LCS, or League Championship Sequence, is a regional esports occasion the place groups from america and Canada take part and battle towards one another to win the professional-level event. The occasion has large and is broadcasted worldwide. The video games are performed within the Riot Video games studios in LA on a safe community that ensures that exterior assaults don’t sabotage the League of Legends occasion. Despite the fact that Riot themselves organizes LCS, many large corporations sponsor the occasion as a result of players are watching the professional gamers combat the legendary battles, particularly since LCS will get over 300 thousand concurrent viewers repeatedly.
And if there was a necessity for Riot to extend the viewer depend, they did it gracefully by providing in-game rewards for watching stay streams of competitions corresponding to LCS, MSI, or the Worlds championship.
Regional Competitions
The competitors began with the Spring Break up on January twenty sixth and can consist of some weekly matches on Thursdays and Fridays till the finals on April 8 and 9. The World Kickoff occasion was held on January 10 and January 11, and it represented the beginning {of professional} competitions worldwide. Which means the opposite regional competitions have additionally begun:
- LCK – Korea
- LPL – China
- LEC – EMEA
- CBLOL – Brazil
- LLA – LATAM
- VCS – Vietnam
- PCS – Southern Asia and Oceania
- LJL – Japan
On high of the regional competitions, there’s solely MSI and Worlds, and Riot has determined to vary the format of those international competitions this yr.
LCS Groups for 2023
Ten groups are competing in LCS this yr:
- 100 Thieves
- Staff Liquid
- Cloud9
- Dignitas
- FlyQuest
- CLG
- TSM
- Evil Geniuses
- Immortals
- Golden Guardians
LCS Schedule
Riot determined to schedule the LCS competitors every week on Thursdays and Fridays, apart from week 4 and the final month of the Spring break up. The broadcasts will begin at 12 PM Pacific Time every day. The exception is the final three weeks of the Break up, the place the time of the matches continues to be to be decided.
- Thursday, January 26
- Friday, January 27
- Thursday, February 2
- Friday, February 3
- Thursday, February 9
- Friday, February 10
- Wednesday, February 15
- Thursday, February 16
- Friday, February 17
- Thursday, February 23
- Friday, February 24
- Thursday, March 2
- Thursday, March 9
- Friday, March 10
- Wednesday, March 15
- Thursday, March 16
- Friday, March 17
- Thursday, March 23
- Friday, March 24
- Saturday, March 25
- Sunday, March 26
- Thursday, March 30
- Friday, March 31
Finals:
- Saturday, April 8
- Sunday, April 9
One of many important adjustments within the schedule is the time of the matches, and, as Riot admitted, they modified the time of the matches to adapt to the viewers’ preferences. Ten years in the past, when the primary esports occasion occurred, most of the viewers had totally different life commitments than now, and so they watch esports on weekdays and weekends.
This schedule additionally implies that matches from totally different regional competitions don’t overlap, so you may watch as many as you need stay. Alternatively, this additionally helps Riot as they may get extra view hours from probably the identical viewers.
On high of this, Riot acknowledged that their determination to maneuver LCS to Thursdays and Fridays has to do with their plan for the next ten years of LCS. Much more, they’re making an attempt to succeed in the candy level the place they’ve each the previous followers watching and, concurrently, create area for brand spanking new followers to affix in and watch.
LCS Format
The LCS format doesn’t change in comparison with the earlier years, which implies that you will notice a Group stage with a best-of-1 elimination bracket and 18 matches. Six groups will transfer on to the playoffs, a double elimination bracket with the very best of 5 matches. The winners and the second runners will qualify for the MSI competitors.
What About MSI?
Everybody expects the summer time break up to be intense, not just for LCS however for all of the regional skilled tournaments of this degree. However the competitors will take the depth to the subsequent degree with the mid-season invitational (MSI), which is able to happen in London this yr with a brand new format. There might be two extra groups in comparison with the final yr’s, however the entire format of the competitors is modified. Eight groups will take part in a bunch stage, and 5 of the groups will go straight into the brackets stage. The group stage might be a double elimination the place the groups will face one another in 3 matches. The bracket stage will even have eight groups competing in a double elimination best-of-5 bracket.