European ''League of Legends'' Championship Series

League of Legends Championship Series
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2018 Summer EU LCS
Sport League of Legends
Founded 2013
Owner(s) Riot Games
Director Dustin "RedBeard" Beck ("chairman")
No. of teams 8 (2013–2014)
10 (2015–present)
Continent Europe
Most recent
champion(s)		 Fnatic (7th title)
Most titles Fnatic (7 titles)
Relegation to European League of Legends Challenger Series
Related
competitions		 Champions Korea
Garena Premier League
Master Series
Pro League
Official website https://eu.lolesports.com/


The European League of Legends Championship Series (EU LCS) is the name of the professional League of Legends eSports league run by Riot Games, in which ten teams compete. Each annual season of play is divided into two splits, spring and summer, both consisting of nine weeks of round-robin tournament play, which then conclude with play-off tournaments between the top six teams. At the end of the season, the winner of the summer split, the team with the most championship points, and the winner of the gauntlet tournament qualify for the annual League of Legends World Championship.

The LCS represents the highest level of League of Legends play in Europe and North America. The EU LCS has a promotion and relegation system similar to that found in many other European sports, such as football: The bottom teams in the EU LCS from each split compete with the top teams from the European Challenger Series (EU CS) to compete for spots in the next split of the EU LCS.[1] The European Challenger Series is composed of six teams: three teams which failed to advance in the previous promotion tournament, one team from the previous EU CS split, and the top two teams from ranked ladder play in the public League of Legends online game server.

With the exception of some touring events, all games of the LCS are played live at Riot Games' studio in Adlershof, Berlin, Germany. In addition to a small studio audience, all games are streamed live in several languages on Twitch.tv, YouTube and Azubu, with broadcasts regularly attracting over 300,000 viewers.[2]

The popularity and success of the LCS has attracted significant media attention. On September 30, 2016, the French Senate unanimously adopted the last version of the Numeric Law, significantly improving the visa process for LCS players and eSports athletes in general, giving a legal frame to eSports contracts, introducing mechanisms to ensure payment of cash prizes, specifying rights for minor eSport athletes, and more.[3] A few months before, France also introduced a new eSports federation, “France eSports”, which has the duty to be a representative body of eSports towards the government and serve as a “partner of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee for all matters relating to the recognition of electronic sports as sport in itself.”[4] The LCS has attracted sponsorships from Acer[5] Coca-Cola[6] and American Express.[7]

Fnatic is the only team remaining that has played in every split since the first EU LCS split.

History

Riot Games launched League of Legends in October 2009 and rapidly attracted[8] attention from the competitive gaming community. The first two seasons of competitive play consisted of a series of tournaments mostly organised by third parties, such as Intel Extreme Masters in Europe, capped by a world championship tournament hosted by Riot Games.[9]

Riot Games announced the formation of the LCS on 6 August 2012,[10] creating a fully professional league run by the company with a regular schedule and guaranteed salaries for players, featuring eight teams. Since the LCS was only launched in the third year of professional play, it was immediately dubbed "Season 3". The top three finishers in the Riot Games European regional championships held in August 2012 automatically qualified, with the remaining five teams being decided in qualifier tournaments held in January 2013. Each LCS season is divided into two splits for spring and summer; the first games of the first spring split took place on 7 February 2013 in North America and on 9 February 2013 in Europe.

Season 3 of the LCS finished with the top three finishers Fnatic, Lemondogs, and Gambit Gaming. The top three teams advanced to the Season 3 World Championships.

Riot Games changed naming conventions in 2014, calling the season the "2014 Season" instead of "Season 4". The League of Legends Challenger Series was created as a second tier of competition for promotion and relegation.[11]

At the end of the 2014 season, an expansion tournament was held in Europe that added two teams in region, giving the LCS a total of 10 teams for the start of the 2015 Season.[12] Additionally, Riot introduced the concept of "Championship points", which teams would earn based on performance across both splits and playoffs in order to qualify for the World Championship.[13]

A new sale of sponsorship rule was instated for the 2015 season. As a result, several teams were forced to rebrand and leave their respective parent organisations.

The 2015 Summer European LCS Finals were played at Hovet Arena, Stockholm. The series ended with Fnatic winning 3-2 over Origen and peaked at close to 1 million concurrent viewers on twitch.tv, Youtube, and Azubu - the highest number of viewers for any LCS match to date.

The 2016 Spring European LCS finals were held at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, with G2 winning 3-1 against Origen, making it their first LCS title. The 2016 Spring European LCS split was the first time G2 played in the professional LCS after having been promoted due to winning the European Challenger Series and European Promotion Tournament in Summer 2016.

The 2016 Summer European LCS finals were played at the Tauron Arena in Kraków, Poland. G2 won 3-1 against Splyce and secured their second LCS title. Splyce would later win the 2016 Summer European Gauntlet and qualify for Worlds as the third-seeded European team.

The 2017 Spring European LCS finals were held at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany, where G2 won 3-1 against Unicorns of Love, securing their third LCS title and qualifying for the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), an annually-held international League of Legends competition. G2 placed second at the MSI 2017, losing 1-3 to SKT T1, the Korean representatives, in the finals.

Media Coverage

The LCS primarily reaches its viewers through online streaming using its own channels on Twitch and YouTube. On Twitch alone, viewership numbers regularly exceed 200,000 for regular season play,[14] and the games have drawn over 1.7 million unique visitors.[15] However, Riot Games CEO Brandon Beck stated in 2012 that there were no immediate plans to try to bring the LCS to traditional TV, and news coverage of the regular season is generally limited to dedicated electronic sports news sites, such as CBS Interactive's onGamers.[16]

The scale and popularity of the LCS itself, however, has attracted considerable media attention,[17] particularly around some events that legitimised the LCS as a serious competition.

Format

As of 2016, 10 teams from Europe compete in the European LCS. The ten teams are divided into two groups using a snake draft format. Each season is divided into two splits, with opportunities for promotion and relegation preceding each split. Regular play in each split in Europe consists of 10 weeks of play consisting of 6-8 best of 3 matches per week. Each team plays each other team in the their own group twice and each team in the opposing group once. Teams are ranked within each group by win percentage, with ties allowed in regular season. For the purpose of seeding playoff positions, a tiebreaker is played to split a tie.[18]

At the conclusion of each split, a playoff is played to determine the final standings. The top 3 teams from each group determined via regular season standings are eligible for the playoffs, with the top 1 team from each group receiving a bye into the semi-finals. Teams placing 2-3 in their group play each other in quarter-finals to determine matchups for the #1 seeded teams in the semi-finals. Each split's playoffs award cash prizes and Championship Points, which are used to determine qualification into the annual League of Legends World Championship. Both the winner of the summer split and the team with the highest number of Championship Points automatically qualify. The next five teams ranked by Championship Point total then play the Regional Qualifier Tournament to determine the final qualifying team.[19]

The top 4 teams of each group in the regular season automatically qualify for the next split. The bottom team of each group of the regular season must compete in a promotion tournament with the top two teams of the Challenger Series to determine the remaining two teams for the following split.[20][21]

Overview

  • Two groups of five teams each:
    • The top two teams are placed in separate groups according to the 2017 Spring EU LCS Championship Points.[22]
    • The remaining 8 teams are distributed to the groups via snake draft.[22]
  • Each team plays 13 matches:
    • A Double Round Robin within their own group.[22]
    • A Single Round Robin against the other group.[22]
    • Each match is a best of 3.[22]
  • The top 3 from each group qualifies to the playoffs.[22]
  • The two group winners receive playoff byes into the semifinals.[22]
  • The two fifth-place teams play in the 2017 EU LCS Summer Promotion tournament.[22]
  • Official 2017 Season EU LCS Rulebook

Teams

Group A

Headquarters Team First appearance in LCS Number of splits in LCS Current position in 2017 Summer Split Regular Season Group A Series record (W–L) Game record (W–L) Balance
Europe United Kingdom Fnatic Spring 2013 10 1. 11–2 23–6 +17
Europe Spain G2 Esports Spring 2016 4 2. 8–5 20–13 +7
Europe United Kingdom Misfits Spring 2017 2 3. 6–7 14–18 –4
Europe Germany Team ROCCAT Spring 2014 8 4. 5–8 14–19 –5
Europe Sweden Ninjas in Pyjamas[lower-alpha 1] Spring 2013 3 5. 2–11 7–22 –15

Group B

Headquarters Team First appearance in LCS Number of splits in LCS Current position in 2017 Summer Split Regular Season Group B Series record (W–L) Game record Balance
Europe United Kingdom H2k-Gaming Spring 2015 6 1. 9–4 21–8 +13
Europe Germany Unicorns of Love Spring 2015 6 2. 9–4 21–14 +7
 European Union Splyce[lower-alpha 2] Spring 2016 3 3. 8–5 16–13 +3
Europe France Team Vitality[lower-alpha 3] Spring 2016 4 4. 5–8 12–17 –5
Europe Germany Mysterious Monkeys[lower-alpha 4]Summer 2017 1 5. 2–11 5–23 –18
Team notes
  1. ↑ Spot acquired from Fnatic Academy, due to the organisation already having an EU LCS team[23]
  2. ↑ Spot acquired from Team Dignitas EU, due to the organisation having two LCS teams[24]
  3. ↑ Spot acquired from Gambit Gaming[25]
  4. ↑ Spot acquired from Misfits Academy, due to the organisation already having an EU LCS team[26]

Current Player of the Series Standings

Place Times Player Team
1. 2 Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage Misfits
1. 2 Chres "Sencux" Laursen Splyce
2. 1 Jesse "Jesiz" Le Fnatic
2. 1 Fabian "Exileh" Schubert Unicorns of Love
2. 1 Jin "Blanc" Seong-min (진성민) G2 Esports (substitute) / Paris Saint-Germain eSports
2. 1 Choi "Chei" Sun-ho (최선호) H2k-Gaming
2. 1 Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten H2k-Gaming
2. 1 Rasmus "Caps" Winther Fnatic
2. 1 Martin "Rekkles" Larsson Fnatic
2. 1 Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir Unicorns of Love
2. 1 Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle Splyce
2. 1 Nubar "Maxlore" Sarafian Misfits
2. 1 Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss Team ROCCAT
2. 1 Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen G2 Esports
2. 1 Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm Team Vitality
2. 1 Milo "Pridestalker" Wehnes Team ROCCAT
2. 1 Samuel "Samux" Fernández Fort Unicorns of Love

Past Seasons

2013 Spring Split

After the Regular Season
Place Team Record
1. Fnatic 22 : 6
2. Gambit Gaming 21 : 7
3. SK Gaming 17 : 11
4. Evil Geniuses 15 : 13
5. Copenhagen Wolves 13 : 15
6. against All authority 10 : 18
7. Giants! Gaming 8 : 20
8. DragonBorns 6 : 22
Results after Playoffs
Place Team Prize Money/Consequences
1. Fnatic 50,000 €
2. Gambit Gaming 25,000 €
3. Evil Geniuses 15,000 €
4. SK Gaming 10,000 €
5./6. Copenhagen Wolves Defended spot in the LCS; Team changed to Ninjas in Pyjamas
against All authority Lost LCS spot to Lemondogs
7./8. Giants! Gaming Lost LCS spot to Team Alternate
DragonBorns Lost LCS spot to MeetYourMakers

2013 Summer Split

Results after Regular Season
Place Team Record
1. Lemondogs 18 : 10
2. Fnatic 15 : 13
3. Evil Geniuses 15 : 13
4. Gambit Gaming 15 : 13
5. Ninjas in Pyjamas 15 : 13
6. Team Alternate 13 : 15
7. SK Gaming 13 : 15
8. MeetYourMakers 8 : 20
Results after Playoffs
Place Team Prize Money/Consequences
1. Fnatic 50,000 €, qualified for Worlds
2. Lemondogs 25,000 €, qualified for Worlds, disqualified for the LCS 2014[*]
3. Gambit Gaming 15,000 €, qualified for Worlds
4. Evil Geniuses 10,000 €, Alliance gets LCS spot
5. Team Alternate Team changes to Millenium
6. Ninjas in Pyjamas Lost LCS spot to Team Roccat
7./8. SK Gaming Defended LCS Spot
MeetYourMakers Lost LCS spot to Copenhagen Wolves

[*] After the previous lineup of Lemondogs left the organisation after Worlds and were not replaced in time, the LCS spot was played for between the three teams that had previously lost their relegation games: (MeetYourMakers, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Supa Hot Crew). Supa Hot Crew won the spot in the end.[27]

2014 Spring Split

Results after Regular Season
Platz Team Record
1. SK Gaming 18 : 10
2. Fnatic 17 : 11
3. Alliance 16 : 12
4. Team ROCCAT 15 : 13
5. Gambit Gaming 14 : 14
6. Copenhagen Wolves 13 : 15
7. Supa Hot Crew 10 : 18
8. Millenium 9 : 19
Results after Playoffs
Platz Team Prize Money/Consequences
1. Fnatic 50,000 €, qualified for All Star Tournament
2. SK Gaming 25,000 €
3. Team ROCCAT 15,000 €
4. Alliance 10,000 €
5. Gambit Gaming
6. Copenhagen Wolves Defended LCS Spot
7./8. Supa Hot Crew Defended LCS Spot
Millenium Defended LCS Spot

Casters/Analysts

Current

  • Laure "Bulii" Valée (interviewer)[28][29]
  • Martin "Deficio" Lynge (colour commentator and analyst)[30][29]
  • Daniel “Drakos” Drakos (play-by-play commentator and interviewer)[31][29]
  • Christy “Ender” Frierson (colour commentator and analyst)
  • Aaron "Medic" Chamberlain (play-by-play commentator)[32][29]
  • Devin "PiraTechnics" Younge (play-by-play commentator)[33][29]
  • Trevor "Quickshot" Henry (play-by-play commentator)[34][29]
  • Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere (host and interviewer)[35][29]
  • Andy "Vedius" Day (colour commentator and analyst)[36][29]

Past

  • Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider (analyst)[37][29]
  • Leigh "Deman" Smith (play-by-play commentator and interviewer) [38]
  • Henning "Henning" Eklund (colour commentator and analyst)[39]
  • Jason Kaplan (colour commentator and analyst)[40]
  • Mitch "Krepo" Voorspoels (colour commentator and analyst) - now head coach of FC Schalke 04's League of Legends team[41]
  • Joe Miller (colour commentator and analyst)[38]
  • Richard “Pulse” Kam[42]
  • James "Stress" O'Leary (colour commentator and analyst)[43]

References

  1. ↑ LoL eSports staff (April 4, 2017). "Challenging the Champions - 2017 Summer Promotion Tournament". LoL eSports. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  2. ↑ Kwilinski, Darin. "LCS retains viewers during the Super Bowl". onGamers. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  3. ↑ Auxent, Adrien (2016-09-30). "Esports are now officially legal in France". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  4. ↑ Auxent, Adrien (2016-04-28). "All you need to know about France's new esports federation, "France eSports"". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  5. ↑ Acer Jose (July 10, 2016). "Acer Named Official Sponsor for 2016 League of Legends World Championships and 2016 All Star Event". Acer. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  6. ↑ Gaudiosi, John. "Why eSports are attracting sponsors like Coke". Fortune. Time Inc. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  7. ↑ Peel, Jeremy. "American Express to sponsor LCS Season 3 and Staples Center final: "We're stepping up and saying this is no longer niche"". PCGamesN. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Attraction in League Of Legends". nytimes. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  9. ↑ "International Tournaments". esportspedia. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Riot Games Shares its Vision for the Future of Esports, Reveals Initial Details of League of Legends Championship Series" (PDF). Riot Games. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  11. ↑ Sarkar, Samit. "How the new League of Legends Challenger league will create a pathway to the pros". Polygon. Vox Media.
  12. ↑ Deesing, Jonathan (November 19, 2014). "Expansion Tournament Adds Two Teams to LCS". Red Bull GmbH. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  13. ↑ Deesing, Jonathan (January 14, 2015). "Riot Adds Points System to LCS, Modifies Schedule". Red Bull GmbH. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  14. ↑ Kwilinski, Darin. "LCS retains viewers during the Super Bowl". onGamers. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  15. ↑ Dave, Paresh. "Online game League of Legends star gets U.S. visa as pro athlete". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  16. ↑ Rom, Kim (November 7, 2013). "Welcome to the onGamers beta". onGamers. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  17. ↑ Snider, Mike. "'League of Legends' makes big league moves". USA Today. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Official 2017 Season EU LCS Rulebook" (PDF). Riot Games. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  19. ↑ Jackson, Leah. "When are the Worlds 2016 Regional Qualifiers?". League of Legends Championship Series. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  20. ↑ "League Championship Series/Europe/2016 Season/Summer Promotion". eSportspedia's League of Legends Wiki. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  21. ↑ Schnell, Marc (14 December 2016). "EU LCS 2017 FORMAT". EU Lolesports. Riot Games. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Schnell, Marc (14 December 2016). "EU LCS 2017 FORMAT". EU Lolesports. Riot Games. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  23. ↑ "Ninjas in Pyjamas return to EU LCS, buying Fnatic Academy's spot". The Rift Herald. May 24, 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  24. ↑ "Million-dollar deal for pro-gaming team". BBC. November 3, 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  25. ↑ Sillis, Ben (December 9, 2015). "Team Vitality is coming to League of Legends". Red Bull GmbH. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Mysterious Monkeys in der EU LCS". Sport 1. May 19, 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  27. ↑ Update on Lemondogs & LCS Rule Changes lolesports.com
  28. ↑ Valée, Laure (10 Jan 2018). "Ca y est !!! Je suis très heureuse d'annoncer que je rejoins le broadcast EULCS en tant qu'interviewer pour cette saison. Very proud and happy to announce that I will be joining the EULCS broadcast for the 2018 season!". @LaureBuliiV (in French). Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Henry, Trevor (10 Jan 2018). "Meet the 2018 EU LCS On-Air Team". EU LoL Esports. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  30. ↑ Stubbs, Mike (January 17, 2017). "Everything you need to know about the EU LCS Spring Split 2017". eSports Pro. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  31. ↑ Schnell, Marc (May 18, 2016). "EU LCS Survival Guide". www.eu.lolesports.com. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  32. ↑ lolesports (June 8, 2017). "This week @MedicCasts joins the #EULCS crew to cast MM vs UOL with @RiotDeficio and MSF vs ROC with @VediusLoL!". @lolesports. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  33. ↑ Register, Mark (April 25, 2017). "PiraTechnics on being the EU LCS hype man, how he casts clown fiestas, and taking care of his voice". Blitz Esports. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  34. ↑ Mahboubian-Jones, Justin (November 10, 2016). "Quickshot on the SKT vs SSG and Worlds' future". Red Bull. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  35. ↑ Depoortere, Eefje (November 30, 2014). "Sjokz' statement on Facebook". Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  36. ↑ Day, Andy (May 18, 2016). "Happy to announce that I will be joining the EU broadcast team as their new Colour Caster for the Summer CS + LCS :)". @VediusLoL. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  37. ↑ Stückenschneider, Maurice (10 Jan 2018). "Can finally break the silence! Pretty stoked to be part of the 2018 EU LCS on-air team as an analyst, gonna be over in Berlin for week 1". @Amazingxlol. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  38. 1 2 Miller, Joe (2014-11-28). Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JoeMillerOfficial/posts/767682216603084. Retrieved 2018-01-20. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  39. ↑ Riot Games EU (June 7, 2017). "We are excited to welcome @HenningLoL to the #EULCS Analyst Desk. He joins us from the Ragnarok Casting Desk!". @lolesports. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  40. ↑ Kaplan, Jason (2013-09-08). www.facebook.com https://www.facebook.com/JasonKaplanOfficial/posts/294693850669202. Retrieved 2018-01-20. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  41. ↑ FC Schalke 04 (2017-10-24). "Voorspoels und Dürr neu bei S04 Esports" (in German). Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  42. ↑ Stubbs, Mike (2017-01-18). "EU LCS caster Richard "Pulse" Kam moves to cast the LPL". eSports Pro. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  43. ↑ O'Leary, James (March 25, 2015). "I'll be joining the EU #LCS analyst desk this week as a guest. Looking forward to some awesome games to close out the regular season!". @stresscasts. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
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