League of Legends Esports 2023 Kickoff Event

Credit: LoL Esports

The 13th season of League of Legends esports began today (by the time you read this it should be well underway) with a two-day kickoff event Tuesday at 1:00 a.m. PT (4 a.m. ET) running until 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET)  Wednesday, with “select broadcast” of the aforementioned competitions being rebroadcast at the end of each day.

These “all-star” exhibition matches will feature action from the best players in each region including League of Legends Championship Series (LCS – North America), League of Legends EMEA Championships (LEC – Europe) League of Legends Pro League (LPL – China), Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK), Brazilian Championship of League of Legends (CBLOL), Pacific Championship Series (PCS – Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, and Southeast Asia), League of Legends Japan League (LJL), and Liga Latinoamérica (LLA).

On a related note, Riot revealed more details on upcoming format changes for international competitions such as the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and Worlds.

The 2023 Season Kickoff schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, Jan. 10:
1-5 a.m. PT – LCK
5-8 a.m. PT – VCS
8-11 a.m. PT – CBLOL
11 a.m. – 2 p.m. PT: LCS
2-9 p.m. PT: Select rebroadcasts chosen by Riot.
11 p.m. – 2 a.m. PT: LJL

Wednesday, Jan. 11:
2-5 a.m. PT: LPL
5-8 a.m. PT: PCS
8-11 a.m. PT: LEC
11 a.m. – 2 p.m. PT: LLA
2-8 p.m. PT: Select rebroadcasts chosen by Riot.

The rules for these matchups will be best-of-3 on Summoner’s Rift with no champion bans or repeats (LPL’s will be BO1).

Riot also revealed the 2023 season start dates for some of its pro leagues earlier this week:
LPL: Jan. 14 with FunPlus Phoenix taking on Team WE.
LCK: Jan. 18, with 2022 world champions DRX taking on Dplus KIA, and 2022 runner-up T1 taking on Gen.G.
LEC: Jan. 21, with G2 Esports versus EXCEL.
CBLOL: Jan. 21, with CBLOL champions LOUD taking on paiN Gaming.
LCS: Jan. 26, with LCS champions Cloud9 versus 100 Thieves.

Start dates for other leagues such as LJL, VCS, LLA, and PCS were not revealed at the time of writing.

Riot also announced early Tuesday morning that the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) will take place in London this season, while the 2023 World Championship (Worlds) will return to South Korea.

For MSI, Riot said that the number of participating teams will increase from 11 to 13, competing in two double-elimination stages: Play-In and Bracket. Play-Ins will feature eight teams, with two seed teams from LEC, LCS and LPL, and one seed team from LLA, CBLOL, PCS, VCS, and LJL. “LCK 2” will go straight into the Bracket Stage as the 2022 Worlds winners. The eight seeded teams will be divided into two groups of four to compete in best-of-three, double elimination matches, with each group (and the winner of a last chance qualification match between the two lower bracket winners), will move on to the Bracket Stage to join the five qualified teams.

Riot said that it chose South Korea for the location of Worlds 2023 because it is the “birthplace of esports” and home of the Worlds 2022 champions. Like MSI, Worlds will feature a new format, with 22 teams to compete in three stages: Play-Ins, Swiss, and Knockouts. Before the main competition, a new qualification event will take place called the “Worlds Qualifying Series,” a best-of-5 match between the fourth (4th) seed from the LEC and the fourth (4th) seed from the LCS, with the winner of that match securing a trip to Worlds. Riot said that it hopes to include other regions in this qualifying event in future seasons. The Worlds Qualifying Series will join 21 other teams from other regions that have qualified for Worlds.

For further Information on the formats for MSI and Worlds 2023, check out this article on lolesports.com.

Editor’s note: this article was updated with new information on the locations of Worlds 2023 and MSI.