LCK Announces Double Elimination and Integrated Rosters for the Upcoming Season

LCK is planning on having big format changes ahead of the 2023 season.

LCK has been at the top of the League of Legends pro scene as a region for a long time. They always managed to house some of the biggest teams and players in the scene. But despite their international success, LCK’s domestic league format was always a point of criticism among analysts and fans. Currently, Korea has one of the shortest playoff brackets in any of the major regions, with only five Bo5s. The winner of the LCK Summer 2022 Split, Gen.G, had played and won two series in their playoff run.

As the community kept asking for longer playoffs, and with the rising popularity of double elimination in big regions, LCK finally announced some changes to its format today. Starting in 2023, the playoffs for Korea’s premier competition will be held in a double elimination bracket, consisting of five Bo5 rounds. The regular season will stay in its current format, a double round robin with Bo3s.

The #LCK has some big changes – double elimination playoffs, integrated rosters and format changes for #LCKCL – coming up in 2023! pic.twitter.com/0ygfRCpQFV

— LCK (@LCK) November 18, 2022

LCK will have complete roster integration with the Challengers League

Along with format changes, LCK teams will also have integrated rosters with their CL teams moving forward. What this means is a more fluid environment where teams can move players between two rosters. In the new system, all organizations in the LCK can:

• Have a minimum of eleven players on the roster
• Have a maximum of 20 players on the roster
• Each organization has to employ a General Manager
• Each LCK team needs to have a Head Coach and an assistant coach, and they can have up to three assistant coaches
• LCK teams are allowed to have one analyst
• LCK CL teams can have a head coach but are not required to have one
• If CL team doesn’t have a head coach, they are required to have an assistant coach
• In any scenario, CL teams can have three additional assistant coaches

To accommodate players moving between leagues, LCK Challengers League will also adopt the LCK’s new format, starting with their 2023 Spring Split. In the new format, CL will also have a double round robin Bo3 regular season and a top-6, double elimination Bo5 playoffs.