Riot announces major changes to the schedule and format of the playoffs at LCS 2020

Included in the schedule are changes to both the Spring and Summer Playoffs, changes to how teams qualify for Worlds, and the introduction of marquee matches on Monday night.

Fan LoL in North America just over two weeks until the LCS is back up and running, ending the long “drought” of League of Legends since Worlds ended.

On December 8, Riot and LCS announced a new format, with some sweeping changes to many aspects of the LCS ahead of the 2020 season. These changes include changes to how teams qualify to participate. World Championshiphow to run the playoffs, how to play Academy, and even introduce the Monday Night tournament.

Monday Night Tournament

Starting in spring 2020, the LCS will host two marquee match-ups on Monday nights.

Two matches will be preceded by three Academy matches. Riot and the LCS gives no indication as to how Monday’s matchups will be, or if the MNL includes any special programming.

In the first Monday night tournament, Bang took over his old roster, as he and Evil Geniuses faced 100 Thieves. Then there’s Team Liquid and Team SoloMid’s matchup which will wrap up at the end of the first weekend of the LCS.

Changes to World Standards for NA Teams

Say goodbye to regional qualifiers and championship points. All that matters now is Summer Playoffs. The winners and losers of the Summer Finals will determine the 1st and 2nd NA seeds at Worlds, and the final loser in the lower bracket will be the 3rd seed. New formats for the playoffs will be announced. explained below.

With this change, the Summer Playoffs move from the most important event when it comes to Worlds to the only important event when it comes to Worlds. Spring Playoffs only determine who is the winning team and who will attend MSI 2020.

Format Playoff New LCS

How do you make the playoffs more interesting? Replace knockout with double elimination! Both the Spring and Summer Playoffs will now use a double elimination bracket, with the best six teams competing in the spring and the top eight competing in the summer.

For both playoffs, a seed has the advantage of having a choice between opponents. In the Spring they get to choose between 3rd and 4th seeds in the first round, and in Summer they get a first round and have a choice between the first round winners.

More Academy matches and the premiere of Academy Rush

Riot in the announcement that for “Academy gamers, gaining experience on stage is an important step in starting an LCS roster,” so they are expanding their current Academy format to include the game. Accademy at the end of the day is Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

They are also playing three Academy games on the Monday before the Monday Night tournament and adding a new show called Academy Rush.

​