LPL's 17th-place finish is history; commentator reveals: China and Korea skip play-ins, directly enter top 16

Hello everyone, LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners. This is World Game Hub.

As the third split progresses, the annual World Championship draws closer. Due to regional changes this year, the World Championship rules will also change. An LCP commentator has revealed a key piece of information.

17th place becomes history; World Championship rules change.

This key information is that for the S16 World Championship, teams from China and Korea do not need to play in the play-in stage, and both have four seed slots, starting directly from the Swiss stage.

In other words, IG's 17th place last year will become a thing of the past.

The reason China and Korea don't need to play in the play-in stage is that this year a wildcard region has been separated, and Riot has reallocated seed slots. The teams that will play in the play-in stage are the LEC, LTA, and LCP third seeds, along with Brazil's second seed.

Four teams will compete for Swiss stage spots, while the other seeded teams start directly from the Swiss stage.

Thus, the pressure on the fourth seeds is greatly reduced, as they don't have to worry about being eliminated quickly. In fact, the format set by Riot last year was quite unreasonable. When IG faced T1, Riot was stunned because these two are the most popular teams from China and Korea. Only one could remain, which would certainly affect viewership.

However, it will be very difficult for IG to obtain the fourth seed this year. They need to start from the Nirvana group and fight all the way to the Regional Finals.

Reasons for the 17th place: regional slot issues.

Here, let's briefly review S15 and why IG ended up in 17th place.

Last year there were five major league regions: LPL, LCK, LEC, LTA Americas, and LCP Pan-Pacific. The World Championship format arranged by Riot gave each region three basic slots, totaling 15 teams. LCK and LPL, as the top two regions, had fourth seeds, but only one of the two fourth seeds could advance to the Swiss stage.

From a strength perspective, this was very unreasonable because the fourth seeds from China and Korea were clearly stronger than the third seeds from other regions. Riot should have arranged for more teams to participate in the play-in stage, but for the sake of convenience, they directly sacrificed the fourth seeds from China and Korea.

Editor

Coincidentally, Riot made the same mistake again this year. The seed pool division for MSI also had major issues. LPL won the first split championship but did not benefit; instead, the double-elimination format made advancement more difficult.

It's possible that Riot divided it this way to favor other regions, but it could indeed lead to a situation where the gains do not outweigh the losses.

LPL Situation Analysis: IG's Qualification is Difficult

Currently, the top four teams in the LPL are TES, BLG, AL, and WE, followed by teams like JDG.

For IG, qualifying for Worlds is extremely difficult. Their main competitors are AL, WE, and JDG. BLG and TES are almost guaranteed spots. In particular, BLG has such a high point total that winning just one more match in the regular season will essentially lock in their Worlds spot.

IG needs to first get through the Knight's Path to qualify for the playoffs, then aim for as high a ranking as possible to get a chance at the Regional Finals. Of course, if IG can go all the way, there is a possibility of directly qualifying for Worlds, but the chances are very slim. It means IG must start from the Knight's Path and play BO5 series to achieve a one-vs-many run, while also calculating points based on other teams' rankings and scores.

From the perspective of LPL and Riot, they certainly hope IG can qualify for Worlds. It remains to be seen whether the IG players can seize the opportunity and create a miracle.