Clash Royale League Fall Season kicks off with global rule changes

The esports scene has exploded in recent years, with some estimates saying it will be a $1.5 billion industry by 2020. Clash Royale developer Supercell has decided to get a piece of the mobile esports pie by launching the Clash Royale League, an official competitive league for their most popular mobile game.

The CRL has been around for a few seasons now, and many of the world’s largest esports organizations have already signed up. Here’s everything you need to know about the Clash Royale League!

Update: Clash Royale League 2019 Fall season begins

The wait is over and the Clash Royale League West Fall season is finally getting started this weekend! See defending champions Team Liquid take on teams from around the West in an action-packed six-week season. The matches will be played at the OGN Super Arena in Manhattan Beach, California, but you can watch from home on the official Clash Royale Esports Youtube channel. Each match will be casted in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

This season is bringing a few rule changes to all regions — a first for the CRL. Teams will no longer be able to ban cards in 1v1 or king of the hill matches, which should be a huge change for team strategy. Expect to see a lot of new decks this season, as well as some exciting king of the hill reverse sweeps.

The CRL West Fall season starts on September 14 at 10 AM PT. Matches will air each Saturday and Sunday until the season finishes on October 20.

The beginnings of a mobile esports league

The Clash Royale League isn’t Supercell’s first foray into the world of esports, having hosted several Clash Royale tournaments over the years. The largest prior to the start of the CRL was 2017’s Clash Royale Crown Championship (CRCC) World Finals in London, with more than 27 million players worldwide participating. The grand prize of $150,000 went to Sergio Ramos, a young player from Mexico. At the time, it was the largest prize ever for a mobile gaming tournament.

See also: Top 6 teams to meet in Tokyo for the Clash Royale League World Finals on December 1

But Supercell upped the ante for the Clash Royale League, which featured more than $1 million in prizes for players around the globe. Rather than competing individually, players in the CRL have to work together as part of a team. Many of the current pro players (including Sergio Ramos) were already signed to various gaming orgs before the announcement, but all CRL teams must consist of four to six players.

In order to find more players to fill out the Clash Royale League rosters, Supercell launched the Clash Royale League Challenge mid-March 2018. In it, players had to win 20 matches against the best players in the world, as well as meet some other qualifications like age, maturity, and ability to travel. This challenge was repeated in 2019, with exactly the same format and goal. Winners of the second round had the chance to participate in the World Cyber Games Festival in China, as well.

More than 6,700 players managed to overcome the first round of the challenge, and although not all of them found a team, they represented a large base from which teams could draft players for the league. In the first season of the Clash Royale League there were a total of five regions: China, (the rest of) Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe. Each region featured eight teams.

For the second season, the North America, Latin America, and Europe regions of the Clash Royale League were merged into CRL West. This means that currently there are three regions: CRL West, CRL China, and CRL Asia. The idea is that all regions have the same level of production values and game schedules.

Clash Royale League format

The Clash Royale League format has seen a few changes for the CRL 2019 Fall season. Bans are only allowed in 2v2 matches, so players have a lot more freedom when creating decks. All three regions (and the World Finals) use the same format, which is as follows:

Two teams of three face off in three to five sets of games. The first team to take three sets wins. In 2v2 matches, each team is granted a single ban.

• Set 1: 1v1 Bo3
• Set 2: 2v2 Bo3, excluding the players from set 1
• Set 3: 1v1 Bo3, excluding the players from set 1
• Set 4: 1v1 Bo3, excluding the players from sets 1 and 3
• Set 5: King of the hill

Set 5 is a king of the hill format where two players face off in a Bo1, and the victor stays on to play against the next player of the opposing team. The first team to run out of players loses.

This format keeps the matches from getting stale, and can lead to some pretty exciting games with reverse sweeps and all-kill finales. It proved popular after the Asian Spring seasons, and was later adopted by all other regions as well as the World Finals.

Any other Clashers interested in watching Clash Royale League? Let us know in the comments!