2020 LCS season

The 2020 LCS season was the third year under partnership and eighth overall of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), a professional esports league for the MOBA PC game League of Legends. It was the first year that the league used a double elimination bracket for its playoff format. Championship points and the regional finals were also removed from the World Championship qualification process.[4][5][6][7]

2020 LCS season
LeagueLCS
SportLeague of Legends
DurationJanuary 25 – April 19 (Spring)
June 12 – September 6 (Summer)
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)English: ESPN2, Twitch, YouTube
Chinese: Huya
Spring
ChampionsCloud9
Runners-upFlyQuest
Top seedCloud9
Season MVPRobert "Blaber" Huang[1][2]
(Cloud9)
Summer
ChampionsTeam SoloMid
  Runners-upFlyQuest
Top seedTeam Liquid
Season MVPJo "CoreJJ" Yong-in[3]
(Team Liquid)

The spring split began on January 25 and was scheduled to conclude with the spring finals on April 19; however, due to the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, the season was temporarily suspended on March 13.[8] Four days later, it was announced that the LCS would resume on March 20, with all matches being played online.

The summer split began on June 12 and concluded with the summer finals on September 6.[5][6]

The three teams that qualified for the World Championship in 2020 were Team SoloMid (summer champions), FlyQuest (summer runners-up), and Team Liquid (third place in summer playoffs).

League changes

Riot Games announced several changes to the LCS on January 8.[4][5][6][7]

Playoff format

The LCS changed its playoff format to a double elimination bracket,[4][6][7] similar to that which was adopted by the LEC in 2019.[9] The number of teams participating in the spring playoffs was unchanged, but the number of teams in the summer playoffs was increased to eight. Both splits' playoffs feature a winners' bracket and a losers' bracket, with the bottom two teams beginning in the losers' and the rest beginning in the winners'.[5][7]

Schedule

The LCS schedule was revised for the 2020 season. Four LCS games are broadcast each Saturday and Sunday instead of five, and two games are aired during "Monday Night League", which features the two most popular matchups of the week.[5][6][7] LCS commissioner Chris Greeley explained that this change was made to give less popular teams and players more exposure and opportunities to develop their brand, as most viewers, he argued, only tune in to watch their favorite teams.[7]

Following community feedback and "careful consideration", LCS officials announced that Monday Night League would be changed to Friday Night League for the summer split.[10]

International qualifications

Championship points and the regional finals were removed from the World Championship qualification process.[5][6] The results of the spring split only determined the LCS' representative for the Mid-Season Invitational, and did not have any part in determining a team's future qualification for the World Championship. The summer champions, runners-up and third place team qualified for the World Championship as the LCS' first, second and third seeds respectively.[7]

Broadcasting

The English broadcast was available on the LoL Esports website, as well as on Twitch[11] and YouTube.[12] On January 20, Riot Games announced their official partnership with Chinese streaming service Huya, giving them exclusive rights to the Chinese broadcast.[12][13][14] On April 8, it was announced that the spring playoffs would be aired on ESPN2 and the ESPN App.[15]

Spring

Teams and rosters
Team Roster Coach
Top Jungle Mid Bot Support
100 Thieves Ssumday Meteos Ryoma Cody Sun Stunt Zikz
Cloud9 Licorice Blaber Nisqy Zven Vulcan Reapered
Counter Logic Gaming Ruin Wiggily Crown
Pobelter		 Stixxay
Wind		 Smoothie SSONG
Dignitas Huni Akaadian
Grig		 Froggen Johnsun aphromoo Thinkcard
Evil Geniuses Kumo Svenskeren Jiizuke Bang Zeyzal Irean
FlyQuest Solo
V1per		 Santorin PowerOfEvil WildTurtle IgNar Curry
Golden Guardians Hauntzer Closer Goldenglue FBI Huhi
Keith		 Inero
Immortals sOAZ Xmithie Eika Altec
Apollo		 Hakuho Zaboutine
Team Liquid Impact Broxah
Shernfire		 Jensen Doublelift
Tactical		 CoreJJ Cain
Team SoloMid Broken Blade Dardoch Bjergsen Kobbe Biofrost Peter Zhang

Regular season
Pos Team W L Pts Qualification
1 Cloud9 17 1 16 Start in winners' bracket
2 Evil Geniuses 10 8 2
3 100 Thieves 10 8 2
4 FlyQuest 10 8 2
5 Team SoloMid 9 9 0 Start in losers' bracket
6 Golden Guardians 8 10 −2
7 Dignitas 8 10 −2
8 Immortals 8 10 −2
9 Team Liquid 7 11 −4
10 Counter Logic Gaming 3 15 −12
Source: LoL Esports
  Sixth place tiebreaker (Round 1)     Sixth place tiebreaker (Round 2)
                 
    Golden Guardians W
  Dignitas W     Dignitas L
  Immortals L  
  Second place tiebreaker (Round 1)     Second place tiebreaker (Round 2)
                 
    Evil Geniuses W
  100 Thieves W     100 Thieves L
  FlyQuest L  

Playoffs
WB First Round (Game 1)
   
2. Evil Geniuses 3
4. FlyQuest 1
WB First Round (Game 2)
   
1. Cloud9 3
3. 100 Thieves 0
LB First Round (Game 1)
   
LB FlyQuest 3
6. Golden Guardians 0
LB First Round (Game 2)
   
LB 100 Thieves 2
5. Team SoloMid 3
  Second Round Third Round Finals
                           
WB Cloud9 3  
WB Evil Geniuses 1         WB Cloud9 3
      LB Evil Geniuses 1   LB FlyQuest 0
  LB FlyQuest 3  
LB Team SoloMid 2
LB FlyQuest 3  

Ranking
Pos Team Prize (USD) Prize share
Cloud9 $100,000 50%
FlyQuest $50,000 25%
Evil Geniuses $25,000 12.5%
4th Team SoloMid $25,000 12.5%
5th/6th 100 Thieves
Golden Guardians

Summer

Teams and rosters
Team Roster Coach
Top Jungle Mid Bot Support
100 Thieves Ssumday Contractz
Meteos		 Ryoma Cody Sun Poome
Stunt		 Zikz
Cloud9 Licorice Blaber Nisqy Zven Vulcan Reapered
Counter Logic Gaming Deus
Ruin		 Wiggily Pobelter Stixxay Smoothie SSONG
Dignitas Lourlo
V1per		 Akaadian
Dardoch		 Fenix
Froggen		 Johnsun Aphromoo Thinkcard
Evil Geniuses Huni
Kumo		 Svenskeren Goldenglue
Jiizuke		 Bang Zeyzal Irean
FlyQuest Solo Santorin PowerOfEvil MasH
WildTurtle		 IgNar Curry
Golden Guardians Hauntzer Closer Damonte FBI Huhi Inero
Immortals Allorim
sOAZ		 Potluck
Xmithie		 Eika
Insanity		 Altec
Apollo		 Gate
Hakuho		 Zaboutine
Team Liquid Impact Broxah Jensen Tactical CoreJJ Jatt
Team SoloMid Broken Blade Spica Bjergsen Doublelift Biofrost
Treatz		 Peter Zhang

Regular season
Pos Team W L Pts Qualification
1 Team Liquid 15 3 12 Start in winners' bracket second round
2 Cloud9 13 5 8
3 FlyQuest 12 6 6 Start in winners' bracket
4 Team SoloMid 12 6 6
5 Golden Guardians 9 9 0
6 Evil Geniuses 8 10 −2
7 100 Thieves 7 11 −4 Start in losers' bracket
8 Dignitas 5 13 −8
9 Counter Logic Gaming 5 13 −8
10 Immortals 4 14 −10
Source: LoL Esports
Eighth place tiebreaker
Counter Logic Gaming L
Dignitas W

Winners' bracket
Round 1   Round 2   Semifinals (WB)
                   
    Team Liquid 3  
Team SoloMid 0     Golden Guardians 0  
Golden Guardians 3       Team Liquid 2
    FlyQuest 3
    Cloud9 1
FlyQuest 3     FlyQuest 3  
Evil Geniuses 2  

Losers' bracket
  Round 1     Round 2     Round 3
                           
      LB Team SoloMid 3  
  LB Dignitas 0     WB Golden Guardians 2    
  WB Team SoloMid 3         LB Team SoloMid 3
      LB Cloud9 1
      LB Evil Geniuses 0    
  LB 100 Thieves 0     WB Cloud9 3  
  WB Evil Geniuses 3  
Semifinals (LB)
   
WB Team Liquid 2
LB Team SoloMid 3

Finals
Finals
   
WB FlyQuest 2
LB Team SoloMid 3

Ranking
Pos Team Prize (USD) Prize share Qualification
Team SoloMid $100,000 50% 2020 World Championship main event
FlyQuest $50,000 25% 2020 World Championship main event
Team Liquid $30,000 15% 2020 World Championship play-in stage
4th Cloud9 $20,000 10%
5th/6th Evil Geniuses
Golden Guardians
7th/8th 100 Thieves
Dignitas

References
  1. Stavropoulos, Andreas (April 17, 2020). "C9 Blaber wins 2020 LCS Spring MVP award". Dot Esports. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  2. Ousley, Parkes (April 17, 2020). "League of Legends: Cloud9 Blaber is your 2020 LCS Spring Split Honda MVP". InvenGlobal. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  3. Ocal, Arda (September 4, 2020). "Team Liquid's CoreJJ wins LCS MVP". ESPN. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  4. Esguerra, Tyler (January 8, 2020). "Riot changes LCS playoff format for 2020, will also remove NA regional qualifiers". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  5. Rutledge, Caroline (January 8, 2020). "Riot Games Announces Major LCS Format Changes Ahead of 2020 Season". TheGamer. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  6. Stewart, Jack (January 8, 2020). "LCS introduces double elimination Playoffs and stronger Academy investment for 2020". GGIntel. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  7. Kolev, Radoslav (January 9, 2020). "LCS restructures Worlds qualification method, finally introduces double elimination bracket". VPEsports. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  8. Esguerra, Tyler (March 13, 2020). "Riot suspends LCS season, moves 2020 Spring Finals to Los Angeles". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  9. Esguerra, Lawrence Tyler (January 15, 2019). "LEC introduces a new season format for 2019". Daily Esports. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  10. Culver, Jeremy (May 20, 2020). "LCS drops Monday games in favor of Friday Night League". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  11. Brathwaite, Brandon (September 14, 2018). "Riot Games Pilots Twitch Co-Streaming for NA LCS". The Esports Observer. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  12. Matthiesen, Tom (January 20, 2020). "League of Legends: Riot partners with Huya as exclusive platform to broadcast the LCS and LEC in China". Inven Global. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  13. Esguerra, Tyler (January 20, 2020). "Huya becomes newest exclusive LCS and LEC broadcaster in China". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  14. Murray, Trent (January 20, 2020). "Huya Secures Chinese Broadcast Rights for LCS, LEC". The Esports Observer. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  15. Ocal, Arda (April 8, 2020). "LCS spring split playoff games to air on ESPN". ESPN. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
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