The next competitive season of EMEA League of Legends, the LEC 2024 is just a few weeks away, and while the format stays the same, there have been some improvements!

The 2023 LEC season ended on September 10^th when G2 Esports lifted the trophy after defeating Fnatic 3-1 in the Grand Finals. While the competitive season marched onward with an incredibly tense World Championship which ended with T1 and Faker getting their 4^th title, we haven’t had proper EMEA League of Legends for almost 3 months now.

Thankfully, Riot Games shed some light on the next LEC split in a blogpost today. While the LEC won’t change as drastically as it did before the 2023 season, there will be some improvements – as well as a new venue for the players to play and the casters to cast from, wit ha revamped viewer experience for those that follow the action live.

LEC 2024 Format Changes

The LEC will keep it’s 3 seasons, so there will be a Winter, a Spring and a Summer split, but the splits won’t be divided into 3 segments anymore. The Regular and Group Stages will merge into one, forming a single bracket. It will still start out with Bo1’s, followed by Bo3’s then ending in Bo5’s towards the end of each split. While the number of Bo3’s and Bo5’s hasn’t changed, there will only be four Bo1’s in Round 1 to provide even more practice to players.

Another huge update is the introduction of Matchup Protection. This means that if a team met in the Upper Round 1, they can’t meet in the Lower Round 1, only if both of them proceed to the next round.

The scheduling of the 2023 LEC was the biggest critique the organizers received. Both players and fans felt like the tournament was overwhelming with little to no breaks and opportunities for roster changes and taking some time off. To help this, Riot Games will extend the break between the Winter and Spring Split by one week, while also adding one more week between the Spring LEC and the Mid-Season Invitational. However, the time between the Summer Split and the Season Finals will have to be shorter by a week to compensate.

The starting time for each day will change as well, with the first match beginning at 5PM CET, so people can watch the action without sacrificing their sleep, while players won’t have to get home by 12AM if they play the last match.

LEC 2024 Championship Points

The Championship Points will also be adjusted, with the 5-6^th place finishes rewarding the same number of points, as well as the 7-8^th places to even the playing field a bit.

LEC 2024 Season Finals

The Summer Split will be even more important than before, as the winner of the Split will automatically qualify for the 2024 Worlds, which will take place in Europe. The 2^nd and 3^rd placed teams of Summer will also automatically get a spot in the Season Finals, and the placing in Summer will decide any tiebreakers regarding the Season Finals.

This is a necessary change as most teams didn’t take the Summer Season as seriously as the organizers wanted, as squads like MAD Lions and G2 Esports already locked in for the Season Finals – even though G2 managed to beat Excel Esports in the Summer Finals.

Preparing for the LEC 2024

While Season 14 will only start on January 9^th, Riot wanted to provide opportunities for players to practice with all the changes. To help them prepare, they will launch a Pre-Season Champions’ Queue, which will have all the new items, map and monster changes that are available on the PBE. This server will be open to all LEC and Tier 1 ERL players, so that they can get a headstart in getting used to Season 14.

Riot has also confirmed that the minimum required age to compete in the LEC will be raised to 18 – to Karmine Corp’s and Caliste’s dismay – but the age restriction for the ERL’s will stay at 16, so young talent will have a few splits to get the hang of things.

The LEC will launch in the second week of the new year, on January 13^th with the all new teams and upgraded format! Stay tuned to ESTNN for the latest action of competitive EMEA League of Legends!