However, the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) will step away from the tradition in the 2024 season.

It’s become a custom for professional LoL games to play on older patches due to the tight turnaround between patch releases and competitive scheduling.

With patches being released every second Wednesday, most LoL esports teams wouldn’t have the time to adapt to changes before stepping on stage.

Yet, the LCS doesn’t seem too bothered by that.

According to the announcement, which also unveiled Mark “MarkZ” Zimmerman as LCS’s commissioner, the North American LoL esports league confirmed that all 2024 LCS games will be played on live patches.

Other LoL leagues have not announced any changes to the ruleset, meaning they’ll likely stick with the old tradition of playing on patches behind the live servers.

How the rule change will affect LCS teams remains to be seen, but it will force a more challenging schedule on the players, who will have just two days of practice before the matches.

Watch the very first #LCS Address with @TheeMarkZ to learn about all of the changes coming in 2024!

Live Patch
Less Time Between Games
Community Interactivity
And More!

https://t.co/2rI53xdD5D pic.twitter.com/vOrhglw7Yc

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) January 9, 2024

The decision to move all pro games to live patches comes after a plethora of changes the league has announced in the months leading up to the 2024 season.

In December, LCS unveiled that it is returning to a weekend schedule, one year after all games were moved to Thursday-Friday.

The unconventional plan proved harmful to the overall viewership, as the LCS peaked at just over 271,376 viewers in the spring and just under 224,000 viewers in the Summer Split.

A month prior, in November 2023, LCS was also hit with the exodus of Evil Geniuses and Golden Guardians, who left the LoL esports scene, continuing a worrying trend that was started by TSM, who exited the North American LoL league in September.

While Shopify Rebellion replaced TSM, LCS didn’t find any replacement teams to fill the gaps that Evil Geniuses and Golden Guardians left behind.

As a result, the 2024 season will start with just eight squads, making the LCS the smallest of the major LoL leagues.

The next season starts with the LCS Spring Split on Saturday, January 20, 2024.

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Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses are set to exit the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), allowing their former players to explore new opportunities during the current offseason.

This downsizing comes shortly after the LCS achieved record-breaking viewership in the 2023 World Championship finals.

The departure of Golden Guardians and EG raises questions about potential changes to the LCS format and whether other organizations will step up to claim spots in the franchised league.

Riot’s president of esports, John Needham, disclosed that both organizations had the option to terminate their “team participating agreements” (TPA) and settle with Riot, with the transactions being recently finalized.

Golden Guardians, owned by the Golden State Warriors, opted to redirect resources toward traditional sports, specifically basketball.

On the other hand, EG faced financial struggles, compelling the organization to withdraw from LCS participation.

As a result, Riot is now tasked with considering the future of the LCS.

Riot has been expediting settlements with these organizations to enable players to potentially join other teams before the 2024 season kicks off.

However, the staff behind the scenes are left to navigate their next steps independently.

Riot’s Needham emphasized the challenge, stating, “They are employees of different organizations. There’s no way for us to really intercede and do anything for those people, sadly.”

LCS fans now face the reality of a smaller league in the 2024 season, with Riot expected to disclose its plans for the future early next year.

Both Golden Guardians and EG players and staff find themselves caught off guard by the sudden news.

Top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie expressed his uncertainty about the future, having planned to play for Golden Guardians in 2024.

I received the news this morning that GG won’t be a part of the LCS next year

My plan for next year was to play for GG again so as of right now I don’t have a team and will likely not be a starter in the LCS next year, since remaining teams have all locked top laners afaik

— Licorice (@Licorice) November 20, 2023

Kelsey Moser, the head of EG League coaching staff, voiced disappointment in the timing of the news, as very few were aware before the weekend.

The late announcement poses challenges for players seeking opportunities in the upcoming season, especially given that the official news coincided with the opening of the free agency window.

The League of Legends Championship Series Players Association (LCSPA) expressed dissatisfaction with Riot’s “11th hour” decision, stating that it has cost jobs for 20 percent of the league overnight.

While acknowledging frustrations with communication and the lack of time for affected players to find new opportunities, the LCSPA sees the removal of struggling organizations as a net benefit.

The association emphasized the importance of player voices in shaping the future of the LCS.

The LCSPA had demonstrated its influence earlier in the year when Riot unexpectedly removed the requirement for LCS teams to field Academy rosters.

In response, the association voted for a walkout during the opening games of the Summer Split, forcing Riot to postpone the games and reconsider its decision.

As the situation unfolds, it remains to be seen whether this marks an inflection point for the LCSPA and if they will take further action in response to the recent changes in the LCS landscape.

Statement from the LCSPA https://t.co/RK302gkUOE pic.twitter.com/LhDiIqOfWB

— LCS Players Association (@NALCSPA) November 20, 2023

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GOLDEN GUARDIANS vs TEAM BDS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

Golden Guardians and Team BDS will clash on Monday, October 9, in a best-of-five series to determine which of the two teams will advance to the LoL World Championship 2023 play-in stage.

Golden Guardians are priced as $1.72 favourites with LoL betting sites for the upcoming series, which raises a key question: what did GG do to be considered stronger than Team BDS? Even though Team BDS didn’t look as good in the final split of the season as they did in LEC 2023 Spring, they had their moments and came just one map away from securing a direct invite to LoL Worlds 2023.

BDS have proved to be very reliant on the meta, but that might not be an issue. Zeri will likely still be in the mix due to Statikk Shiv changes, which will work in favour of Ju? “Crownie” Maru?i? and Team BDS. The top lane is another big question, but it’s fair to say BDS’s Adam “Adam” Maanane is a better and more impactful player than GG’s Eric “Licorice” Ritchie.

Team BDS are known to shoot themselves in the foot, so there’s a world where they fall apart. But quality-wise, it’s very tough to argue that Golden Guardians are better. The offered League of Legends betting odds should be reversed.

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DIGNITAS vs GOLDEN GUARDIANS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

The 2023 LCS Championship continues this Friday with Dignitas taking on Golden Guardians in the second round of the lower bracket.

NRG Esports’ upset victories against Team Liquid (3-1) and Golden Guardians (3-1) created chaos in the race for the LCS crown. Because of how weak NRG looked throughout the regular season, Liquid and GG have both been knocked down a tier in the market’s eyes – but that only benefits us.

It’s hard to figure out why Golden Guardians were so bad against NRG last Sunday. The only possible explanation is that GG mentally bombed after choking the first map, where they had a +4k gold difference at 15 minutes. Golden Guardians bounced back in game three, but they didn’t look like themselves after the first map.

For this match, we don’t have to try answering what Dignitas can do, but whether Golden Guardians can bounce back. We know GG are much stronger than Dignitas – we have the head-to-head record (2-0) and performance metrics to confirm it – but there are no guarantees that they’ll show it.

The gap between these two teams is large enough to question why Dignitas are not priced higher than $3.75 with League of Legends betting sites. They’ve accomplished nothing this split, and even their 3-2 victory over TSM in the first round of LCS 2023 Championship was hardly worth celebrating.

As long as Golden Guardians pull themselves together, they should crush Dignitas, but we’ll tame our expectations and take GG to cover the 1.5-map handicap.

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After producing mixed results over the first rounds of the regular season, TSM found traction in Week 4 when they defeated Immortals, NRG Esports, and Golden Guardians, improving their record to 6-6 ahead of LCS 2023 Summer Week 5. Their sudden resurgence isn’t that shocking.

TSM have been playing well but haven’t received much respect from the market. That’s not to say that TSM are a great team or have a realistic chance to win the LCS crown, but they know how to punish sloppy opponents.

Dignitas are tied with TSM at 6-6 but have won just one of their three games against FlyQuest; however, the losses happened against Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses, so Dignitas deserve some slack. Much like TSM, Dignitas have picked up a few wins this split, but they haven’t done anything spectacular.

It’s tough to pick a winner as the teams are qualitatively equal. Still, TSM are in much better shape and have looked better in their recent outings. Perhaps this is a sign of TSM gaining momentum, but they still have much to prove.

Evil Geniuses have done a great job keeping up with Cloud9 in the LCS 2023 Summer regular season title race and legitimately look like the second-best team in the league. They suffered a shock loss on Friday against NRG Esports, but that loss doesn’t take away from EG’s impressive run since the second week of the regular season, which includes wins against 100 Thieves, Dignitas, Immortals, TSM, and Team Liquid.

Golden Guardians are not quite in the same bracket as Evil Geniuses and Cloud9, but they’re not that far behind. With an 8-4 record, GG look poised for at least a top-four finish, and if they can get it together, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they secure a direct bye into the second round of the LCS Championship 2023.

But that’s a big “what if”. Golden Guardians are slowly looking more like themselves as the season goes on and have a much higher ceiling than their record suggests. But they’re not quite there yet, and their defeat against TSM on Friday proved it.

Evil Geniuses are better than any other team in the LCS besides Cloud9 and shouldn’t struggle to beat Golden Guardians. GG have the talent to keep it close, but a lot will come down to whether they can contain EG’s explosive early game.

FlyQuest has an impressive bounce-back in the third week of the LCS 2023 Summer regular season but returned to their old ways last week, with defeats against 100 Thieves, Golden Guardians, and Dignitas. What is happening with this team is anyone’s guess, but FlyQuest just can’t seem to get any traction.

NRG Esports are 5-7, but there’s more to this record than meets the eye. Even though NRG Esports aren’t one of the LCS title candidates, they always perform well against top teams. NRG Esports have won five games this split, four of which came against Cloud9, Golden Guardians, Team Liquid, and Evil Geniuses.

FlyQuest defeated NRG Esports two weeks back, but that was during FlyQuest’s sole positive week. And while they might wake up again on Wednesday, it’s tough to justify backing FlyQuest to defeat any team in the league in their current state.

Immortals are by far the worst team in the LCS, and based on what they’ve shown over the last couple of weeks, their situation won’t change anytime soon. Immortals haven’t won or come close to winning a game since the opening week of LCS 2023 Summer and enter this match on a 10-game losing streak.

That’s hardly surprising. Immortals rank bottom-three across all performance metrics, including all gold stats and Baron, Herald, and Dragon control. It doesn’t get much worse than this.

100 Thieves are in a better spot than Immortals, but they’re not very convincing. They still struggle in the early game and lack creativity, which should’ve been addressed by now, but 100T instead cruise on and seem content with being a mediocre team.

As much as we can criticise 100 Thieves, this is still their game to lose, but instead of taking 100 Thieves to win or cover the kill handicap, under 11.5 towers is the best bet for this match. 100T are not a very bloody team, and they aren’t good at demolishing towers (5.2 towers per game) but instead rely on scaling, which should lead to a drawn-out, low-scoring game with sidelanes left relatively untouched.

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Dignitas are priced as favourites to defeat TSM, likely due to the overreaction to Dignitas’ win against Team Liquid last Friday. On paper, it looks like a massive achievement, but Liquid threw that game, so it doesn’t count for much.

Besides that, Dignitas also took advantage of FlyQuest’s struggles on Saturday, and a week prior they caught Evil Geniuses off guard. Overall, Dignitas haven’t shown much and are the same team from LCS 2023 Spring – they will win some games but won’t compete for top spots.

TSM aren’t much higher in the power rankings than Dignitas, but they have looked good this split. The players are stepping up, and it’s clear that the new coaching staff are doing a good job, as seen in the team’s approach to games and drafting.

We shouldn’t overreact to a couple of strong showings from TSM, but they’re a good team. On the other side, Dignitas are just OK and more reliant on their opponents messing up.

Evil Geniuses are 5-1, but they are a bit overhyped heading into LCS 2023 Summer Week 3. On a more positive note, EG have an explosive early game which will be enough to roll over lesser teams.

Even though it’s unwise to bet on a team whose record doesn’t show their true power, betting against Immortals in the state they’re in is the only right choice. Besides bad form, with losses against Liquid, TSM, Golden Guardians, and 100 Thieves, they’re also fragile in the early game.

Evil Geniuses are the second-best early-game team with a +2180 gold difference at 15 minutes, while Immortals are by far the worst with -2231. This creates an interesting angle to bet on under total time, but we’ll keep it simple and take Evil Geniuses to win with seven kills to spare.

According to the best LoL esports betting sites, Golden Guardians should easily beat 100 Thieves. GG are 4-2 and on a four-game winning streak, whereas 100 Thieves are 2-4 with just one win from their last five outings.

Besides their poor form, the primary issue with 100 Thieves is their lack of creativity. Two weeks in, their gameplan seems to have been figured out by other teams. This roster still has potential, but it’s fair to doubt 100T when faced with other strong teams.

Golden Guardians are the far more efficient team in the mid-late game, so unless 100 Thieves show something new, GG winning is the most likely outcome. 100 Thieves have been very passive in their games (6.7 kills per game), and Golden Guardians aren’t a team that’ll run into the opponents, so under 23.5 kills looks like a fine choice.

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Golden Guardians started LCS 2023 Summer regular season with two defeats against Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses but bounced back with a win against FlyQuest on Friday. It was a much-needed victory for the LCS 2023 Spring finalists, but it was mostly thanks to FlyQuest’s throwing away their lead.

Their next opponents, Immortals, are 2-1 ahead of the second week of the regular season with wins against Dignitas and NRG Esports and a loss against Team Liquid. That’s a decent outcome for Immortals’ standards, but there’s more to consider than just the team’s record.

Immortals’ performance numbers, including all kill and gold-related metrics, aren’t great. That proves what we already saw last week – Immortals have not produced any quality wins, which explains why they’re priced as underdogs for this match.

On paper, Golden Guardians look stronger than Immortals, but they’ve not shown much in the opening week of the split. So even though Golden Guardians should win, backing Immortals on a kill handicap is a much better play.

Dignitas secured one win last week against Evil Geniuses but looked lost against Immortals and Cloud9. And even their win against Evil Geniuses was nothing more than Dignitas taking their chances and Evil Geniuses giving away too much on the Summoner’s Rift.

Based on what we saw in the first week of LCS 2023 Summer, Dignitas are one of the worst team in the league with questionable macro and concerning individual displays from some of their players – namely jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen and ADC Frank “Tomo” Lam.

Team Liquid were incredible in the opening week of the split, and while it’s not fair to make early conclusions, these guys look like they’ve finally got things in order. The individual talent was here since LCS 2023 Spring, and with a new coaching staff, Liquid figured out know how to put their talent to use.

There’s always a chance that the top dogs slip, especially so early into the season, but based on the last week’s performances, Team Liquid are a couple of tiers above Dignitas.

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In their statement, Golden Guardians disclosed that they were indebted to the NACL developmental system, which provided a space for multiple players to grow.

“With the recent change in NACL requirements, the Golden Guardians have decided to opt out of maintaining an NACL spot for the Summer Split,” the statement read.

“The Golden Guardians have a long established interest in fostering talent development and creating the best environment for our LCS players to thrive.”

The organization added that they are focused on “long term goals” and intend to continue supporting amateur players through their 2023 AOE sponsorship. In the meantime, the team will continue monitoring the NACL as well as other potential developmental opportunities.

Golden Guardians also stated that they would financially assist players and coaches that would be affected by the change. The organization are yet to announce if any of their NACL players or coaching staff will participate in the upcoming Summer Split on June 1.

Golden Guardians’ announcement aligns with similar moves by a number of North American amateur teams to leave the scene due to the newest changes to developmental requirements.

Following Riot Games’ announcement that LCS organization participation in the NACL would be optional, teams like Immortals and TSM opted out of the scene. Team Liquid also recently announced that they would continue their involvement in the amateur league.

In a video earlier this week, the organization’s CEO, Steve Arhancet, pointed out several issues within the amateur scene that made it difficult for most LCS teams to participate. One is the mix of amateur players and professionals, as well as the complex ways for gamers to get involved.

The LCS Players Association, which is made of players from the 10 squads in the league, also shared its displeasure over the NACL requirements changes. The group pointed out that the changes would significantly impact the job security of several people within a short time span.

Golden Guardians will face off against Cloud9 on June 1 in the first-round match of the 2023 LCS Summer Split. The team previously played against Cloud9 in the MSI and Spring Finals, losing to the North American organization both times.
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This series between Cloud9 from the LCS and Bilibili Gaming from the LPL, will be one of the more intriguing clashes, as the North American team will be the only team that qualified directly for the bracket stage that won’t go into their match as the bookies favourite.

Cloud9 will be attending their second ever Mid-Season Invitational, with their only other attendance coming in 2021 where they finished in fifth place on that occasion. Cloud9, along with TSM, is one of the most successful organisations in the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), however, a North American team is yet to win an international event, either the Mid-Season Invitational or LoL World Championship. C9 are coming off one of the better LCS Spring splits, as they ended the regular season with a 14-4 record and went undefeated during the playoffs on their way to being crown LCS champions. A big win against a Chinese team will do wonders for their confidence early at this tournament.

Bilibili Gaming qualified for the bracket stage by winning their first two series over Rainbow7 and Golden Guardians, which saw the Chinese team join G2 Esports as the first teams to get out of the play-in stage. BLG will be making their debut at the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational after they finished second in the LPL Spring split, losing to JD Gaming 3-1 in the grand final. There is clear evidence to show why BLG are rated so highly by many in LoL circles. They were only one map away from beating the current MSI favourite, JD Gaming, in the upper-bracket semi-finals during the LPL Spring playoffs. Outside of the top three in the LoL MSI market, BLG is currently the fourth favourite at $8.00 to win the event.

Even though Bililbili Gaming is very short with GG Bet, however, we don’t expect to see them take this series 3-0, so we will be taking the favourites at the match line of -1.5 instead.

The final quarter-final of the bracket stage will feature the current bookmakers’ favourite to take out the Mid-Season Invitational and reigning LPL champions JD Gaming, who will clash with the third and final play-in stage qualifier Golden Guardians from the LCS.

JD Gaming will be making their MSI debut in 2023, coming off the back of a dominant LPL Spring split, where they finished on top of the table with a 13-3 record and ended the playoffs undefeated on route to becoming the champions. JDG will come into their maiden MSI with a lot of confidence behind them, after they finished in third-fourth place at the 2022 LoL World Championship losing to T1 1-3 in the semi-finals. With the new additions of Zhou “knight” Ding from Top Esports and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk from Gen.G, this JDG roster has been built to win big international events, and in our minds, they look ready to do so at MSI 2023.

Golden Guardians will also make their debut at this year’s edition of the MSI, as they are coming off their first ever top four finish in the LCS. The Guardians were very good in the play-in stage of MSI 2023. After they dropped into the lower-bracket, the LCS Spring runners-up defeated Rainbow7 2-0 and PSG Talon 3-0, seeing them qualify for the bracket stage and set up a clash with JD Gaming. The odds appear to be against the North American representatives, as they come into this match as massive outsiders, and we will be too.

JD Gaming are at unbackable odds, so we will be taking them at the kills handicap of 11.5, which should be very achievable for the tournament favourites to cover in what we expect to be a comfortable series victory.

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MSI 2023 will begin on May 2, with the play-in stage scheduled to run for the first week.

After that, we will have eight teams competing in the main event playoffs for the 2023 MSI title at the Copper Box Arena in London.

Below is a list of the 13 teams competing at the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational:

The #MSI2023 Play-In Draw! pic.twitter.com/sezNofH6n1

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) April 23, 2023

The other eight teams will begin their MSI campaign on May 2, while Gen.G, T1, JD Gaming, Cloud9, and MAD Lions await the top three qualifiers from the play-in stage.

The MSI 2023 play-in bracket is set, and the matches and odds are listed below:

• Bilibili Gaming ($1.02) vs Movistar7 ($11.00)
• G2 Esports ($1.12) vs LOUD ($5.50)
• Golden Guardians ($2.00) vs GAM Esports ($1.72)
• PSG Talon ($1.40) vs DetonatioN FocusMe ($2.75)

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