Following the release of the draw results for League of Legends S16 Global Pioneer Tournament, Riot Games recently announced the detailed match times. To cater to audiences in the Asian region, the two China-Korea clashes are both set for 9 PM. BLG and BFX will start the opening match at 9 PM on the 16th. The match between GEN and JDG is scheduled for 9 PM on the 17th. In the first round of the Pioneer Tournament, the organizers have scheduled two BO5 matches per day.

If matches start at 9 PM, barring issues like pauses, a full series would end around 1 AM, so viewers wouldn't have to stay up too late. However, the 16th and 17th are workdays, so those with jobs might not be able to watch for long. Unless it's a full BO5, matches usually finish before midnight, which is relatively considerate. Viewers from the Vietnam region will have a tougher time, as their participating teams' matches start at 2 AM.

Foreign media statistics on Pioneer Tournament team ages

Foreign media recently calculated the average age of players across the eight teams in the Pioneer Tournament. The oldest is GEN, with an average age of 25 years and 211 days for its five players, nearly 26. Chovy is already 25; if he doesn't win a championship in the next couple of years, it seems he might never get one. Among the remaining teams, four have an average age of 24 years, including: G2, LYON, BLG, and LOUD.

There are three younger teams, all averaging 22 years, including BFX, JDG, and TSW. Big Bolo is the youngest player in this Pioneer Tournament, at only 18 years and 142 days. The oldest is Indian God King Dhokla, who is already 28 and a half years old. It must be said that Bin is truly remarkable; a veteran nearing 30, after playing one match against him in a world tournament, became a highly sought-after player in the LCS region.

GEN owner posts response to Bin

When BLG secured the first stage winner, Bin publicly stated in an interview: "My biggest personal rival is GEN's top laner Kiin. In this Pioneer Tournament, when I face him, I will crush him." Bin's remarks quickly spread to LCK. Recently, the CEO of GEN team humorously responded: "After internal discussion, Kiin regretfully cannot participate in a 1v1 boxing match with player Bin."

GEN and BLG are in different groups for this Pioneer Tournament. To meet, they must at least reach the semifinals. Given the strength of both teams, advancing to the knockout stage should not be a problem. Bin has the chance to face Kiin, but whether he can win is uncertain now. Kiin is LCK's top-tier top laner, even surpassing champion top laners like Zeus, Doran, and Kingen, demonstrating truly formidable skill.

Uzi officially announces Uzi Cup format

After the Global Pioneer Tournament concludes, the Uzi Cup organized by Uzi in collaboration with Huya will seamlessly follow. Huya recently posted an announcement officially detailing the Uzi Cup format. The schedule for this Uzi Cup consists of six stages: registration from Sept 9-13, preliminaries from Sept 14-19, selection meeting on Sept 20, group stage from Sept 23-27, knockout stage from Sept 28 to Apr 2, and finals on Apr 3. The total duration is approximately 20 days.

The Uzi Cup will feature six participating teams, five of which are directly invited, while the remaining team is the champion from open qualifiers. There are no restrictions; ordinary players can also form teams to compete. However, there is an age requirement for players: they must be over 24 years old. Players who advance from preliminaries will join the five directly invited teams (each team seems to add one player) during the selection meeting. Skilled players now have the opportunity to team up with Uzi and compete.

Conclusion:

The prize pool for the Uzi Cup is quite substantial. The champion team receives 660,000 exclusively, the runner-up gets 100,000, third place earns 80,000, and teams placing 4th to 6th also receive 20,000. Essentially, participating guarantees prize money. Additionally, the Best New Player award is 50,000, and the preliminaries champion also gets 50,000. The total prize pool is 1 million, fully funded by Uzi alone. It feels like the Uzi Cup might be more exciting than LPL.

So, do you think Bin can defeat Kiin?

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