Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses dropping from LCS 2024

Olivia Richman Published 20/11/2023

The LCS 2024 season will only have eight teams.

Riot Games’ president of esports, John Needham, has just announced that the LCS will be an eight-team league in 2024. This is the outcome of a “mutual decision” with Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses to “exit from the LCS.”

Here’s what that means going forward.

LCS 2024 update removes GG and EG

With the Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses dropped from the league, Needham said that the LCS will be “much more flexible” going forward.

He said: “This change will allow us to be much more flexible as we prepare to restructure the league for future success.”

According to Needham, this change was made prior to the start of the free agency period “to allow impacted players the ability to pursue opportunities with other teams or leagues.”

While it was written like a positive change, some fans are skeptical. Wrote one on Twitter/X: “In greater context, this isn’t a good look. Only time will tell if this is the correct move for the health of the LCS. As of right now though, this change feels pretty bad, and as a fan this makes me worry about the stability of the league.”

Some fans responded that it was about time that EG leaves but felt Riot had to pick another team to make the league have only eight teams. Another voiced that the timing was bad but felt the change would make the LCS more competitive.

Unfortunately, no other details were given at this time so it’s unclear what will happen to the players from Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses just yet. It’s also not clear what this “reshape” will truly look like thus far.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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