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In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Travis Gafford, the popular League of Legends podcaster, revealed to North American fans that there might be specific yet significant changes to the structure of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) for the upcoming season.
The League of Legends World Championships recently concluded with DAMWON Gaming being crowned champions, as not a single North American team made it past the group stages. After the disappointment at the worlds, League of Legends fans from North America are waiting eagerly for the Spring Split of the LCS to begin.
However, Travis Gafford, or Tnomad, famous for his LoL podcasts like "State of the League" and "Whose League is it Anyway," has revealed that according to reports, the entire structure of the LCS might be changing for the upcoming season.
Here's a look at the potential changes that might be implemented in the LCS come 2021.
Probable changes to League of Legends Championship Series 2021
Travis Gafford revealed in his video that there could be some "pretty big changes" coming into the LCS. The League of Legends interviewer said that sources had informed him about "what Riot Games is planning" with about two months to go before the LCS season begins.
According to him, Riot is in the planning stages of changing the split-format seasons to a single annual season. The season would most likely begin in January and end when the Summer Split would usually end.
Travis Gafford went on to say:
"All those people who have said Spring Split doesn't matter have gotten their way because it sounds as though there will no longer be the Spring Split. That's right, there's going to be a single split that spans all around the year."
"There will be a single regular season for the LCS. It'll go from probably around January, I am guessing, and it'll start at normally when this stuff has started and stretch to around the same time."
This format raises one question in the mind of every player: "What about the MSI?"
However, Travis Gafford explained that instead of having Spring Playoffs, which allowed teams to qualify for the MSI, or the Mid-Season Invitational, Riot might plan a qualifier where the top six teams at that point battle it out to be eligible for the MSI.
The podcaster said:
"They are going to stop to do a Spring tournament to qualify people to MSI. I believe it's going to be something like the top six teams get into the tournament, and then whoever wins it gets to go to MSI."
Moving on to additional changes to the League of Legends Championship Series, Travis Gafford revealed that there would be more games in a season compared to the present format:
"There will be more games because each team will be playing each other five times instead of right now, where they play each other twice in Spring and twice in Summer. That means there will be more games happening next year."
The League of Legends personality also revealed that instead of the existing format, where every team plays each other twice during each Split, adding up to four matches across the year, the new structure would see every side face each other five times across the year.
It is also reported that before the start of the official season, Riot is looking to host a League of Legends kick-off tournament over one to two weeks. This event will supposedly give everyone an idea of where each team might be placed during the regular season.
Travis Gafford revealed:
"Before we get into the regular season, Riot is planning to do some kick-off tournament. I don't know the full details on this, but you will actually see a little tournament that takes place, I don't know, for one week or two weeks-long at the start of the season to help kind of get people an idea where the teams are supposed to be placed. Maybe this will be the new thing that doesn't matter."
With the rise in the number of League of Legends matches being played across the season and a kick-off tournament, it would mean that both players, as well as broadcasters, will be under a lot of added pressure. It will be a tough challenge for both to keep up with the new schedule if the changes do happen in the near future.
Apart from this, Travis Gafford also mentioned reports of Riot trying to come forward with more tournaments for the Amateur scene of League of Legends, as they try to "blur the lines" between the Academy and the Amateur scene.
These reports from the League of Legends interviewer have caused the community to go on an absolute frenzy of mixed emotions on Twitter. Let's take a look at some of the tweets:
All of this is still speculation and reports, as Riot hasn't announced anything officially in terms of the League of Legends Championship Series. However, with the next season approaching fast, the fans might soon witness a bunch of changes to the LCS.
