A sad day for the LCS rose today, only a few hours after the conclusion of this year’s Worlds championship. In an announcement by Riot Games, the LCS tournament will pivot to an 8-team format, leaving two teams out of the competition. As a result, we won’t be seeing Golden Guardians or Evil Geniuses in 2024 in the LCS.
Although the state of the LCS is shaky to say the least, we didn’t expect for such a radical change in its structure. However, this might be the right call in order for the North American tournament to thrive. According to Sheep Esports, both teams have shown hints of such a move over tha past two weeks, meaning the decision isn’t as sudden as it seems to us.
Riot Games has shared the following statement in a lengthy announcement through their Twitter page:
Last week, we spoke with all LCS partnered teams to convey our commitment to the LoL Esports ecosystem in North America and share our plans to reshape the league. In 2024, the LCS will be an 8-team league, as we made the mutual decision with Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses to exit them from the LCS. This change will allow us to be much more flexible as we prepare to restructure the league for future success. We made this change prior to free agency that begins today to allow impacted players the ability to pursue opportunities with other teams or leagues.
Evil Geniuses has detailed in the organization’s Twitter account:
Evil Geniuses will be stepping away from the LCS heading into 2024. We are incredibly grateful to the players, coaches, staff, and fans who have sustained our four-season tenure in the LCS and who have brought incredible success to the EG name.
As for Golden Guardians, their own tweet states:
The Golden Guardians have had an incredible experience in the LCS over the last five years. However, given Riot Games decision to shift the LCS from a 10-team league to an 8-team league, we have made the difficult decision to exit League of Legends.
Moving forward and for the foreseeable future, the LCS will consists of 8 teams
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