The League of Legends EMEA Championship is making significant changes to its Championship Points system for the 2024 season, changing qualification criteria for international events like Worlds and MSI.
The changes promise a more intense and equitable competitive landscape in the region, offering teams new ways to secure coveted spots at the prestigious international tournaments, and Season Finals too.
As the league seeks to enhance fairness, clarity, and excitement for fans and players alike, they’re addressing concerns about the transparency of the system used in 2023. Therefore, the LEC has decided to allocate the same amount of points to teams finishing Splits in fifth and sixth place, as well as seventh and eighth place. This adjustment aims to level the playing field and ensure that teams with similar regular-season performances are rewarded equally.
Maximillian Schmidt, director of League esports in EMEA, emphasized the need for a more transparent system, stating that the changes coming in 2024 are being put in place because last year “did not have that clarity with groups.” The new system aims to eliminate uncertainties by having teams go through the same postseason journey, placing more emphasis on playoff performance over regular-season splits.
“We wanted to ensure that we put more emphasis on the actual performance in playoffs and take a little bit away from the overspill from the regular season into your then playoffs performance,” concluded Schmidt.
Consequentially, how teams qualify for the LEC Season Finals also will change, a process that has been streamlined to ensure the clarity and fairness that Schmidt talked about. In 2024, the second and third-placed teams from the Summer Split will now secure spots in the Season Finals, regardless of their Championship Points or past results. In the case of tied CP, the team with a higher number of points in Summer will earn the qualification, with the tiebreaker determined by the teams’ head-to-head records from the regular season—thus minimizing the impact of tiebreakers on the overall competitive landscape.
In addition to the Championship Points change, the LEC is also adjusting how teams will qualify for international tournaments of MSI and Worlds.
The qualification system for MSI will largely remain the same, with the winners of the Winter and Spring Splits earning the right to represent the EMEA region at the first international competition of the year. However, if the same team emerges victorious in both splits, the LEC will determine “the team who has been the most consistent across Winter and Spring” and qualify them as the second seed, according to Schmidt. Further details on the matter will be revealed closer to the beginning of the season.
All eyes will be on how teams will be able to secure a ticket for Worlds, especially with the tournament being held in London in 2024. The process next year sees the Summer Split Champion earning an automatic invitation to the event, even if just as the region’s lowest seed. “The team that wins Summer is going to attend Worlds no matter what,” Schmidt said.
The LEC’s bold changes to its Championship Points system and qualification criteria make for an exciting premise for EMEA’s competitive league. As teams gear up for the season ahead, the LEC continues to evolve, setting the stage for an even more competitive and captivating competitive environment in its region.
