Teamfight Tactics announced that it is holding its first-ever official tournament. This competition is scheduled on July 17 and July 18. Over the course of two days, a total of 64 Twitch streamers are going to fight it out not only for the bragging rights, but also a large share of the $125,000 prize pool.
Day One of the tournament is set to have two groups of 32 players each. Matches for the first group begins at 12 p.m. EST, with the second group starting at 4:45 p.m. EST. The top 16 players then move to Day Two of the competition.
Riot Games said that the full roster and complete format breakdown will be revealed on July 8. Fans can watch the game here or on the personal channels of the streamers.
Teamfight Tactics is Riot Games' own version of the autobattler genre. This genre started with Dota Auto Chess, which has since changed its name to Auto Chess. Valve, meanwhile, has already developed its own version called Dota Underlords.
Teamfight Tactics has pretty much the same mechanics as the other autobattler games, with eight players facing of in one-on-one matches with the game ending when only one player remains. To prove victorious, players need to strategically choose the best mix of champions from a randomized pool. In addition, players not only need to come up with winning battle formations, but also upgrade their forces by using items.
While Teamfight Tactics does have excellent gameplay and good mechanics, it comes with several disadvantages compared to its contemporaries. With both Auto Chess and Dota Underlords available on the Steam platform, it goes without saying that these two games offer cross-play and cross-communication. Additionally, Riot Games said that for now it has no plans of developing a mobile version for Teamfight Tactics. Thus, unlike both Auto Chess and Dota Underlords, players won't be able to play Teamfight Tactics and League of Legends at the same time.
Only time will tell if Teamfight Tactics can overtake Auto Chess and the recently released Dota Underlords. It is likely that Riot Games is hoping that with this tournament, more streamers are going to play Teamfight Tactics and increase its popularity.