Contents
NA LCS Spring Split Finals details and info
As we embark on the second half of the North American LCS Spring Split, the eyes of the esports world turn to the Spring Playoffs.
The LCS Playoffs will once again be returning to Canada. The action will take place on the western coast of Canada this time — from the beautiful port city of Vancouver.
Venue
The Pacific Coliseum is an indoor arena located within Hastings Park. The Coliseum originally opened in 1968 and underwent significant renovations in 2007.
Seating capacity
The Pacific Coliseum accommodates 15,713 in permanent seating, with provision for 2,000 temporary seats on the floor for concerts and spectator sports.
Dates and times
The Spring Split Finals will be a two-day event on April 22 and 23. The event begins airing as early as 12:00 p.m. (PT) on both days, immediately following the EU LCS broadcast. Doors open at 10:30 a.m.
Teams
Riot Games has made changes to its programming this year. The top four qualifying teams from the NA LCS Spring Playoffs will make it to the Spring Split Finals. (The third vs. fourth place game was not included in the Spring Split Finals previously.) All matches will be best-of-five series.
Tickets
Tickets will once again be separated into three tiers and can be purchased directly from TicketLeader. Below is additional information regarding ticket prices:
- PL 1: $60 (Closest to stage, lower half of the lower bowl)
- PL 2: $50 (Upper half of the lower bowl)
- PL 3: N/A (prices not yet disclosed)
All prices include facility fees ($2.50) and convenience charges (roughly $9.50).
In addition to the above ticket prices (which are only for one day of action), Riot has also released multi-day ticket bundles. Bundles will include a 20 percent discount. Below is a breakdown of the multi-day ticket bundle prices:
- PL 1: $97.50
- PL 2: $82
- PL 3: N/A
Below is a visual representation of the seating arrangement.
There is a max limit of six tickets or bundles per transaction. For larger parties that wish to be seated together, TicketLeader can be called directly.
Stakes
- 1st place – 90 points and will represent NA at MSI 2017
- 2nd place – 70 points
- 3rd place – 50 points
- 4th place – 30 points
2017 Mid-Season Invitational information
After the conclusion of all the major regional split playoffs, qualifying teams will embark on their annual quest for early international fame at MSI. This year, the tournament will undergo significant changes.
Upcoming major format changes
Previous tournaments featured the winner of each region’s Spring Split as well as two two teams from the International Wildcard Region. Riot will be changing that up this year: MSI will be broken into two tournaments.
The play-in stage will also use a new formula developed by Riot to determine which teams will have to participate. This new seeding system takes into account the overall performance of a region for the last two years.
Riot provided a graphical representation of its new seeding system:
In accordance with the new seeding rules, the two highest ranked teams in the play-in (currently the NA and LMS regions) will be afforded a bye. Other teams must first play a double round-robin in Round One.
The winners of Round Two will move on to MSI’s group stage, while the losers of Round Two will have one last chance in Round Three.
Korean, Chinese, and European teams will automatically qualify for the group stage due to their performance at MSI and Worlds the past two years.
Riot had this to say about its upcoming seeding changes:
“Within a single year, there can be considerable variance in competitive results, so we don’t want to solely rely on the most recent year of performance to determine seeding.
For example, although Albus NoX Luna from CIS performed extremely well at Worlds 2016, it was their first appearance at an MSI or Worlds. We don’t believe it fair to use solely that performance to assume that CIS is stronger than LMS, who didn’t have a team make it to the Quarterfinals, but have performed well at previous events.
On the other end of the spectrum, large structural changes have occurred globally since 2014 (for example, the division of LMS and GPL), and will continue to occur in our young sport. With this kind of rapid evolution, results from three years ago aren’t great indicators of current regional strength.”
Worlds implications
Just like previous years, the top four regions from MSI will also earn the top four seeds during the Worlds group stage. However, there are some big changes to the non-major regions.
This year, the highest-ranking region out of Brazil, Japan, Latin American North and South, Oceania, Turkey, and Southeast Asia will also secure a seed at Worlds.
The number one qualifying team from that region will earn a number one seed in the group stage. The second seed will start in the play-in stage.
Venue
The play-in stage will take place in São Paulo, Brazil at the CBLoL Studio. The remainder of the tournament will move on to the Rio Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
Seating capacity
Rio Arena, also known as Jeunesse Arena, has a seating capacity just under 15,000 for sporting events. The indoor, multi-purpose arena was just recently home to a large portion of the gymnastics events during the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Dates and times
With the recent expansion of MSI, the tournament will now take place in São Paulo and Rio De Janeiro over the course of three weeks.
The play-in stage will start on April 28 before moving to the Rio Arena to start the group stage the following weekend. The finals will take place on May 21.
Tickets
Tickets are no longer available, with both venues completely selling out within two hours. Fans can of course catch all the action online via Twitch.tv and LoLesports.com.
Teams
MSI will be Riot’s first test of the play-in stage at its critically acclaimed international tournaments (with Worlds sharing a similar format this year). The tournament will also be expanding to 13 teams, with representatives from the following regions:
- Brazil (BR)
- China (CN)
- Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- Europe (EU)
- Japan (JPN)
- Korea (KR)
- Latin America – North (LAN)
- Latin America – South (LAS)
- North America (NA)
- Oceania (OCE)
- Southeast Asia (SEA)
- Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau (LMS)
- Turkey (TUR)
