All year, hype has been building for the
LTA North Promotion Tournament, where the new league will see five teams compete for a single spot in next year’s LTAN lineup. Now, the tournament is almost here.
Starting on October 4th, the five teams will begin facing off in the double-elimination bracket in Fearless Draft best-of-five series, where the Grand Finals winner earns the coveted Tier 1 spot.
Tournament format and setting
The five competing teams consist of two representatives from the LRN, two from the NACL, and a single guest LTAN team. The LRN and NACL are the Tier 2 leagues from the Latin American North and general North American scenes, respectively. The LTAN guest team, on the other hand, has been playing in Tier 1 all year, now competing to defend the very LTA North spot that the other four teams seek to grab for themselves.
The first six days of the tournament will be played remotely, while the Grand Finals are set to be held on stage at the Riot Games Studio in Mexico City. Confusing many fans, even this final live game at the studio will be completely audience-less. Another potential issue is the teams’ different locations, which could lead to lag and other connection issues given the remote play. To address this,
Riot has announced that the LRN teams will be given travel accommodations to Mexico City. They didn’t specify whether the NACL and LTAN representatives would receive the same offer.
Teams to watch
So far, four of the five teams have qualified for the tournament. From the LRN, two Mexican teams, Estral Esports and the SDM Tigres, will be attending. Estral is notable for their many players recognizable to fans of NA LoL, including two who previously competed in the LCS: Park “Summit” Woo-tae in the toplane and Kim “Winsome” Dong-keon as their support. Their botlaner is known even further, on an international level—a fresh-out-of-retirement Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun, who won the World Championship with 2020’s DAMWON Gaming. The SDM Tigres, on the other hand, consist entirely of Latin American players, including ones from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia. A player like Guillermo Alfonso "VirusFx" Navarrete Uxul, while not having won Worlds, brings key experience of his own, with over a decade of play in the Latin American scene.
From the NACL, only Luminosity Gaming has qualified thus far. This team also boasts a wealth of veterans, with all five of their players having spent 2024 in the LCS. Of those five, four were on the same roster, having competed together on Shopify Rebellion, while Edward “Tactical” Ra was on Immortals.
Finally, Disguised, the team started by streamer Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang, will be participating in the Promotion Tournament with hopes of spending another year in the LTA North. The team had a less-than-stellar year, spending the first two splits at the very bottom of the standings. But after some productive roster changes, they managed to finish Split 3 in 5th–6th place—a much better result, showing perhaps enough promise to suggest them as a serious contender in keeping their spot.
The five teams will spend the next month readying themselves for a chance at Tier 1 LTA North play. Should they win the spot, they have a chance to face off every week against some of the best teams in the west, and potentially qualify to international tournaments like MSI and Worlds themselves. With stakes as high as those, the event is sure to be full of fierce competition.
Header Image Credit: Riot Games
