LCS 2021 Season Is Getting Some Big Format Changes
The League of Legends season ended in bitter dismay for the LCS as North America was eliminated from the World Championships at the Group stages. With FlyQuest and Team Liquid falling short of making an underdog run, the LPL, LCK, and LEC managed to occupy the semi-finals, with DAMWON Gaming taking the championship trophy back to Korea.
Ahead of the 2021 season, the LCS has revamped their format, which will kick off on January 15 with the brand-new Lock-In Tournament. With the new event, teams will be pitted against each other in a season showcase, putting on a display before the season kicks off. Lasting until January 31, the Lock-In Tournament will determine who the top dogs are going into the new season and give us a first glimpse at who's done the best recruitment.
Both Team SoloMid and FlyQuest will automatically qualify and will be joined by four more teams in each group. With $150,000 up for grabs for the winners (and an additional $50,000 to a charity of their choice), this will act as a great opening scene to the main play.
Click to enlargeThe Regular Season will then be split into two halves. The standard Spring Regular Season makes its return again, spanning over six weeks, from February 5 to March 14. The Spring Season will also be ramped up to five games per day, rather than three, giving the viewers more jam-packed and high-octane games to watch.
Differing from previous years, the Mid-Season Showdown has been brought in to replace the Spring Playoffs and Finals. The Mid-Season Showdown will then determine who represents North America at the Mid-Season Invitational, which is set to be in the same format as previous years.
From there, the Summer Split will offer an intense schedule. Over nine weeks, the LCS will battle through a triple-round-robin format, with five games every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Summer Playoffs have also been scrapped, akin to the Spring Playoffs. Instead, the LCS Championship will conclude the season and will determine who's heading to Worlds 2021.
Will these changes see improvements to the region and see the LCS succeed at Worlds?
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