Which are the best LoL tournaments in 2023? If you’re into LoL esports, you know that the game brings a lot of competitive action across the globe. Countless League of Legends tournaments are held annually, and the amount of competition is constantly increasing.
However, League of Legends games are quite time-consuming, and most fans do not have time to watch all the events. For this reason, we compiled a list of the most important LoL tournaments for the upcoming 2023.
If you’re into LoL betting and enjoy making bets on League of Legends matches, this list will further help you understand which tournaments are really worth focusing on.
Top LoL Tournaments and Leagues in 2023
Here’s our Top League of Legends tournaments 2023 list:
- LoL Worlds 2023
- The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2023
- League of Legends Pro League (LPL) – China
- League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) – South Korea
- League of Legends European Championship (LEC) – EMEA
- League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) – North America
2023 LoL World Championship: South Korea
The League of Legends World Championship is the climax of every League of Legends season, as it gathers the best-performing League of Legends Worlds qualified teams from all the various LoL leagues worldwide.
LoL Worlds 2023 will take place in South Korea, making its return to the country after five years. This year, Riot Games decided to give the honors to the defending champions of the tournament.
In 2022, the competition took place in North and South America. First, the Play-In Stage was played in Mexico, and then the best teams of the world competed against each other in different areas of the United States of America. Riot Games chose New York City, Toronto, and San Francisco for the Northern side of the competition but then replaced Toronto with Atlanta, Georgia.
We don’t have much information about this year’s World Championship, but Riot will certainly announce more details in the upcoming months. There is still a lot of time until the tournament starts, so the company might want to take its time. As the pandemic is over, it is definite that the tournament will allow live audiences just like in 2022.
The most important change is that a new format awaits us, and it is explained below.
Unlike previous years’ 24-team format, Worlds 2023 will feature 22 teams. It will still begin with the Play-In Stage, then a new Swiss-Stage format will go live. After that, the competition will be concluded with the regular knockout stage.
| Play-In Stage | Play-Ins will feature two teams from each VCS and PCS leagues, the champions of LLA, CBLoL, and LJL, and the winner of the new Worlds Qualifying Series. WQS will be played between the LEC 4th seed and the LCS 4th seed in a BO5 format. Play-In representatives will be divided into two groups and which will feature a four-team double-elimination bracket. The group matches will be BO3. Once the group stage ends, the upper winner of the group will face the lower winner of the other group and the best two teams of the Play-In Stage will qualify for the Swiss Stage. |
| Swiss Stage | The most important change of this year’s World Championship is surely the new Swiss Stage format. 14 teams will be pre-qualified, and two teams from the Play-In Stage will join them. The Swiss Stage will feature a five-round, Swiss-style format where teams with the same win-loss record will compete against each other until they achieve 3 wins or 3 losses. At first, each team will be randomly paired against a team from a different region and play a single BO1 match. In the second round, teams will be re-matched against those with the same record. This means that the winners of the first matches will play against each other, and losers will compete with each other to take their first wins, and this will continue for a total of five rounds. Teams that reach three wins will qualify for the Knockout Stage, and the teams that face three losses will be eliminated from the tournament. All matches that will either advance or eliminate a team will be BO3, and the remaining matches will be BO1. |
| Knockouts | You might also call this stage the playoffs. This stage will see eight competing teams from the previous stage. Teams will be drawn into a single elimination bracket based on their placement from Swiss. The Knockout Stage will include the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Grand Final, determining the 2023 World Champion. |
The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI): London
In League of Legends, international tournaments are always considered more important than the domestic leagues. For this reason, the Mid-Season Invitational is the second most important League of Legends event of the season, as it gathers for the first time during the season teams from various different regions.
MSI marks a great opportunity for teams to truly test their level of play with other regions, and it gives them a better idea of what their potential can be in preparation for Worlds.
For the first time in League of Legends history, an international event will be held in London, England. MSI 2023 has the honor of making London the heart of esports at least for a while. The venue, schedule, or dates are not clear yet but the company will make an announcement soon for the tournament.
MSI will welcome extra two teams this year. Compared to previous years’ 11-team format, 13 teams in London will compete against each other. This year, Riot Games decided to run two double-elimination stages, the Play-In Stage and the Bracket Stage.
| Play-In Stage | Play-Ins will feature eight teams, the champions of LLA, CBLoL, PCS, VCS, and LJL, and the second seeds of LEC, LCS, and LPL. As DRX won the latest World Championship, none of the LCK teams will compete in the Play-In Stage, but they will start automatically from the Bracket Stage. Play-Ins will feature two groups of four, and the winners of each group and the winner of a last-chance qualification match between the two lower bracket winners will move on to the Bracket Stage. |
| Bracket Stage | Three teams from the previous stage will join the first seeds of LEC, LCS, LPL, and two teams from LCK. The competitors will face off in a double-elimination, best-of-five bracket and the MSI winner will be decided. |
League of Legends Pro League (LPL) and League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK)
Now that we have covered the international LoL tournaments, it’s time to look at the domestic ones. Starting off, we have the Chinese and the South Korean Leagues, the LPL, and the LCK.
China and Korea have dominated the League of Legends esports scene for quite some time. Starting from Season 3, the winners of the LoL World Championship were always either a Korean or a Chinese team. It is no surprise then that the highest level of competition comes from these two regions.
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See also: LCK Betting Guide
In the most recent Worlds 2022 Championship, seven teams from LPL and LCK made it to the Knockout Stage with only Top Esports failing to qualify after placing third in the Group Stage. The South Korean teams dominated the recent World Championship and three of them made it to the Semifinals while only JD Gaming remained from the Chinese side. Finally, LCK teams T1 and DRX reached the Grand Final, and DRX pulled out an incredible upset against its strong opponent.
LPL holds the biggest competition compared to other regions with 17 teams while LCK only has 10 teams just like other major regions. Both leagues feature BO3 matches but while LPL is a single round-robin tournament, LCK holds a double round-robin competition.
The two Spring Splits will begin in January, with four days differentiating the starting dates.
Just like the previous years, LPL has the earliest starting date as there are more games than other leagues. LPL’s starting date is set to be January 14 and LCK’s first week will start on January 18.
However, most Western fans don’t actively follow these two regions due to the enormous number of matches and the time zone differences. Nonetheless, these two leagues are the best domestic LoL tournaments you can find across the world, and knowing more about their level directly impacts your LoL Worlds betting.
The LEC and LCS
Going down the list, we have the western competition in the form of the LEC and the LCS. The Western teams have been trying to catch up to the Eastern teams, and some of the most significant organizations (Fnatic, G2, and Cloud9) achieved great results over the years. Still, the general level of the competition has been lower compared to the LPL, and the LCK and the recent Worlds 2022 showed that there’s still a lot of work to do.
League of Legends European Championship (LEC)
This year, LEC will feature three splits rather than two, Spring, Winter, and Summer. Ten teams will participate in these splits, and the top eight teams will qualify for the Group Stage in each split. The top four teams of the Group Stages will qualify for playoffs in which the winner of the split will be decided. The competition will be a single round-robin, and the matches will be BO1.
The LEC 2023 Winter Season will begin on January 21, the Group Stage will start on February 11, and finally, the Playoff Stage will be held between February 20-26.
League of Legends Championship Series (LCS)
The LCS is another league that follows a different schedule and format than other parts of the world. Firstly, the Spring and Summer seasons follow the same structure that the LoL Esports community is used to. However, LCS holds a Championship tournament after the Summer Season.
Unlike playoffs, eight teams will be able to qualify for this stage. The top two teams start in round 2 of the upper bracket, and the first seed selects to play against either the potential winner of the competition between seed 3 vs seed 6 or seed 4 vs seed 5 before the Championship starts. The tournament features a double elimination bracket, and all the matches are BO5.
The LCS 2023 Spring Season will start on January 26 and end on March 17, but the other dates are still unknown.
Other LoL Tournaments in 2023
We’ve gone through all the major LoL tournaments for 2023, but there’s much more to look forward to! The LoL Wild Rift Championship was held in June 2o22 with a $2 million prize pool, and it will surely be back in 2023. Not only that, but there are many more regional leagues like Japan, Oceania, and Latin America, and all the secondary and third leagues!
The esports scene is creating a continuous cycle of competition, and the number of esports tournaments is constantly increasing every year. Fans and esports enthusiasts only have one thing to do: choose their favorite competition.