2025 LCP season
| 2025 LCP season | |
|---|---|
| League | LCP |
| Sport | League of Legends |
| Duration |
|
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Season Kickoff | |
| Mid-Season | |
| Season Finals | |
The 2025 LCP season is the inaugural season of the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), an Asia-Pacific esports league for the video game League of Legends by developer Riot Games and tournament organizer Carry International. The league launched with eight teams — four partner teams and four guest teams, all playing across three splits in line with the new three-split structure and competitive calendar introduced the game's developer Riot Games starting with the 2025 competitive season.[1] The season began on 17 January.
Notable events
[edit]- On 11 June 2024, Riot Games announced in a blog post titled "LoL Esports: Building Towards A Brighter Future" that a new eight-team Asia-Pacific league would be formed to become the new Tier 1 league in the region, replacing the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) and Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), which became Tier 2 leagues. The league would also feature a hybrid promotion and relegation system, with some teams being franchise partners of the league while others were "guests" that would be relegated.[2]
- On 29 September 2024, the league would officially launch as the League of Legends Championship Pacific.[3]
- Between 1 and 3 November 2024, the inaugural season format and teams were announced.
- On 6 January 2025, it was announced that matches in the LCP would be played on the live patch,[4] making it the first professional league in Asia to do so, and the third after the now-defunct League Championship Series (now League of Legends Championship of The Americas) and the League of Legends EMEA Championship.
Guest teams
[edit]Four guest teams are competing in the 2025 season - Secret Whales and MGN Vikings Esports from Vietnam, DetonatioN FocusMe from Japan, and Chiefs Esports Club from Australia.[5] All teams will compete in a promotion and relegation tournament against the top teams from the Tier 2 leagues (currently consisting of the PCS, VCS and LJL) based on their location.
Season Kickoff
[edit]Format
[edit]All eight (8) competing teams will play a single round-robin during the Regular Season, with all matches being contested in best-of-threes. The top six (6) teams will progress to the Double-elimination tournament Qualifying Series, which will include a series of best-of-three and best-of-five matches, with the winner qualifying for the 2025 First Stand tournament as the LCP's lone representative.[6]
The Season Kickoff will implement the "Fearless Draft" format, which was popularized by China's LoL Development League, where teams cannot pick a champion that they've already played in a series, even if the champion was picked by the opposing team.
Regular season
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CTBC Flying Oyster | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | Talon Esports | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | |
| 3 | MGN Vikings Esports | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | |
| 4 | Secret Whales | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | |
| 5 | GAM Esports | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | |
| 6 | DetonatioN FocusMe | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | |
| 7 | Chiefs Esports Club | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | |
| 8 | SoftBank Hawks | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 |
Mid-Season
[edit]Format
[edit]In the Mid-Season split, the eight (8) competing teams will compete in a double-round robin, with all matches being played in best-of-ones. The top six (6) teams will advance to the Qualifying Series, where the first two rounds will be contested in best-of-threes, and the last two rounds in best-of-fives. In addition, the series will be played in a semi-double elimination bracket, with the two finalists securing their spot at the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational.[6] If the LCP's representative at the First Stand Tournament becomes champion, the two teams who earn the LCP's two MSI slots will get automatic byes, meaning that the skip the Play-in Stage and advance directly to the Bracket Stage.
Season Finals
[edit]Format
[edit]Based on their standings from the Mid-Season split, all eight (8) competing teams will be divided into two groups of four teams — Contender (top four teams) and Breakout (bottom four teams). There will be two phases of the regular season, with the first phase being a single round-robin tournament, with all matches being played in best-of-threes to determine standings for the next phase. The second phase will see a group reshuffle via a group breaker, where the 4th-placed contender team and the 1st-placed breakout team, as well as the 3rd-placed contender team and the 2nd-placed breakout team, will go head-to-head. Winning teams will join the contender group, while losing teams proceed to the breakout group.
Teams in each group then compete in a double-elimination bracket, with all Contender Group teams advancing to the playoffs, and only teams that have two wins advancing. Teams in the contender group play only for seeding. In the playoffs, a double-elimination playoff bracket will be applied, with the six (6) remaining teams playing a mix of best-of-threes and best-of-fives. The top team from the playoffs will be crowned the LCP Champion, with the top (3) teams earning qualification to the 2025 League of Legends World Championship.[7] If an LCP team finishes as a finalist at minimum at MSI 2025, it will have an additional fourth slot in the tournament.
References
[edit]- ^ "LoL Esports: Building Towards A Brighter Future". lolesports.com. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ^ Wilson, Jason (11 June 2024). "Riot Games rolls out consolidation plan, new spring event for League of Legends esports". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ^ "Introducing League of Legends Championship Pacific!". LoL Esports. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ^ Choudhury, Kaustavmani (6 January 2025). "Inaugural LCP 2025 Season to kick off January 17". Strafe Esports. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ^ Xu, Davide (5 November 2024). "League of Legends Championship Pacific partner and guest teams revealed for 2025". Esports Insider. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ^ a b "League of Legends Championship Pacific Format Update". LoL Esports. 1 November 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ^ "LCP 2025 Season Primer". LoL Esports. 6 January 2025. Retrieved 16 January 2025.