League Of Legends Events To Watch In 2023

• LEC (LoL EMEA Championship)
• LCS (League Championship Series)
• LCK (League of Legends Champions Korea)
• LPL (LoL Pro League)
• CBLoL (Circuit Brazilian League of Legends)
• LCL (League of Legends Continental League)
• Other Regions
• 2023 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI 2023)
• 2023 World Championship (Worlds 2023)

With changes coming to some of the many League of Legends esports leagues in 2023, the calendar for professional League is different to how it has looked in previous years.

LEC (LoL EMEA Championship)

Having previously only had a Spring and Summer Split, a new Winter Split is being added to the LEC. Teams will now have an additional Split thanks to the merged EMEA's rebrand. Instead of a slim majority of teams going through to playoffs, there will be three stages of competition that test teams until there is a Winter champion. In Stage 1, ten teams compete in a single round robin group stage, with the top eight advancing to Stage 2, a double elimination group stage. From here, the top four advance to Stage 3, the double elimination playoffs.

The eventual winner of LEC Winter will qualify for the new Season Finals along with the LEC Spring and LEC Summer winners, where they will meet the remaining top three teams in championship points. It will be in this event that Worlds 2023 qualification will be determined, meaning every Split now counts during the Season.

As of yet, the official start date for LEC Winter 2023 is yet to be confirmed, but it is fair to assume it will be in the first months of the year to allow for three full splits to be played ahead of the World Championship.

LCS (League Championship Series)

Unlike its other Western counterpart, the LCS will not be getting a Winter Split in 2023, instead starting with the $150,000 LCS 2023 Lock In tournament before heading into the LCS 2023 Spring Season.

The Split that matters is Summer, as the top eight teams in LCS Summer will then fight for the Worlds slots allocated to North America in the LCS 2022 Championship. Three teams will qualify, with two directly heading to the main event and the third going through to the Play-In Stage.

LCK (League of Legends Champions Korea)

Home not just to the reigning champions of Worlds 2022 but to both finalists, the LCK schedule for 2023 remains faithful to what has been seen in previous years. A Spring Split and Summer Split will be played, and two teams in the Summer Playoffs lock in their spots for Worlds 2023. There will likely also be a LCK 2022 Regional Finals to send the third and fourth seeds that follow those playoff games, with the latter send to the Play-In Stage rather than the Main Event.

The 2022 Summer Champions were Gen.G, while the eventual Worlds 2022 winners DRX finished fourth overall in the LCK, showing just how strong Korea remains in League of Legends even if other regions have taken a share of the spotlight in recent years.

LPL (LoL Pro League)

With seventeen high-skill teams and continuous best-of-three matches, the LPL is one of the most gruelling regions for professional League of Legends. Rosters are often comprised of larger lists of players and while there is also only a Spring and Summer Split, these splits include up to 48 games per team against just under double the opposition their LEC, LCS and LCK counterparts face.

Despite the intense nature of the LPL, it is not uncommon to see a handful of teams dominate the field of competition, or go winless across all of their games. Once the season settles in, the overall form is easier to see and the dark horses more than capable of making deep Worlds runs tend to emerge.

CBLoL (Circuit Brazilian League of Legends)

While not one of the four major regions within professional League of Legends, CBLoL has a huge social media following and the game, professionally and casually, is immensely popular within Brazil. It is not just Brazilians who enjoy watching the CBLOL, there are fans around the world that keep their eyes on the Circuit Brazilian League of Legends.

Rather than Spring and Summer, Brazil has Split 1 and Split 2, owing to being in the Southern Hemisphere where the seasonal names would make little sense. The winner of Split 2 in the CBLOL is the one that qualifies to Worlds 2023’s Play-In Stage. In 2022, LOUD came close to the Group Stage of the Main Event and the support shown far outmatched many teams in their respective domestic regions.

LCL (League of Legends Continental League)

Due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the LCL had been cancelled in 2022 just two weeks in. The current status of the CIS League for 2023 and beyond is still uncertain, but rumours have suggested it may return in the upcoming year.

Other Regions

The League of Legends Japan League (LJL), Liga Latinoamérica (LLA), LoL Circuit Oceania (LCO), Pacific Championship Series (PCS), Turkish Championship League (TCL) and Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) are all set to take place in 2023. All of the Leagues share Spring and Summer Splits outside of the LCO, which has Split 1 and 2 instead for the same reasons as CBLOL.

Each of these minor regions gets a spot in the Worlds 2023 Play-In Stage for the winning team of their respective Summer Splits.

2023 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI 2023)

As the only other international competition, every region sends their respective winning team from their first Split to compete for the MSI title. While all regions are in attendance, only three have ever lifted the MSI trophy: China, Korea and EU. Three of the four wins for China are thanks to Royal Never Give Up and Korea’s two were claimed by SKT.

Format changes were confirmed to be coming to both MSI and Worlds for 2023, with details due early in the year, but for knockouts, single elimination will remain despite fans hoping double elimination might be one of those adjustments.

The previous two MSI tournaments were in Reykjavík, Iceland and Busan, South Korea, but the location for MSI 2023 is not yet confirmed by Riot.

2023 World Championship (Worlds 2023)

The crowning jewel of the League of Legends esports calendar, Worlds 2023 is one of the biggest esports events every year. Only the top 24 teams from the entire global LoL circuit make it to Worlds and eight are sent home just in the Play-In Stage.

With DRX as reigning Worlds champions, it is fitting that rumours and the general pattern of hosting locations suggest that the official location for Worlds 2023 will be in South Korea.

The dates for Worlds 2023 are not confirmed, but each year usually sees Worlds take place across October and November, with the grand final usually in the first week of November.