The Crystal Ball is the half of Pick'Em that has nothing to do with who wins matches. It asks you to predict the shape of the tournament itself - which champion dominates, who posts the best numbers, whether some improbable thing happens at all.
It is also the part most people miss, because it locks before anything else and never reopens.
What the Crystal Ball actually is
Alongside the bracket, Riot publishes a set of tournament-long prediction prompts. You answer them once, before the event begins, and they resolve as the tournament plays out - some at the end of the opening stage, the rest after the final.
It runs on its own scoreboard with its own rewards, separate from your bracket score. A perfect bracket and a perfect Crystal Ball are two different achievements.
The kind of questions it asks
Prompts vary by event, but they cluster into recognisable types:
- Meta questions - which champion will be picked most across the whole tournament, which will be banned most, which role sees the most variety.
- Player statistics - who finishes with the highest KDA, the most kills, the largest single-game lead.
- Novelty questions - whether a specific rarely-played champion appears at all, whether a game runs past a certain length, whether a particular kind of upset occurs.
- Outcome questions - broad tournament-level results that are not tied to a single series.
The novelty questions are where the leverage is. They are weighted by difficulty, so a correct long shot is worth more than a correct favourite.
When it locks
Before the first match of the tournament - earlier than any bracket deadline. Once locked, it cannot be edited, revisited or partially updated. There is no second window.
This single fact is the most useful thing on this page. Every other part of Pick'Em forgives a missed deadline by opening another one later. The Crystal Ball does not.
At MSI 2026, players who submitted their Crystal Ball answers before the opening day received an exclusive emote purely for taking part, regardless of accuracy. Riot has used that pattern repeatedly: the participation reward is aimed at getting people to fill it in on time.
How scoring works
Each correct answer is worth points, and the payout depends on how difficult the question was judged to be. Predictable questions pay modestly; unlikely ones pay much more.
Because questions resolve at different times, your Crystal Ball score arrives in instalments - some after the opening stage, the remainder once the final is played. A weak start does not mean the section is over.
Exact point values change between events, and Riot publishes them when the game opens. Guides quoting numbers from a previous tournament are usually quoting something that no longer applies.
How to approach it
Answer everything, even the ones you have no read on
There is no penalty for a wrong answer. Leaving a question blank guarantees zero from it; a guess has some chance. This is the clearest expected-value decision in the whole game.
Weigh the format, not last season
Meta questions are usually answered by defaulting to whatever dominated the most recent regional split. That instinct is often wrong, because international events run on a patch teams have prepared for specifically.
It is especially wrong at Worlds 2026, which uses Fearless Draft - champions used earlier in a series cannot be picked again by either team later in it. It applies only where there is a series to carry picks across, so the Swiss best-of-ones draft normally - but every knockout match is a best-of-five, and those force pick rates across a much wider pool than a normal tournament. That weakens the case for any single champion running away with the most-picked slot.
Take the long shots seriously
Since payouts scale with difficulty, the unlikely questions are where a good Crystal Ball score separates from an average one. If you have genuine reason to think an outlier happens, that belief is worth more here than anywhere else in Pick'Em.
Do it the day the game opens
Not because early answers score better - they do not - but because this is the deadline people miss, and the participation reward is usually free money.
A short history
The Crystal Ball arrived as an addition to the Worlds Pick'Em, giving the game a second dimension beyond bracket prediction. It has run alongside Worlds since, and 2026 was the first year it appeared at MSI as well.
The direction of travel is that it is becoming a permanent fixture rather than a Worlds novelty, so treating it as an optional extra is increasingly a mistake.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Crystal Ball lock?
Before the first match of the tournament, ahead of every other Pick'Em deadline. It does not reopen afterwards.
Can I change my Crystal Ball answers?
Only before it locks. Once the tournament starts, the answers are final - unlike the bracket, which opens fresh windows for later stages.
Is the Crystal Ball scored with my bracket?
No. It has a separate score and separate rewards. You can do well in one and badly in the other.
How many questions are there?
It has varied by event - roughly twenty at recent tournaments, split so that some resolve after the opening stage and the rest at the end. Riot confirms the count when the game opens.
Do I lose points for wrong answers?
No. Wrong answers score zero, they do not subtract. Answering every question is always better than leaving any blank.
Is there a reward just for filling it in?
Often, yes. Recent events have given an exclusive emote for submitting before the deadline regardless of how many answers turned out correct.