It looks like the LCS is set to make yet another format change, this time to be more in line with the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC). According to former caster turned content creator Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles, the North American league will copy over the LEC format for the 2024 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.
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.
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 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.
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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. Could the LCS be set to follow in the LEC’s footsteps and adopt a similar format for the 2024 season? We’ll just have to wait and see.