In the Summer of 2016, we made some big changes to the EU LCS format. We moved away from the established double Round Robin Bo1 and introduced a double Round Robin Bo2 system. The new format struck a balance between offering more strategic depth by playing a longer series, while still retaining the strengths of the Bo1 format: schedule predictability, blue/red side symmetry and every game counting. The Bo2 format doubled the amount of content, which led us to opt for a dual stream setup, featuring simultaneously broadcasted matches.

Looking at feedback from players, fans and our internal observations, we saw that the competitive and scheduling strengths of the Bo2 format held up as anticipated, however, the lack of a clear winner for a tied series left many of us feeling unsatisfied and less engaged. Further, we were not happy with the dual stream viewing experience for both live studio and online audiences. Dual stream provides us with a lot of scheduling and format flexibility, but makes it more difficult to provide a focused and holistic content experience on our current platforms. With this in mind we took to the drawing board for the 2017 season.

For each of the two 2017 EU LCS splits, the 10 competing teams will be placed into two groups of 5, which will be determined by a group draft in early January for the Spring Split and another group draft ahead of the Summer Split. In the regular season, teams will play a double Round Robin Bo3 within their group, and a single Round Robin Bo3 cross-group, very similar to the format that the LPL has adopted from 2016. This conference-style group format will offer us the interesting dynamics and stories we know from group play in tournaments, and ensure that every team in the league plays each other at least once via the cross-group phase. With the move to Bo3, we’ll add an additional layer of strategic depth to each match and will have a clear winner for each series. Also, the format will enable us to offer a more focused content experience via a single stream setup, avoiding fans having to pick and choose matches to watch in a hard-to-predict Bo3 schedule.

Aside from these bigger changes to the regular season format, we are adding Saturday as a main broadcast day and will have some Sunday ‘flex’ broadcast days. We’ve made some very small tweaks to playoffs, will have an entirely new format for promotion/relegation, and updated a few EU LCS rules and policies. Let’s dive into the details by section below.

REGULAR SEASON FORMAT

The regular season will be split into 3 sections of group competition. In weeks 1-3 teams will play a single Round Robin Bo3 against the other teams in their group. Weeks 4-7 will be a single Round Robin Bo3 against teams in the opposing group and then weeks 8-10 will move back to a single Round Robin Bo3 within groups. Teams will play the other teams in their group twice and teams in the opposing group once in the regular season.