2023 League of Legends Worlds changes
Last Updated on: 11th January 2023, 08:28 pm
The 2023 League of Legends Worlds, the biggest event of the year, has been around for a while, and finally is getting a format change, something that fans have been asking for years for Riot Games to change. Fans have been wanting a double-elimination bracket, more big games, and for fans of North America and Europe, more games between the two western regions.
Will Riot Games give the fans what they are looking for? Will they include a double-elimination bracket, or will they stick with the status quo? How will they change parts of the tournament that fans and players look forward to at the end of every year?
It was also announced that the host for the 2023 League of Legends Worlds will be Korea for the first time in five years. The last time that Korea hosted the World Championship, it was the best one that we had seen, outside of the 2022 League of Legends Worlds. It will be exciting to which cities the tournament will be in, and how the games will play out!
READ MORE: The 2022 League of Legends Worlds Finals recap
2023 League of Legends Worlds: Play-ins
Before the Play-ins stage starts, this year there will be a new event called the Worlds Qualifying Series, or WQS for short. Here, the fourth-place team from the LCS and the fourth-place team from the LEC will go head-to-head in a best-of-five series to see who will be the last team in the Play-ins stage.
In the Play-ins stage, the winner of the WQS will join the top two teams from the PCS and the VCS, and the top teams from the LLA, CBLOL, and LJL. They will play in a pair of four-team, best-of-three, double-elimination bracket. The winner of a group’s upper bracket will then play the other group’s lower winner in a best-of-five series for a spot in the brand-new Swiss stage.
2023 League of Legends Worlds: Swiss Stage
The Swiss stage, the replacement for the previous group stage, is where the two winners of the Play-ins stage will go. They will be joining the top four teams from the LCK and LPL, along with the top three teams from the LCS and LEC. This means that there will be fourteen teams in the Swiss stage.
The Swiss stage starts with every team facing off against one other team at random in a best-of-one series. In the rounds following, each team will be matched up against another that has the same record as the other. The teams that make it to the Knockout stage will be the teams that make it to three wins, and the teams that are eliminated are the ones that make it to three losses.
Games that will either eliminate or move a team on will be a best-of-three series instead of a best-of-one series that went on for the majority of the stage. This means that a team could play a total of three best-of-three series before making it to the Knockout stage.
2023 League of Legends Worlds: Knockout Stage
The Knockout stage itself has no changes, it is still the same format as in the past. The top six teams from the Swiss stage will play in a best-of-five series all the way to the grand finals, where the 2023 World Champion will be decided.
READ MORE: 2023 LCS Spring Split power rankings
These changes to the 2023 League of Legends Worlds look interesting. The changes to Play-ins and the change from a group stage to a Swiss-style format could be a breath of fresh air, but only time will tell if the changes are what fans are looking for and if they even like the new format.
For the complete changes to the League of Legends international events, you can find them here. What do you think of the changes to Worlds? Let us know on Twitter!
