League of Legends players who follow the pro scene have a lot of different acronyms they need to remember, like LCS for the League Championship Series, LEC for the League European Championship, and LCK for League Champions Korea. But some have been getting stuck on another competition: the LPL.
What does LPL stand for in League of Legends?
LPL stands for League of Legends Pro League, the top-level pro league for League of Legends in China. It has been run twice a year in Spring and Summer since 2013 and has been dominated by Chinese powerhouses like Edward Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, and JD Gaming.
The LPL Regional Finals also take place after the Summer split. It gives the four teams with the most points besides the LPL Summer 2023 Champion a chance to fight for two spots for Worlds.
What format does the LPL use?
In the LPL, 16 teams compete in one big group. They all play against each other once in best-of-three series. The top eight teams go to playoffs, where they play against each other in best-of-fives. The top two start in semifinals, while the third and fourth seeds start in the quarterfinals and the teams ranked fifth to eighth start in the first round.
When was the most recent LPL?
The most recent LPL was LPL Summer 2023, which started on May 29, 2023, and ran until Aug. 5, 2023. JD Gaming won the league, earning themselves a qualification spot at Worlds 2023.
The LPL Regional Finals 2023 happened three days later. LNG Esports nabbed the first spot, while Weibo Gaming nabbed the second spot. Edward Gaming surprisingly bombed out in the Lower Bracket Final.
When is the next LPL?
The next LPL is LPL Spring 2024. The schedule hasn’t been released yet, but if previous iterations are anything to go by, it will kick off sometime in January 2024 and run until April 2024.