LoL Esports

The League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) returns for a new season on 16 January 2026. In partnership with VNGGames, Carry International, PlayBrain, and Arcanist, the LCP kicks off its second year as it shapes up to be a must-watch with the CTBC Flying Oyster defending their crown against a league eager to dethrone them. We also welcome Deep Cross Gaming and Ground Zero Gaming as Guest Teams, with the 2026 season starting on 16 January.

Strap yourselves in as eight teams prepare to go at it once more for the prestige of competing at global events and becoming LCP champion! Read on to find out about the schedule, format, and more before the new season begins.

LCP 2026 SEASON OVERVIEW

In 2026, the LCP will still be divided into three splits:

Split 1: 16 January to 1 March
Split 2: 4 April to 7 June
Split 3: 24 July to 30 August

In Split 1, matches will begin earlier at 1PM GMT+7 // 2PM GMT+8 // 3PM GMT+9 // 5pm GMT+11 each matchday. We will be monitoring feedback at the end of the split to understand how fans across the region feel about this change.

The up-to-date schedule for LCP can be found at lolesports.com and will be routinely updated throughout the event.

SEASON FORMAT

As announced here, we are introducing a host of changes to keep LCP’s stakes high throughout the season, and make it more engaging for fans.

Championship Points

First up, Championship Points will be introduced this season to ensure teams are rewarded with qualification to global events and determining which Guest Team needs to defend their spot in the Promotion Series! Here's how points are calculated:

Split 1 & 2 Regular Season -
- Game points will be converted to Championship Points at the end of each Regular Season
  - Game win: +1 game point; Game loss: -1 game point
- Game points at the end of the Regular Season of Split 2 will be multiplied by 2.
- Teams also get Standing Points - finishing higher in the Regular Season standings gives you extra points with #1 getting 7 points, #2 getting 6 points and so on.
- At the end of the Regular Season of Splits 1 & 2, any team with negative Championship Points will have their total reset to 0.
  - This helps ensure they are not completely counted out for the rest of the season, while keeping the top performing teams on their toes.
  - NOTE: Only Championship Points gained from Game Points will be reset to 0. This will not affect points gained from Standing Points.
Split 1 & 2 Knockout Stage - Top 4 teams will get extra points:
- #1: 20 pts
- #2: 15 pts
- #3: 10 pts
- #4: 5 pts
Split 3 Swiss Stage - Championship Points will be given depending on Swiss Stage results:
- 3-0: 50 pts
- 3-1: 40 pts
- 3-2: 30 pts
- 2-3: 15 pts
- 1-3: 3 pts
- 0-3: 0 pts
Split 3 Playoffs - #3 Team will get 15 points
In the event teams have the same number of Championship Points, team standing during the Knockout Stage or Playoffs will be used as a tie-breaker.

We want to reward consistency and good performance throughout the season while building up towards the climax in Split 3 as teams get to rack up increasingly more points each Split.

Moving on to format, we will be retaining our structure from 2025 for Splits 1 and 2, and introduce Swiss Stage in Split 3. Here’s what each Split’s format looks like.

Split 1

Teams compete in a Single Round-Robin Best-of-3 (BO3) format during the Regular Season. The top 6 teams will then advance to the Knockout Stage and battle through a series of hybrid elimination Best-of-5 (BO5) matches to become LCP’s representative at First Stand 2026.

Split 2

In the Regular Season of Split 2, teams face off in a Single Round-Robin BO3 to determine the top 6 teams moving on to the Knockout Stage.

Thereafter, the 6 Knockout Stage teams compete in hybrid elimination BO5 matchups where the top team will secure their spot for MSI.

The 2nd team qualifying for MSI will be the team with the most Championship Points at the end of Split 2.

Split 3

In this Split, we are introducing the Swiss Stage! If you are unfamiliar with how it works, not to worry, we got you covered.

IIn the first round, the top 4 teams from Split 2 Knockout Stage will be drawn randomly against the bottom 4 teams. In subsequent rounds, they will draw teams with the same win/loss record as them, draws are random with some exceptions:

Teams who have already played each other will not be paired against each other in the later rounds (unless there are no other options)
During the 2-1 and 1-2 brackets, the loser from the 2-0 bracket will face the winner from the 0-2 bracket (teams from 1-1 bracket remain a random draw)

The Swiss Stage will have a mix of BO3s and BO5s. Teams will keep playing until they either secure 3 wins, which qualifies them for Playoffs, or 3 losses. Matches that are for the third win or the third loss will be BO5s.

A round of final seeding matches will take place at the end of Swiss Stage to determine the final standings:

All final seeding matches will be BO5s
Used to determine the 1st placed team
- This team will be allowed to choose who they face in the Playoffs between the 3rd and 4th placed teams
Tie-breaker between any teams tied after 3 losses e.g. 1-3, 2-3
- Winner of this tie-breaker will get 5 additional Championship Points (on top of what they would get for their Swiss Stage results)

Next, in the Playoffs, the 4 teams that qualified will go through a series of BO5 matches in a Double Elimination format to vie for 2 tickets to Worlds. The top team will also be crowned LCP champion!

The team that accumulated the highest number of Championship Points at the end of the season will also qualify for Worlds, joining the top 2 teams from Playoffs.

LCP Promotion Series

The LCP Promotion Series (P&R) makes its return in 2026 where two Guest teams will have to defend their spot in the league against top teams from APAC’s domestic leagues. Once more, there will be a Free-for-All and a Regional Merit slot. This year, the Championship Points that each Guest team accumulates over the season will have an impact on whether they are selected to participate in P&R. However, Guest teams that qualify for Worlds in that same year will be exempted from the P&R.

The exact format and mechanism for each slot for P&R 2026 will be shared later.

WATCH THE ACTION IN-PERSON

Fans can get tickets to the LCP Arena through the KKTIX website or at FamilyMarts across Taiwan. Tickets go on sale at 12PM GMT+8 every Wednesday a week before each match weekend. Matchweek 1 tickets will open for sale on 7 January.

The ticketing page is available in English, Chinese, and Japanese. Once ticket sales open, follow the instructions to select your dates, seats and complete the checkout process.

Tickets are sold per Match Day and provide entry to the arena for all matches scheduled on that specific day.

SAVE THE DATE OF 2026 LCP FINALS WEEKEND!

LCP will be on the road again for the 2026 Split 3 Finals Weekend from 29 to 30 August, save the date and look out for our announcement to find out where we’re headed!