Game developer Riot Games has unveiled the name and format for its new Asia-Pacific league, the LCP.
Short for League of Legends Championship Pacific, the league combines the Asia-Pacific ecosystem (Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and Oceania) into one competition. Similarly to the recently announced Americas league (LTA), the LCP will also have a promotion/relegation system alongside permanent partner teams.
The 2025 season will be divided into a total of three splits, a method that is being used throughout Riot Games’ League of Legends ecosystem next year. In the LCP, the splits will be called the Season Kickoff, Mid Season and Season Finals with each split qualifying teams for a different international tournament.
In total, eight teams will compete in the LCP — four partner teams and four ‘guest’ slots that are susceptible to relegation. The names of those teams competing in the inaugural season are expected to be announced on November 3rd.
The LCP Season Kickoff will start the 2025 campaign with a single round-robin best-of-three regular season. The top six teams will then go through a qualifying series, competing in best-of-three and best-of-five matchups until one winner is crowned. The winner will go on to represent the LCP at Riot Games’ new international event. Like other formats that have been revealed, fearless drafts will be used through the first split.
Fearless mode sees champions played at any point in a best-of-series become unable to be picked through the rest of the series.
In the second split, called Mid Season, the format consists of a double round-robin best-of-one to find out which six teams will qualify for the next stage. In the Mid Season Qualifying Stage, teams compete in best-of-three matchups for the first two rounds before it is then switched to best-of-five. The top two teams will secure a place at 2025’s MSI. Moreover, Riot Games noted that performance in the Mid Season will impact seeding for its final split.
The LCP Season Finals will conclude the Asia-Pacific season. Not many details have been revealed regarding the Season Finals, however, three qualification slots for Worlds 2025 in China are at stake.
At the end of the season, lower placed guest teams will defend their spot in the LCP though a promotion and relegation tournament. The tournament will also feature the highest placed teams from Asia-Pacific’s domestic leagues – PCS (Taiwan), VCS (Vietnam), and LJL (Japan). The formats for each tier-two league have yet to be revealed. Moreover, Riot Games noted that it is currently “exploring solutions for a new OCE competitive circuit” for 2025.
Alongside the new Pacific league, Riot Games unveiled new formats for the LEC (EMEA), LCK (Korea) and its new Americas league.
