Format changes to the LEC have been in popular demand for ages. Now they finally announced some big changes, for 2023.
Going into 2023, the LEC finally announced some big changes to their competition format. While both the LCK and LPL have been using a Best-of-3 format, Western regions have stuck to their Best-of-1 format. With this, players in the LCK and LPL get way more practice-on-stage, and it shows.
For a while now, fans have been requesting a departure from the Best-of-1 format, and it seems, like the executives of the LEC are finally listening.
LEC Including More Best-of-3s
While they are not swapping exclusively to Best-of-3s, the LEC is adding an additional split, as well as more opportunities for BO3 and BO5 sets, according to a report by Blix.
Great, seeing them fix things:
The proposed LEC changes will set the LEC’s start date to mid-January. It will have 3 splits instead of the regular 2. First off, there will be a 3-week regular season, that determines the seeding for a best-of-3 gauntlet. As a result of this, 4 teams will advance to the best-of-5 tournament, to determine the best team for the split.
With this, the best-of-1 format is limited to three weeks, and nine games in total, for the regular season. The teams, that don't make the cut for the BO3 phase, will have a much shorter split than usual.
The teams that preserve, on the other hand, have much more opportunities to play sets on stage, and prepare themselves for international competition.
Maybe this gets people excited again to watch, LoL Esports:
The problem with this is, that the huge discrepancy between matches played could lead to a skill gap within the LEC. This could solidify 4 teams as the top dogs of the division, with way more experience than the rest. Initially weaker teams might get left behind, without any chances of improving.