Around the world, multiple leagues across competitive League of Legends are winding down their seasons as the best representatives of every region are preparing for one of the biggest events in esports, the 2023 World Championship. But in Europe, the LEC still hasn’t started its final regional tournament of the year, the 2023 LEC Season Finals.
With six teams still having to battle it out for a spot at Worlds, supporters are now realizing that the new schedule for EMEA rosters won’t provide enough time for rest, preparation, and travel before international play begins—and some fans are even saying that the LEC is “sabotaging” itself with the new changes that were introduced this year in a Reddit thread originally started on Aug. 14.
For example, because of the LEC’s new three-split system, the 2023 Summer Split was played until Sunday, July 30, which was when G2 Esports captured yet another title against Excel Esports. This timing isn’t too disruptive for the players, but in between the end of the Summer Playoffs and the Season Finals, Riot Games added a three-week break with no LEC competition.
Because of this, the Season Finals are set to begin on Saturday, Aug. 19, and will last until Sunday, Sept. 10. Although this won’t pose much of a problem for the LEC’s top three squads, the region’s fourth seed will have a limited amount of time to prepare for its huge series vs. the LCS’ fourth seed in the first-ever Worlds Qualifying Series.
The Worlds Qualifying Series features the fourth seeds of both LEC and LCS as they battle over the right to represent their region at Worlds, starting in the Play-in Stage of the tournament.
Golden Guardians, the fourth seed of the LCS, were knocked out of playoff contention two days ago, which means that they have ample time to bootcamp, scout possible opponents, and practice new strategies. The fourth seed of the LEC will be determined on Saturday, Sept. 2, which means that only then will that team be able to scout, prepare, and possibly bootcamp for their series vs. Golden Guardians.
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This was a similar problem that arose this year with the Spring Playoffs ending a week before the start of the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational. MAD Lions’ roster only had nine days to prepare and travel over to London, where they were eventually swept in back-to-back series vs. T1 and G2.
Moving forward, LEC fans are hoping that changes will be implemented to give teams more time in between events so that they can properly rest and plan for the games that lie ahead. It might take a bit of time and experimentation from Riot’s side, but hopefully, officials are able to find a happy medium for both the crowd and the competitors for the future of the scene.
