LEC changes playoff format and championship points in 2020

Riot Games announced a revised playoffs format for the LEC’s 2020 season earlier this week. 

League of Legends fans will see a lot of big changes in the LEC this year, including how teams will qualify for the World Championship. This season there will be even more importance placed on performances in the Summer Split playoffs. European fans will also say goodbye to Regional Qualifiers, also known as the gauntlet. 

LEC 2020 season and championship points

The 10 teams competing in the LEC this year will qualify for Worlds based on championship points. While these were cut out of the LCS completely, LEC teams will earn championship points in 2020 based on playoff results and then regular season placement in the Summer Split.

The Summer Split points will be valued higher than points earned in the Spring Split. According to a video Riot released detailing these changes, winning the Spring Playoffs nets a team 90 points. The team that comes out on top of the Summer Split’s regular season gets a whopping 140 points. 

At the end of the Summer season, points will determine which teams will qualify for the Summer Playoffs. This is more important than ever since the Gauntlet is no longer an additional way for teams to qualify for Worlds. 

LEC 2020 season’s playoffs format has changed

While the regular season will still have the 10 teams competing in best-of-one matches, the playoffs will feature an entirely revised format. The top six teams will qualify for the playoffs, where the brackets will now be double elimination.

The first and second seed teams won’t start just one win away from the grand finals, either. Now, the top team must choose to compete against the third or fourth seed team for a best-of-five series. The remaining team will take on the second-place squad. There will also be a losers bracket where the five and six seeds will compete. 

In Week 2 of the playoffs, the loser from the top seed match will compete against the winner of the losers match. The winner of this fourth match will square off against the highest seed that lost in the winners bracket. The fifth match will have the winner of the first match will play the winner of match two. 

During the road show in Week 3, the winner of match 6 will duke it out against the loser of the fifth match. The winner will then face the winner of the fifth match “for all the marbles.” 

Here’s a quick overview: 

LCS sees new 2020 format, too 

Going into 2020, the LCS also saw some major changes to their schedule. Weekly matches now span three days, including Monday Night League. This is a move that garnered mixed reviews from the League of Legends community, who wonder if viewership on Monday nights will be disappointing. 

Another big change sees teams competing in best-of-five series during the playoffs. Like the LEC, a lot of emphasis is now on the Summer Split. The top three performers from the Summer Split Playoffs will qualify directly to Worlds, leaving fans wondering what impact the Spring Split really has on the season.