**TL;DR**
- The **2023 North American Challengers League** and its first **Open Qualifier** start on **January 21.**
- **Challengers League** matches will primarily be played remotely, and held on the **weekends** in order to best accommodate semi-pro player obligations.
- **Champions Queue** reopens in 2023! Its Spring and Summer seasons will run alongside the LCS, with each season organized into three distinct splits. Spring Split 1 begins on **January 12.**
With 2022 coming to a close, it’s time to share our current roadmap for the **Path to LCS** in Spring 2023!
These updates include scheduling and information for the **North American Challengers League** and **Champions Queue.** Come January, we’ll be launching the latest versions of these two essential elements of our ecosystem. We took some big swings in 2022, aimed at addressing the many longstanding challenges within our region’s talent development infrastructure, and we can’t wait to keep that momentum going next year.
NORTH AMERICAN CHALLENGERS LEAGUE
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[2023 NACL Ruleset][1]
[Announcement Post][2]
In 2023, the North American Challengers League will be divided into Spring and Summer splits, with each split consisting of three stages — **Regular Season, Playoffs** and **Promotion Tournament**.
To recap, regular season play consists of a single Round Robin best-of-two matches between 16 teams, the results of which establish playoff seeding. Then, all 16 teams will battle through a double elimination playoff bracket featuring a mix of best-of-three and best-of-five matches. After the playoffs, four Provisional Teams will be relegated and compete in the Promotion Tournament against four teams from the NACL Qualifiers for a place in the Summer split.
[1]: https://assets.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltad9188aa9a70543a/blt74c0aaf226f24f45/639bb594f2b81c35b49ad6a5/2023_North_American_Challengers_League_(v23.0)_(1).pdf
[2]: https://lolesports.com/article/introducing-the-north-american-challengers-league/bltcaf4dd93c426f950
The 2023 NACL Spring split will run from **January 21** to **April 23.** The exact date breakdown is below:
- **Regular Season:** January 21 - March 6
- **Playoffs:** March 11 - March 29
- **Promotion Tournament:** April 17 - April 23
Each split, a pair of 32-team NACL Qualifiers will determine four of the eight teams that play in the Promotion Tournament. As we received positive feedback around our [2022 sign-up process changes,][1] we’ll be carrying it over to the 2023 NACL Qualifiers, with an application to be released in January. Here’s how we’re selecting those 32 teams:
- **24 teams** will be selected from the NACL Qualifier applications based on cumulative Solo Queue player rankings when applications close (Challenger: 20, Grandmaster: 10, Master: 5, Diamond or below: 0). To account for subs, the Top 5 highest ratings will be counted across the entire roster, with ties broken by teams with the most NACL Qualifier Points, then by the cumulative Solo Queue LP value across the Top 5 players.
- An additional **eight teams** will be selected from the NACL Qualifier applications by the Selection Committee.
Once the list is finalized, all 32 team seeds will be determined by the Selection Committee. We’ll post more information on how to apply to be on the Selection Committee in January. The first NACL Qualifier will run from **January 21 - February 19**, with the second qualifier taking place from **March 4 - April 2** (all matches played remotely). As a reminder, the format for the NACL Qualifiers begins with five rounds of swiss best-of-one matches, with the Top 16 advancing to GSL groups. From there, the Top 8 move on to a single elimination bracket. Points are awarded based on tournament placement, and the Top 4 teams from both seasonal NACL Qualifiers will participate in the Promotion Tournament.
Like the first NACL Qualifier, the NACL Spring Split will also kick off on **Saturday, January 21.** In order to better accommodate the obligations of our players, many of whom have other commitments beyond competitive play (school, second jobs, etc.), we have shifted the primary match days for all NACL & NACL Qualifier games to the weekends. Expect more information on the exact start times soon.
You can follow all the NACL action on **Twitch** — [Twitch.tv/ChallengersLeague][2] (formerly Twitch.tv/Academy) and [Twitch.tv/PathToLCS][3].
[1]: https://lolesports.com/article/introducing-the-amateur-selection-committee/blta07b88b605282e6d
[2]: https://www.twitch.tv/challengersleague
[3]: https://www.twitch.tv/pathtolcs
CHAMPIONS QUEUE
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Back by popular demand, **Champions Queue** is set to reopen on **January 12!** The [world famous][1] practice environment will run alongside LCS Spring and Summer Seasons, offering three distinct splits each season for players to climb the ladder and win some prizes! Here’s the schedule for Spring and Summer:
- **Spring Split 1**: January 12 - February 4
- **Spring Split 2:** February 5 - March 4
- **Spring Split 3:** March 5 - March 26
- **Summer Split 1:** May 25 - June 17
- **Summer Split 2:** June 18 - July 15
- **Summer Split 3:** July 16 - August 6
Champions Queue came a long way in 2022. We worked closely with our players to develop new systems and refine launch components, creating a queue we could all be proud of. As a result of our open dialogue with the players, we were able to ship several necessary adjustments to Champions Queue, including the MMR system, dodge penalty, stream overlays, updates to voice comms and overall UI, plus more backend technical improvements and bug fixes than we can count.
Ahead of Champions Queue Spring Split, we’re actively reworking **Pick/Ban.** Players felt like the Tournament Draft system we used for 2022 made the games feel too much like scrims, and they desired an experience closer to Solo Queue. We’re looking to provide their preferred experience next year, in addition to answering another piece of feedback: split prizing.
Originally, we introduced cash prizing for Champions Queue ladder performance as an incentive for players to use the queue. However, we heard from players that cash prizes often produced the opposite effect — they incentivised players to queue up less in order to preserve their high ranking on the leaderboard and made players uncomfortable with trying out unfamiliar picks for fear of impacting other player’s ranks. We also heard that the cash reward distribution felt too top heavy, and ultimately wasn’t as meaningful as limited memorabilia (like the old Challenger jacket). So for Champions Queue 2023, **we’re shifting our focus to physical prizing,** which should be a more sustainable and memorable reward structure. More on that next year!
And finally, a note about player access. This subject has been hotly debated all year, both externally and internally here at Riot. We’re taking our positive learnings from Worlds Champions Queue and applying them to the domestic system. Champions Queue will now be accessible to:
- **LCS players** on an active roster
- **NACL players** on an active roster
- **LLA players** on an active roster
- Players on the **Top 16 teams** from each **NACL Qualifier** (must be Grandmaster or higher in Solo Queue)
- Players who have **previously competed** in LCS or Academy (no time restriction, but must be Grandmaster or higher in Solo Queue **AND** approved by the Champions Queue Council)
- Players who do not fit the above criteria, but had **access to Champions Queue or Champions Queue Worlds** in 2022 **AND** reached **Top 25** in any Champions Queue 2022 Split or Season
To stay up-to-date with all the latest information on Champions Queue and the North American Challengers League, be sure to follow us on Twitter [@PathToLCS][2]. 2023 can’t get here soon enough!
[1]: https://lolesports.com/article/champions-queue-returns-for-worlds-2022/blt00235f2b10fbcbd7
[2]: https://twitter.com/PathToLCS
