Even with the Worlds that are about to enter their BO5 phase many players who weren’t able to participate in the biggest competition of the year have started to think about the next competitive season of League of Legends. The season 2023 looks very interesting, especially in Europe according to the latest news on the teams that will arrive in the league and the possible incorporations.
With KOI merging with Rogue in a landmark deal, Team Heretics bought the slot Misfits and the Karmine Corp who is trying to break into the league once and for all, it looks like viewership records could well be broken next year if all predictions come to pass. However, it looks like there’s a lot more to announce, as the legendary jungler of G2 Esports Jankos, a made cryptic statements on his stream several weeks ago.
The 2023 LEC is aiming high and Jankos confirms it
A little less than a month ago, Jankos said something during a live broadcast. At the time, it didn’t seem to matter much, but thanks to a post on Reddit made a few hours ago, the hype might be reignited after the new claims: “2023 will probably be the best edition of the LEC” ; comments the Polish jungler in a rather enthusiastic tone.
But what deserved the most attention in this message was not this sentence, but the one he said right after: “It will be the best league, at least for the fans.” That last post sparked curiosity, as there are two things European league fans have been wanting for several years: more interaction and commitment from all the LEC teams, since they were at most 4 or 5 teams to actually play the title and create regular content. With the arrival of KOI, Heretics and the possible announcement of the Karmine Corp, this could change things in the right direction.
On the other hand, what many want is the return of BO2 or BO3 for the regular league, a format which was stopped in 2018 but which gave more legitimacy to the regular season, avoiding certain cheeses or certain failed games which can distort part of the classification. We will have to see if Jankos was really only hinting at the arrival of other big teams or if the G2 jungler also has information on this level.
How to properly integrate BO2/BO3 in Europe?
If the BO2/BO3 didn’t really work in Europe, it was because of the format. In 2016there were only two days of broadcasting, and to avoid making a 10am show (i.e. 5 games), Riot Games was broadcasting on two different streams. A real hell for people wishing to see all the matches and a definite lack of exposure for teams with fewer fans.
In 2017, the format has been changed With lstop of BO2 and start of BO3. Only the broadcast was only done on 3 evenings a week, instead of the 5/6 days of broadcast of the LPL and LCK. To avoid having too many matches, the teams had been separated into two groups. They faced the members of their group in a home and away matchbut only dida single match against those of the other group. The format was not necessarily bad, but as the top teams in the league weren’t in the same group (the latter being made according to the rankings), the most big posters only came once a season regular.
If Riot Games decides to return to BO2/BO3, then it is likely that the studio is inspired by Asian modelswith star matchesspread over more days. Of course this reflection is not only valid if the G2 jungler referred to thisbecause if he was teasing something totally differentit only remains for the fans to take their troubles patiently, waiting for future announcements from Riot.