Huh, this is sort of a biggie. Riot are taking advantage of the spotlight already trained on LoL’s imminent All-Stars tournament to show off a prototype arena – the Magma Chamber. The new map is “specially designed for individual and pair competition” – and it’s all fire and brimstone
During All-Star week, the pros will compete on Magma Chamber for victory, achieved either by killing 100 minions, destroying an enemy turret, scoring first blood in 1v1, or grabbing two team kills in 2v2.
“One vs. one competition actually has a pretty long history in the League of Legends community,” say Riot. “The first one on one tournament actually took place in beta, and we’ve seen many more battles of this nature since. We tried to stick close to the existing one vs. one conventions.”
And why now? Riot want to ensure they have a fitting battlefield to host individual grudge matches.
“Watching the best players in the world duel it out for honor and glory is pretty damn exciting. If you were following the all-star race, you probably caught the epic showdown between Wickd and Soaz,” say the developers. “Matchups like that are really fun to watch.
“Since it’s only natural to wonder who the best player in each role is, we thought All-Star Week was the perfect venue to give you a sneak peek at the map, and let the pros settle the score while we were at it.”
Magma Chamber still has a long way to go before public release. Its one-of-a-kind game mode will necessitate a truckload more testing, optimisation and design iteration before it can take its place alongside its exquisitely balanced, low-spec PC-ready brethren in-game. As such, Riot are aiming for a conservative pre-Season 4 release date next year.
Shanghai’s All-Star Weekend begins tomorrow and runs through the weekend. Five teams representing the pro leagues in North America, Europe, China, Korea and Southeast Asia/Taiwan will do battle on the Shanghai Grand Stage. Will you be tuning in?
Thanks, Edge.