The stakes are rising in the LEC. Following
the nine BO1s of the regular season, eight teams have secured their spots in the Winter Split playoffs,
while SK Gaming and Rogue have been eliminated. The playoffs will follow a double-elimination bracket format with Fearless Draft. The first two rounds of each bracket are played as BO3s, while the remaining matches will be BO5s. This second phase begins on February 15 and concludes on March 2, with the Winter Split champion earning the sole European spot at First Stand, this year’s first international tournament. Follow the LEC Winter Split playoffs bracket’s progress in this article.
The first-round matchups have also been drawn. Regular-season leaders Fnatic will face eighth-seeded Team Heretics, while the other three matchups feature G2 Esports against GIANTX, Karmine Corp against Vitality, and Movistar KOI against Team BDS. This format, largely unchanged since its introduction in 2023,
will undergo modifications in the Spring Split. The BO1 regular season will be replaced by a BO3 phase, with only six teams advancing to the playoffs, which will still follow a double-elimination bracket.
Further adjustments will be made for the Summer Split. The ten teams will be divided into two groups of five, each playing BO3s against the four other teams in their group. The top two teams from each group will advance to the playoff upper bracket. The third-place team from Group A will face the fourth-place team from Group B, and vice versa, to determine the final two playoff qualifiers, who will begin their run in the lower bracket.
