Preface: The S15 season is almost over, and it's believed that the vast majority of players have been paying attention to the recent confrontations. The World Championship final is set between T1 and KT, with the LCK region once again locking in the ultimate champion ahead of time, leading to a bleak moment for the LPL region. Over the past few years, Riot has made many adjustments to boost the excitement of competitions, frequently changing formats that have left fans confused. Recently, a brand-new S16 season format has attracted widespread attention from players. After the split of the North American and Brazilian regions, the first stage in NA will switch to Swiss-style matchups. Meanwhile, the second and third stages are canceled, and the Spring and Summer splits are brought back.

Another major update to the S16 format

Most players are quite familiar with League of Legends. As an esports game, it has grown tremendously in just over a decade, largely thanks to a solid competitive system that has retained a massive fanbase. However, the esports industry has faced a downturn in recent years, and LoL’s popularity has dropped significantly. To keep veteran players engaged, the organizers have been constantly innovating, often making major adjustments after each season. For example, the S15 season introduced multiple world-class competitions and even canceled the traditional Spring and Summer splits, replacing them with first, second, and third stages.

Opinions on this schedule change have been mixed among fans; some preferred the old format, while others liked the new one. Riot’s data is surely reliable, and they seem to have recognized the issues. Hence, they announced the re-splitting of the Americas into North America and Brazil. Brazil has a large fanbase, but when merged into NA, their teams’ strength was suppressed, reducing the overall entertainment value. The Brazilian Uzi of the past is no longer seen.

As the season nears its conclusion, the fresh S16 format has sparked much discussion among players. North America led the update by changing the first stage regular season to Swiss-style matchups, aligning with the World Championship standard, where teams with 3-0 and 2-1 records advance to playoffs. At the same time, the second and third stages were renamed back to Spring and Summer splits. The rules mirror the European format: a single round-robin BO3 regular season, with the top six teams entering a double-elimination playoff. The top two of Spring represent LCS at MSI, and the top three of Summer qualify for Worlds.

The format changes almost every year. Since the European and North American seasons end earlier, their announcements come quickly. Many fans joke that the LPL should also adopt Swiss rounds in the first stage to better simulate Worlds-level competition, keeping teams on their toes. Some even tease that if this happens, BLG might not even make playoffs. Now that NA and EU have taken the lead in format changes, LPL is expected to follow suit—though it’s uncertain if the Spring and Summer splits will return, as those names do sound more familiar.

Farewell thoughts

It’s surprising that after just one year of the current format, another change is coming. It seems the organizers have no other ideas left. Changing the format alone won’t fix the LPL’s problems. The only solution is to reduce the number of teams, concentrating top players to create a nearly flawless "galaxy squad" that can withstand LCK’s pressure.

What do all of you think about this situation?