forward, we’ll be instituting an Amateur Selection Committee (ASC) to seed and identify participating teams. While the first 24 teams will be selected during the application process based on their cumulative Solo Queue player rankings, the ASC will determine the final 8 teams that fill out the 32-team PGCQ field. The ASC will also discuss and seed each selected team using confidential ballots that will be made public once the seeding process is complete.
We believe these changes will give teams more agency in their qualification process, and create a more transparent seeding process for our community. For more details and information, you can check out the full breakdown below.
**Amateur Qualification Details**
- 24 teams will be selected from the Open Qualifier applications based on cumulative Solo Queue player rankings:
- Challenger: 20
- Grandmaster: 10
- Master: 5
- Diamond or below: 0
- To account for subs, the top 5 highest ratings will be counted across the entire roster
- Ties will be broken by teams with the most Proving Grounds Circuit Points followed by the cumulative Solo Queue LP value across the top 5 players
- 8 teams will be selected from the Open Qualifier applications by the Amateur Selection Committee
- All 32 team seeds will be determined by the Amateur Selection Committee
**Selection Committee Details**
- The Amateur Selection Committee will be selected by open applications
- Riot and [Unified][1] (our Amateur tournament partner) will work to ensure all accepted committee members are qualified for the role
- Individuals associated with teams may apply and be selected, but a maximum of one individual per org will be allowed to participate
- Individuals affiliated with an org will be unable to vote for their affiliated teams across all voting
- Committee members will be expected to study team information provided by Riot & Unified on all eligible teams, conduct their own research, and engage in group discussions.
- Individual voting ballots will be kept confidential until both the teams and seeding have been finalized. All committee member ballots will be made public at the end of the selection process.
**Additional Information**
Applications for competing in the Summer Proving Grounds Circuit Qualifiers, as well as the Selection Committee, are now live on [Unified’s website][2].
**Important Dates:**
- 6/15 - Selection Committee Application Deadline
- 6/22 - Team OQ Application Deadline
- 6/23 - Selection Committee Team Voting
- 6/24 - Selection Committee Seed Voting
- 6/25 - Unified Team Reveal Show
- 6/27 & 6/28 - PGCQ#2 Open Qualifiers
[1]: https://twitter.com/UnifiedEA
[2]: https://uea.gg/c/LCSPGCQ2OQ
