A new major league makes its debut in 2025, the
League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP). The league has revealed its teams and format. Like all other major leagues, it will feature three splits, one of which will be
in Fearless Draft to match the new first major tournament of the year,
the First Stand, to be held from March 10 to 16 at LoL Park in Seoul, South Korea. The LCP will kick off on January 17.
The 8 teams playing in the LCP
Split 1: Season Kick Off
The first split of the year will see the eight teams compete in a single round robin Best-of-3. The top six teams will earn their place in the next phase: the Qualifying Series. This phase will be played out over several series of Best-of-3 and Best-of-5 in Fearless Draft mode. The winner of this split will earn a ticket to the first international tournament of the year, the First Stand.
LCP Split 1: Season Kick Off
Split 2: Mid Seasonr
After the First Stand, the teams will begin their second split of the year, which will decide which two teams will represent the LCP at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).
This split will start with a regular season played in a double round-robin format in Best-of-1. Once again, the top six will advance to the Qualifying Series. This second phase will be played in Best-of-3 for the first two rounds, then in Best-of-5, in a double-elimination bracket. The two finalists will qualify for the MSI.
Split 3: Season Finals
After the second international tournament of the year, the LCP enters its final split. Here too, there will be a regular season (divided into two phases) and playoffs. The first phase of the regular season will be the Group Stage. Teams will be seeded according to their results in the Mid Season Split (Split 2), and the eight teams will be divided into two groups. The Top 4 in the Contender Group and the Bottom 4 in the Breakout Group. Teams will compete within their group in a single round-robin Best-of-3 format to determine a first ranking which will be used for the second phase of the regular season.
The second phase will be the Group Seeding Bracket. Before the start of this phase, groups will be reshuffled via a “group breaker” to ensure a high level of competition. Thus, the 4th of Group Contender will face the 1st of Group Breakout and the 3rd of Group Contender will face the 2nd of Group Breakout in a single Best-of-3. The winning teams will join the Contender Group and the losing teams the Breakout Group.
Teams will then face each other again within their group in a double-elimination format. All teams in the Contender Group and teams with two wins in the Breakout Group will qualify for the playoffs. During the playoffs, the six remaining teams will compete in Best-of-3 and Best-of-5 in a double-elimination bracket. The Top 3 will earn a spot for the Worlds 2025 in China, and the winner will be crowned LCP 2025 Champion.
LCP Split 3: Season Finals
Promotion / Relegation
The new league will also feature a promotion/relegation tournament designed to maintain competitiveness over the years. This will be based on Guest Teams criteria. Depending on the results obtained at the Season Finals (Split 3), two Guest Teams will have to take part in this tournament. There will be two types of Guest Spot in contention: the Free-For-All (FFA), which involves the lowest-ranked Guest Team in the LCP, who will have to face a team from the regions participating in the Wild Card and other qualified teams from existing national leagues.
After the FFA, it's time for the Regional Merit: the second Guest Team to take part in the Promotion and Relegation Tournament will be selected as follows:
- If the remaining Guest Teams are made up of more than one Guest Team from the same home region, the lowest-ranked Guest Team from that home region will take part in the Promotion and Relegation Tournament.
- If the remaining Guest Teams are from different regions, the lowest-ranked LCP Guest Team, whatever its home region, will take part in the tournament.
The domestic league team(s) competing for the Regional Merit slot will not compete for the FFA slot.
*Guest Teams qualifying for the Worlds in the same year will be exempt from the Promotion and Relegation tournament.
The winning teams will therefore secure their Guest Team slot for the LCP 2026. Losing teams, meanwhile, will either have to return to their domestic leagues, or wait for an opportunity to qualify for the next Wild Card tournament. The format of the Promotion and Relegation tournament will be revealed later.
LCP Promotion and Relegation Tournament
