Welcome to League of Legends Season 2023! We welcome you back to another year of epic battles and legendary moments on Summoner’s Rift. We have a lot of updates to share about our international events! If you are interested in diving deeper into our new format changes for MSI and Worlds, be sure to check out our format focused blog post [here][1].
Let’s jump in!
**Season 2023 Kickoff**
Today, LoL Esports officially kicks off Season 2023 with regional leagues participating in the two-day Season 2023 Kickoff event and players returning to ranked play. If you haven’t seen the [latest article detailing the Season 2023 Kickoff][2], intra-regional play is already happening, so pull up lolesports.com and log in for some sweet Drops!
**MSI 2023 Location Announcement and Format** Updates
The Mid-Season Invitational is coming to London in 2023! Thirteen teams from all around the world will battle it out for the title of MSI Champion. We're also shaking things up with a new format for the tournament, so get ready for some intense competition.
MSI is expanding to include more teams this year, going from 11 to 13, and will now have two double-elimination stages: the **Play-In Stage** and the **Bracket Stage**.
- **Play-Ins** will feature eight teams: the two seed teams from LEC, LCS and LPL, and one seed teams from LLA, CBLOL, PCS, VCS, and LJL
- For 2023, LCK 2 will go straight into the Bracket Stage as 2022 Worlds winners.
[1]: https://lolesports.com/article/deep-dive-lol-esports-international-event-formats/bltac16367d7bb27001
[2]: https://lolesports.com/article/format-explainer-season-2023-kickoff/blt28e04216e4224fe0
- These eight teams will be drawn into two groups of four to compete in best-of-three, double elimination matches
- The winners of each group and the winner of a last chance qualification match between the two lower bracket winners, will move on to the Bracket Stage to join the five qualified teams
- The **Bracket Stage** will see eight teams face off in a double elimination, best-of-five bracket. This will include the three winners of Play-Ins, along with LEC1, LCS1, LPL1, LCK1, and LCK2.
MSI is an opportunity for fans to evaluate the relative strength of teams and regions at the midway point of the season. With this new competitive format, we hope to better deliver on that opportunity, as well as showcase more exciting best-of series, and allow for more player stories to unfold.
We can’t wait to see you in London for MSI 2023!
**Worlds 2023 Announcements**
We’re honored to announce that after five years, the League of Legends World Championship will be returning to Korea! Korea is the birthplace of esports and home of the defending World Champions, and we cannot wait to share venues and dates in the coming months.
Worlds also will feature a brand new format! This year, Worlds will invite 22 teams to compete in three stages of competition: **Play-Ins, Swiss,** and **Knockouts.** Before the kick off of the main event, we are excited to introduce a new level of qualification - the **Worlds Qualifying Series.**
- The Worlds Qualifying Series will be a best-of-5 match between the 4th seed from the LEC and the 4th seed from the LCS. The winner of the match secures a trip to Worlds. In future years, we hope to expand the Worlds Qualifying Series to include additional regions and teams.
- The WQS winner, along with 21 other teams, will move on to compete at Worlds in Korea, with 8 of these teams beginning at the Play-In Stage. These seed allocations were determined by each region’s previous international performance.
- **The 8 Seeds Starting in the Play In Stage:**
- The top 2 teams from VCS, PCS
- The top team from LLA, CBLOL, LJL, and the winner of the WQS
- **The 14 Seeds Starting in the Swiss Stage:**
- The top 4 teams from LPL, LCK
- The top 3 teams from LEC, LCS
- **Play-Ins** are a pair of four-team double-elimination brackets that will qualify two teams into the Swiss Stage. Each group will play a best of three double elimination bracket, with the “upper winner” from one group playing a best of five against the “lower winner” from the other for a spot in **Swiss.**
- To start the **Swiss Stage**, the two Play-In Stage winners will join the 14 teams that prequalified for Swiss.
- **Swiss Stage** will feature a five-round, Swiss-style format where teams with the same win-loss record will compete against each other until they achieve 3 wins or 3 losses.
- The stage will begin with each team being randomly paired against a team from a different region. Each of these pairs will play a single best-of-1 match.
- In Round 2, teams will be re-matched against teams that have the same record as them (i.e. teams with a 1-0 record will play against other teams with a 1-0 record). This rematching will continue for a total of five rounds, with teams advancing to the **Knockout** stage when they reach 3 wins, or being eliminated from the tournament when they reach 3 losses. All of the matches that will either advance or eliminate a team will be best-of-three, and the remaining matches will be best-of-1.
- **Knockouts** will feature 8 teams that qualify from the Swiss Stage, who will be drawn into a single elimination bracket based on their placement from Swiss. This bracket, which includes Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals, will determine the 2023 World Champion.
For Worlds, we focused on creating more best-of match play and more opportunities for cross-regional competition. We also wanted to make sure that every single game at Worlds had stakes and that we could minimize elimination games that do not impact the outcome of the tournament for both teams playing. Bringing a multiple elimination format to Play-Ins and Swiss gives teams a chance early in the tournament to make a comeback if they started off poorly and gives us more games to watch our favorite pros compete. By keeping Knockouts a single elimination best-of-five format, teams have the opportunity to prove who is the best of the best - no second chances, no breathing room, just one shot to win it all.
There are a lot of new things coming in 2023 and we cannot wait to hear the community's thoughts! As always, follow @lolesports on social media to keep up with the latest news and updates. GLHF!
