The Lock-In tournament is returning to kick-start the 2022 season of the LCS. Like last year’s inaugural iteration, the 10 LCS teams are going to be split into two groups of five—and those groups have now been officially revealed.
The LCS announced the lineups for both groups heading into the 2022 Lock-In tournament, which is set to start on Jan. 14. Group A consists of the 2021 LCS champions 100 Thieves, Cloud9, TSM, Golden Guardians, and FlyQuest. Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, Immortals, CLG, and Dignitas are on the other side of the bracket in Group B.
Teams will compete against squads within their own group in a round-robin format, facing each roster once. The top four teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage, where they’ll be matched against lineups from the opposite group until only one team is left standing. While the Lock-In tournament doesn’t bear any weight on the regular 2022 Spring Split, it does reward the winning team $150,000.
This will be the first introduction for League of Legends fans and players alike to the new rosters established for these teams during the 2021 offseason. Players such as Bwipo, Inspired, and Hans sama will be making their North American debuts during this tournament, while veterans such as Olleh and Bjergsen will be returning to the stage after years away. The newest LCS rookies, including Jojopyun and Luger, will get their first taste of the LCS against one of the most dominant fields of players that the region has ever seen.
The 2022 LCS Lock-In tournament starts on Jan. 14 and will conclude on Jan. 30 with a LAN final at the LCS Studios. The 2022 Spring Split officially begins early next year.
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