Things are really shaping up to be a wild season next year.
2025 is shaping up to be one heck of a year for competitive League of Legends as LoL esports is getting some big changes.
With Worlds 2024 done and dusted, Riot Games has revealed their plans for next year’s competitive season. It’s going to affect every region, meaning that there will be a lot of adjustments going on — but it’s undoubtedly made the 2025 season one of the most interesting ones yet.
First Stand – The New International Tournament
Pros and fans have been saying for years that there needs to be more international tournaments to strengthen the competition. Well, it seems like Riot’s finally listening as we’re getting a new one in 2025.
Named “First Stand,” this new international tournament will be the first to take place in the competitive season. The Mid Season Invitational is still taking place around the half-way point of the season while Worlds remains the capstone event of the year.
What’s even more interesting is that this new tournament will be using “Fearless Draft” for their best-of series. In short, champions who were picked in prior games are banned for the rest of the series in Fearless Draft.
This is another fan request being implemented into the LoL esports 2025 season and we’ll see how teams adapt.
The Three Split System
With three international tournaments happening next year, this effectively means every region will now have three splits in their season. It’s a major shift for all the leagues around the world and everyone seems to be going about it differently.
Europe’s LEC was the first to adopt the three-split system back in 2023, refining it after each iteration. South Korea’s LCK is taking a different approach with the first third of their season dedicated to the LCK Cup. It’s a new tournament format that’s being played entirely using Fearless Draft to prepare the winning team for First Stand.
The New LTA and APAC Leagues
In line with everything else that’s been mentioned, the Americas and Asia-Pacific leagues are getting massive overhauls.
Starting next year, both North America and South America are being rolled into one league called the LoL Championship of the Americas. It’ll be divided into the north and south conferences and each will get a chance to prove themselves internationally.
Asia-Pacific is getting the same treatment as well. The new league will bring in the best teams from Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Oceania, and Southeast Asia under one roof. Eight teams are planned to join this new league but we’ll have to wait for further updates.
Banner photo by Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games.
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