The LCS is set to change its format to be more in line with the LEC for the 2024 season, according to former caster turned content creator Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles.
The League of Legends Championship Series will change its format once again. according to MonteCristo. The podcaster revealed the news on Summoning Insight and claimed that the North American league will copy over the League of Legends EMEA Championship format for the 2023 season.
The new format would feature one round-robin consisting of best-of-one matches with the top eight teams moving on to a Group Stage with a best-of-three double-elimination bracket for teams separated into two groups. The top two teams from each group then move on to a Playoff Stage with a double elimination bracket to decide the winner of the split and the league’s international representatives.
Potential new LCS format
Best-of-one single round-robin, bottom two teams eliminated.
Group Stage with teams split into two groups for double-elimination brackets.
Teams will play best-of-three series in Group Stage.
The top two teams from each group move on to Playoff Stage.
Playoffs will be double elimination and have teams play best-of-five series.
It is unclear if the format change will also include changing the league’s schedule to have three splits, winter, spring and summer, instead of the usual two.
LCS format changes potentially on the horizon
The LCS is no stranger to format changes as the league usually doesn’t go two years without some kind of overhaul to its structure. In 2017, the league switched from a best-of-one format to a best-of-three one but retained a double round-robin regular season. That experiment was quickly discontinued for the 2018 season as the league returned to a best-of-one format.
In 2021 and 2022, the LCS added a pre-season tournament called Lock-in that saw every team play a short group stage that fed into a bracket to build hype for the regular season. The tournament was discontinued for the 2023 season.
About one and a half splits into the new format, LEC fans and players seem to enjoy the new format as it brings a level of gravitas that the usual format did not have, and eliminates poor-performing teams earlier than previous formats.
Dexerto has reached out to the LCS for comment.
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