2021 LCS season

The 2021 LCS season was the fourth year of North America's League Championship Series, a professional esports league for the MOBA PC game League of Legends, under partnership and the ninth overall.

2021 LCS season
LeagueLCS
SportLeague of Legends
DurationJanuary 15–31 (Lock In)
February 5 – March 14 (Spring)
March 20 – April 11 (Mid-Season)
June 4 – August 1 (Summer)
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)English: Twitch, YouTube
Lock In
WinnerTeam Liquid
  Runners-upCloud9
Spring
WinnerCloud9
  Runners-upTeam Liquid
Top seedCloud9
Season MVPRobert "Blaber" Huang[1]
(Cloud9)
Summer
Winner100 Thieves
  Runners-upTeam Liquid
Top seedTeam SoloMid
Season MVPMingyi "Spica" Lu (Team SoloMid)[2]

The pre-season Lock In tournament began on January 15 and concluded on January 31.[3]

The spring regular season began on February 5 and concluded on March 14. The Mid-Season Showdown, which replaced the spring playoffs, began on March 20 and concluded on April 11.[4] The summer regular season began on June 4 and concluded on August 1.

The three teams that qualified for the World Championship in 2021 were 100 Thieves, Team Liquid, and Cloud9.[5]

League changes

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2020 World Championship, Riot Games announced several major changes regarding the league's format. A new, three-week preseason tournament was introduced, titled the LCS Lock In. The top two teams from the previous season would be able to choose their opponents, selecting them into 2 groups for a play-in group stage. Each group would play in a four-day single Round Robin, with the top four teams from each group being seeded into an eight-team, single-elimination bracket. The winner of the bracket would receive a cash prize of US$150,000, along with a US$50,000 donation to the charity of their choice.[6]

The regular season schedule was expanded to five games each day, across three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). The spring playoffs were also replaced with the "Mid-Season Showdown".[7] While the playoff format remained nearly identical to previous seasons, there were three minor changes. The first seed must now always play the fourth seed, rather than choosing their opponent; side selection always goes to the team that most recently dropped from the upper bracket; and ties would now be broken by seeding.[8] The winner of the Mid-Season Showdown would qualify for the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational. Standings and team records from the spring regular season would be continued into the summer regular season as opposed to resetting like previous seasons.[9]

In January 2021, the league rebranded its logo, featuring a new logo and refreshed visual identity.[10]

Broadcasting

The live English broadcast was available on the LoL Esports website, as well as on Twitch and YouTube.[11] A Spanish broadcast was produced by the LCS team FlyQuest.[12]

Lock In

Group stage
Group A
Pos Team W L Pts
1 100 Thieves 3 1 2
2 Team Liquid 3 1 2
3 Team SoloMid 2 2 0
4 Golden Guardians 1 3 −2
5 Counter Logic Gaming 1 3 −2
Source: LoL Esports
Group B
Pos Team W L Pts
1 Evil Geniuses 3 1 2
2 Cloud9 3 1 2
3 FlyQuest 2 2 0
4 Immortals 1 3 −2
5 Dignitas 1 3 −2
Source: LoL Esports

Knockout stage
Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
A1 100 Thieves 2
B4 Immortals 0
100 Thieves 2
Cloud9 3
B2 Cloud9 2
A3 Team SoloMid 1
Cloud9 2
Team Liquid 3
B1 Evil Geniuses 2
A4 Golden Guardians 0
Evil Geniuses 0
Team Liquid 3
A2 Team Liquid 2
B3 FlyQuest 0

Spring

Teams and rosters
Teams Roster Coach
Top Jungle Mid Bot Support
Counter Logic Gaming Finn Broxah Pobelter WildTurtle Smoothie Galen
Team SoloMid Huni Spica PowerOfEvil Lost SwordArt Bjergsen
Cloud9 Fudge Blaber Perkz Zven Vulcan Reignover
Team Liquid Alphari Santorin
Armao		 Jensen Tactical CoreJJ Jatt
FlyQuest Licorice Josedeodo Palafox Johnsun Diamond Kanani
100 Thieves Ssumday Closer Damonte
Ry0ma		 FBI Huhi Zikz
Golden Guardians Niles Iconic Ablazeolive Stixxay Newbie Inero
Dignitas FakeGod Dardoch Soligo Neo Aphromoo Jimmy
Evil Geniuses Impact Svenskeren Jiizuke Deftly IgNar Peter Dun
Immortals Revenge Xerxe Insanity Raes Destiny Guilhoto

Regular season
Pos Team W L Pts Qualification
1 Cloud9 13 5 8 Start in winners' bracket
2 Team SoloMid 12 6 6
3 Team Liquid 12 6 6
4 100 Thieves 11 7 4
5 Dignitas 11 7 4 Start in losers' bracket
6 Evil Geniuses 10 8 2
7 Immortals 7 11 −4
8 FlyQuest 6 12 −6
9 Counter Logic Gaming 5 13 −8
10 Golden Guardians 3 15 −12
Source: LoL Esports

Mid-Season Showdown
WB First Round (Game 1)
   
2. Team SoloMid 1
3. Team Liquid 3
WB First Round (Game 2)
   
1. Cloud9 3
4. 100 Thieves 0
LB First Round (Game 1)
   
WB Team SoloMid 3
6. Evil Geniuses 1
LB First Round (Game 2)
   
WB 100 Thieves 3
5. Dignitas 0
  Second Round Third Round Finals
                           
WB Team Liquid 1  
WB Cloud9 3         WB Cloud9 3
      WB Team Liquid 3   LB Team Liquid 2
  LB Team SoloMid 1  
LB Team SoloMid 3
LB 100 Thieves 1  

Awards
AwardPlayerTeam
MVP BlaberCloud9
Coaching Staff of the Split Cloud9 StaffCloud9
1st Team All-Pro AlphariTeam Liquid
BlaberCloud9
PerkzCloud9
ZvenCloud9
CoreJJTeam Liquid

Ranking
Pos Team Prize (USD) Prize share
Cloud9 $100,000 50%
Team Liquid $50,000 25%
Team SoloMid $25,000 12.5%
4th 100 Thieves $25,000 12.5%
5th/6th Evil Geniuses
Dignitas

Summer

Teams and rosters
Teams Roster Coach
Top Jungle Mid Bot Support
100 Thieves Ssumday Closer Abbedagge FBI Huhi Reapered
Cloud9 Fudge Blaber Perkz k1ng
Zven		 Vulcan Mithy
Counter Logic Gaming Finn Broxah Pobelter
Damonte		 WildTurtle Smoothie Galen
Dignitas FakeGod Akaadian
Dardoch		 Soligo Neo Aphromoo Jimmy
Evil Geniuses Impact Svenskeren
Contractz		 Jiizuke Danny IgNar Peter Dun
FlyQuest Licorice
Kumo		 Josedeodo
Nxi		 Palafox
Triple		 Johnsun
Tomo		 Dreams
Diamond		 Kanani
Golden Guardians Solo
Licorice		 Iconic Ablazeolive Stixxay Newbie Inero
Immortals Revenge Xerxe Insanity
Pretty		 Raes Destiny Guilhoto
Team Liquid Alphari
Jenkins		 Santorin Jensen Tactical CoreJJ Jatt
Kold
Team SoloMid Huni Spica PowerOfEvil Lost SwordArt Bjergsen

Regular season
Pos Team W L Pts Qualification
1 Team SoloMid 30 15 15 Start in winners' bracket second round
2 100 Thieves 29 16 13
3 Evil Geniuses 28 17 11 Start in winners' bracket
4 Cloud9 28 17 11
5 Team Liquid 27 18 9
6 Dignitas 23 22 1
7 Immortals 20 25 −5 Start in losers' bracket
8 Golden Guardians 14 31 −17
9 FlyQuest 14 31 −17
10 Counter Logic Gaming 12 33 −21
Source: LoL Esports

Playoffs
  Upper round 1   Upper round 2   Upper final   Finals
                                                 
         
           
      1 Team SoloMid 1  
      5 Team Liquid 3    
  4 Cloud9 1          
  5 Team Liquid 3        
      5 Team Liquid 3    
      2 100 Thieves 2      
                     
                       
      2 100 Thieves 3          
      3 Evil Geniuses 2        
  3 Evil Geniuses 3          
  6 Dignitas 1         5 Team Liquid 0
      2 100 Thieves 3
       
  Lower round 1     Lower round 2     Lower round 3     Lower final    
       
    7 Immortals 1        
  7 Immortals 3     1 Team SoloMid 3         2 100 Thieves 3    
  6 Dignitas 0         1 Team SoloMid 2     4 Cloud9 1  
      4 Cloud9 3    
    4 Cloud9 3      
  8 Golden Guardians 0     3 Evil Geniuses 0    
  4 Cloud9 3    

Awards
AwardPlayerTeam
MVP SpicaTeam SoloMid
Coaching Staff of the Split Evil Geniuses StaffEvil Geniuses
1st Team All-Pro FudgeCloud9
SpicaTeam SoloMid
JiizukeEvil Geniuses
FBI100 Thieves
CoreJJTeam Liquid

Ranking
Pos Team Prize (USD) Prize share Qualification
100 Thieves $100,000 50% 2020 World Championship main event (first seed)
Team Liquid $50,000 25% 2020 World Championship main event (second seed)
Cloud9 $30,000 15% 2020 World Championship play-in stage (third seed)
4th Team SoloMid $20,000 10%
5th/6th Evil Geniuses
Immortals
7th/8th Golden Guardians
Dignitas

References
  1. Rockwood, Bryan (10 April 2021). "Blaber Wins MVP for 2021 LCS Spring Split". The Game Haus.
  2. Kelly, Michael (27 August 2021). "TSM jungler Spica wins 2021 LCS MVP award". Dot Esports.
  3. Hanes, Robert (2 January 2021). "What is the 2021 LCS Start Date?". The Game Haus.
  4. "C9, 100T continue torrid start at LCS Spring Split". Reuters. 8 February 2021.
  5. Heath, Jerome (29 August 2021). "All teams qualified for the 2021 League of Legends World Championship". Dot Esports.
  6. Çakır, Gökhan (12 January 2021). "How to watch the LCS 2021 Lock In: Format, schedule, and more". Dot Esports.
  7. Soba, Carly (9 January 2021). "What you need to know about the 2021 LCS format change". Daily Esports.
  8. "2021 LCS Season Updates". LoL Esports. 14 December 2020.
  9. Ray, Nick (21 December 2020). "2021 LCS Format Breaks Spring Split Into Three Parts". Hotspawn.
  10. Kelly, Michael (5 January 2021). "The 2021 LCS rebrand signals a new direction for a youthful, energized league". Dot Esports.
  11. Tyler, Josh (15 January 2021). "LCS 2021: Where, When, and How to Watch the LCS Lock-In Tournament". Blog of Legends.
  12. Geracie, Nick (4 February 2021). "FlyQuest to produce Spanish co-stream for 2021 LCS season". www.invenglobal.com.
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