The beginning of Episode 9 on June 25 will see the introduction of the new Invite Division to Premier. This tier of competition will feature top teams from the previous act's Contender Division, with the intention of providing a more streamlined path for Challengers qualification.

Riot has also announced changes to promotion rules, which will be standardized throughout all divisions. Additionally, the format for the Contender Division and new Invite Division is slightly altered, in order to “foster a hyper-competitive environment”.

Promotion Changes

Starting from Episode 8, Act 3, teams will be promoted upon winning a playoff tournament. The new promotion rules are standardized across all divisions, adding consistency as teams climb up the ranks.

When promoted, Team Owners or Captain can make roster changes as needed while keeping their promotion. Promotion guarantees advancement of at least one division, regardless of the amount of players replaced.

Teams can also advance by more than one division, if they add players with significantly higher MMR than their team. The changes also mean that individual players that leave a promoted team to join another team do not carry over the promotion they earned with their initial team.

Promotions are only applicable for the next stage. If a team does not participate in the next stage, they will be re-seeded the next time they play.

The final change introduced in E8A3 will be a lower playoff qualification threshold. The Premier Score required to qualify to playoffs was previously 675, but will be 600 Premier Score going forward. This will allow more teams to participate in playoffs, as well as helping teams with enough points avoid scheduling conflicts or take a break from competition. A higher Premier Score will translate into a higher seed, so teams are still incentivized to participate as much as possible.

Invite Division and Contender Changes

new premier divisions The new Invite Division will allow top teams an opportunity to be promoted to Challengers. Image: Riot Games

Episode 9, Act 1 will bring changes to the Contender Division format and a new division, the Invite Division. These changes are intended to increase the quality of competition and provide a better path for Challengers qualification across all regions.

Any Contender team that wins the previous act's playoff tournament, as well as the top 32 teams from the Contender Division standings, will be promoted into the new Invite Division. Following playoffs, top teams from the Invite Division will be contacted by Riot with details on their opportunity at Challengers promotion.

The Contender and Invite Divisions will have modified formats to increase competition. Every team must play in two scheduled events each week, and losses are now worth 0 points, down from 25 points per loss. Matchups will be decided based on team records, and rematch protection will be enabled. Playoffs qualification is based on standings at the end of weekly competition, instead of Premier Score.

Finally, players will receive a new “Contender Eligible” designation, which allows them to participate in the Contender and Invite Divisions. This allows players that have participated in Elite 5 playoffs or are ranked Immortal 3 or higher to join teams in the Contender or Invite Divisions.