Beginning Of A New eSports Era? April’s NA LCS To Be Hosted In Las Vegas
Published: Feb 11, 2016 - Last Updated: Sep 26, 2022
The spring finals of the North American League Championship Series, the world’s biggest eSports league, are moving to Las Vegas. It’s the first time the Champion Series will take place in a different location – previously it was always held in Los Angeles.
The showdown will happen in the Mandalay Bay Events Center on April 17.
Crowning the champion in Las Vegas
Riot Games, the game developer of League of Legends and championship organizer, announced last week that it’s moving the 2016 event to a new location. The Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, will host the spring finals for the NA LCS on the weekend between April 16 and 17.
The top four teams from the Spring Playoffs will battle each other for Championship Points, which teams earn based on performance across both splits and playoffs in order to qualify for the World Championship, and the title of Spring Champion. League of Legends will take up the entire weekend, with the third place match taking place on the first day and the actual finals match on Sunday, April 17.
For now, it’s unknown which teams will be competing at the event. A very likely contestant could be Immortals, the LCS newcomer, which has had a very successful path and remains undefeated after beating Cloud9, Team SoloMid, and NRG Esports – some of the best teams in the region.
The same as last year’s format, the winner of the NA LCS spring championship will automatically qualify for Riot’s Mid-Season Invitational – another tournament that Riot Games debuted last year at Florida State University – as the representative from its region. There, the champion will meet the winning teams from the Chinese, Korean, European, and Taiwanese regions, as well as the winner from the International Wildcard tournament.
Besides competing for the trophy and the qualification for MSI, the decision which teams will make it to the 2016 World Championship will be made.
eSports and Las Vegas – a perfect pairing?
This will be the first time the popular MOBA game returns to Las Vegas since the IGN ProLeague Season 5 in 2012. The tournament is remembered as one of the most important tournaments in the game’s competitive history. It brought together 16 of the best teams from around the world.
Riot Games’ LCS finals is the second eSports event hosted in Las Vegas this year. Last month, Turner, FACEIT, and WME | IMG’s ELEAGUE “Road to Las Vegas” Championship, a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league, took place during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Additionally, in July this year, the biggest fighting games tournament, EVO, is scheduled at the same venue as the LCS finals.
According to the organizer, the tickets for the NA LCS finals will be available for purchase in late February.
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Since: September 12, 2015
