Riot Games prepares for the 2015 League of Legends Championship Series

Riot Games released a dedicated site overnight detailing the 2015 format for the League of Legends Championship Series. Several changes are coming to this years LCS with the expansion to 10 teams being among the largest.

Both the North American and European LCS are introducing a Championship Points system similar to the one employed by OGN in Korea. Teams will accumulate points through both Spring and Summer LCS splits. The team from each region with the most points after the Summer split will automatically earn a place at the World Championships. Every game in a season will now count for more, forcing teams to try harder every week to secure a spot to Worlds early.

This year also sees the introduction of Coaches into the core of LCS teams, with Riot officially recognising the head coach of a team and allowing them on stage during the pick and ban phase of matches.

Riot also announced a new event in their 2015 line-up, the Mid-Season Invitational. This event will replace the All-Stars event usually held between the Spring and Summer LCS splits, with All-Stars being shifted to the off-season after Worlds.

The Mid-Season Invitational will feature the Spring split winners from North America, Europe, Korea, China and the Garena server. A 6th spot will be decided by an International Wild Card Invitational held in Turkey in late April with teams from other regions, including Oceania, vying for a chance to take on the top teams world wide. For more details, check out the official announcement.

Finally, Riots’ own Fantasy LCS is out of beta and ready for its’ first official season. Allowing 4, 6 or 8 man leagues, the Fantasy LCS lets you draft players from both the North American and European LCS and compete week to week against your friends. There is still no system in place for trading players however, which was a major complaint in the 2014 beta.