The 2022 League of Legends World Championship is bringing back Pick ‘Em. On the official LoL Esports site, everyone with a Riot account can cast their predictions for Worlds 2022. Over the course of Worlds, Pick’Em players earn points by correctly predicting a wide variety of aspects of the tournament. On the line: in-game rewards and bragging rights.
This year, Riot has expanded Pick’Em significantly. The changes are quite big, so let’s run through the renewed Pick’Em.
The Crystal Ball
Pick’Em introduced the Crystal Ball earlier, but up until now, it was just a way for players to earn Pick’Em points by correctly predicting who would win Worlds. This year, the Crystal Ball lets you predict in twenty different categories before Worlds 2022 commences. Some categories hand out points for only one right answer, while others also award points for the second-best and third-best answers. Your Crystal Ball predictions have to be locked in by Thursday, Sept. 29, at 10 PM CEST.
The Crystal Ball has four themes, each with five questions for you to answer.
Champion predictions
- Who will be picked the most during Champion Select at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will be banned the most during Champion Select at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will have the highest win rate at Worlds (minimum 5 games played)? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will have the most total deaths at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will be played in the most different roles at Worlds? (50 points)
Player predictions
- Who will have the highest KDA at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will play the most different champions at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will get the most First Blood kills at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will get the most kills in a single game at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Who will get at least one pentakill at Worlds? (100 points)
Team predictions
- Which team will play the most different champions at Worlds? (50/20/10 points)
- Which team will place 1st in Play-In Group A? (30 points)
- Which team will place 1st in Play-In Group B? (30 points)
- Which team from a region with 2 seeds or less will advance furthest through Worlds? (50 points)
- Which team will win Worlds? (100 points)
Event predictions
- How many reverse sweeps will there be at Worlds (out of 11 total best-of-fives)? (50 points)
- How many pentakills will there be at Worlds? (50 points)
- What will be the duration of the longest single game at Worlds? (50 points)
- How many Baron steals will there be at Worlds? (50 points)
- Which drake will be killed the most at Worlds? (50 points)
Traditional Pick’Em
The regular Pick’Em portion has largely gone unchanged, although Riot has expanded this part as well. There are several rounds of predictions you can make and the points stack up rapidly if you get it right.
Play-In Stage predictions
Worlds 2022 marks the first time where fans can predict Play-In Stage outcomes. It’s a cautious expansion, though, as only the Play-In Stage Knockout phase matches are part of Pick’Em.
You’ll have to act swiftly to lock in your Pick’Ems for the Play-In Stage; the predictions open directly after the Play-In Stage’s best-of-one phase has ended. You have until Oct. 3, 8 PM CEST to lock in your first picks. After the first two best-of-fives have concluded, you’ll get a chance to predict the final two best-of-fives as well. These predictions lock on Oct. 4 at 8 PM CEST.
For each series in the Play-In Stage you predict correctly, you earn five points.
Group Stage predictions
For the Group Stage, a different Pick’Em format is used. Instead of predicting the individual matches, you have to predict which team ends the Group Stage in which place. For example, Group A consists of Cloud9, T1, EDward Gaming, and will be rounded out with a Play-In team. If you think T1 will finish the group in first place, you drag them to the top of your Group A Pick’Em prediction. You can make predictions for all four groups in the Group Stage once the Play-In Stage concludes. Group Stage picks lock in on Oct. 7, 11:15 PM CEST.
You can earn a lot of points in the Group Stage. Per team that you correctly predict to end in the top two of their group, you earn 2 points. If you put them in the right order, you get another 3 points for each team. For each correct prediction of a team ending in third or fourth place, two more points are added to your score. If you predict the whole group correctly, two bonus points are added for a total of 16 points per group predicted entirely correctly.
Knockout Stage predictions
The third and final phase of Worlds 2022 is split into three rounds, and so is the Pick’Em for it. The Knockout Stage has one round of predictions for the quarterfinals, one round for the semifinals, and a final round for the grand final.
The Knockout Stage Pick’Em uses the same format as the Play-In Stage Pick’Em. Simply predict which team you think will win the best-of-five series and you’ll earn points if you guess it right. Per quarterfinal predicted correctly, you earn 5 points. The semifinals net you 10 points per correctly guessed winner. If you guess who wins Worlds 2022, 20 points are added to your score.
You have quite some time to lock in your Knockout Stage predictions. After the Group Stage ends on Oct. 16, quarterfinal picks lock in on Oct. 20, 11:15 PM CEST. The semifinals Pick’Ems open up when the fourth quarterfinal series rounds up on Oct. 23, with semifinal predictions locking in on Oct. 29 at 11:15 PM CEST. The Pick’Ems for the grand final open on Oct. 30 and lock in on Nov. 6 at 2:15 AM CEST.
The Coin
If you are too busy to make your picks throughout the entirety of Worlds 2022, a backup mechanic is activated. Whenever you don’t make a prediction, The Coin is called into action. This randomly predicts outcomes for you during the traditional Pick’Em part. The downside of passively letting The Coin make your predictions is that you earn a reduced number of points for each correct prediction The Coin makes.
The Coin has another use this year: if you’re uncertain who to pick, you can actively choose to flip The Coin. It immediately locks in whatever random result it landed on and you cannot change its outcome. You do get full points for the predictions The Coin makes in this manner.
Prizes
When a new world champion has been crowned and the dust has settled, the Pick’Em prizes start flowing. Your Crystal Ball predictions and traditional Pick’Em predictions are two separate categories, meaning you can rake in quite some loot. The prizes do not stack, so if you are in the A-tier you only get the rewards for that tier.
Participation reward
You get one Worlds 2022 Capsule for a few stages you make a prediction in. This counts for the Crystal Ball, Play-In Stage, Group Stage, and quarterfinals. In total, you can earn four Worlds 2022 Capsules from the participation rewards.
Crystal Ball prizes
- Perfect Picks: All Ultimate Skins (Pulsefire Ezreal, Spirit Guard Udyr, DJ Sona, Elementalist Lux, Gun Goddess Miss Fortune, K/DA ALL OUT Seraphine)
- Top 5,000 Rank: Worlds 2022 Azir Skin + Champion
- S-Tier Rank (Top 5%): 50 Event Tokens + 4 Worlds 2022 Capsules + -Syndra “Serve!” Emote
- A-Tier Rank (Top 20%): 3 Worlds 2022 Capsules + Syndra “Serve!” Emote
- B-Tier Rank (Top 40%): 2 Worlds 2022 Capsules + Syndra “Serve!” Emote
- C-Tier Rank (Top 70%): 1 Worlds 2022 Capsule + Syndra “Serve!” Emote
Traditional Pick’Em prizes
- Perfect Picks: All Ultimate Skins
- Top 5,000 Rank: Worlds 2022 Azir Skin + Champion
- S-Tier Rank (Top 5%): 50 Event Tokens + 4 Worlds 2022 Capsules + Kassadin “Excuse Me?” Emote
- A-Tier Rank (Top 20%): 3 Worlds 2022 Capsules + Kassadin “Excuse Me?” Emote
- B-Tier Rank (Top 40%): 2 Worlds 2022 Capsules + Kassadin “Excuse Me?” Emote
- C-Tier Rank (Top 70%): 1 Worlds 2022 Capsule + Kassadin “Excuse Me?” Emote
You can find the schedule for Worlds 2022 here. We also have a guide for the Play-In Stage, Group Stage, and for the Knockout Stage. For a list of all teams competing at Worlds 2022, click here.
