Fancy alittle LOL with your afternoon Tea?

Time to take out your morning jackets and polish your monocle, Riot Games just launched the first League of Legends tournament in the UK. The event is billed as “UK’s only professional AAA League of Legends esports tournament”. Forge of Champions, which works to discover Great Britain’s indigenous Leagues talent aims to both rejuvenate the UK’s indigenous esports scene while also becoming a source of entertainment for fans.

64 amateur UK teams will have a chance to earn a spot in next year’s LOL European Masters tournament where they will face 8 of the best teams pooled from across the Ol’ Continent.  This league is nothing if quintessentially British. The logo prominently features a lion; a very royal beast; teams are pooled from across the Isles, and even the prize money is listed in GB pounds (£ 50 000 to be exact).

For many, the establishment of the new UK-centric tournament couldn’t come soon enough. The British LOL and the esports scene, in general, have been lagging behind the Continent and North America for a while now. The island-nation which has produced some of History’s greatest military tacticians is conspicuously absent in global ranking boards. If the execs at Riot Games are right, this tournament might help change that. Champions aren’t created overnight, however. It might still be some time before we see real talent coming out of a country which takes such pride in spreading Marmite over buttered toast.

The first ever tournament is expected to take place tomorrow, on June 22nd. Applications are open to anyone. Teams which aren’t selected might have a better chance for next year’s edition, however, as the future ranking system will offer even more points than the current one. Whatever goes down, the fans will be having a jolly good time!