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2017 NA Challenger Series Update

Riot·6/7/2017, 9:09:13 PM·0 votes·41,006 views

TL;DR The Summer Split of the 2017 NA CS will move to a double Best of 3 format with live broadcasts on Thursdays.

Welcome back to the North American Challenger Series (NA CS) where rising stars, wily veterans, and even a streamer dream team will hit the Rift this Summer. Six teams will battle through the regular season to try and secure their spot in Playoffs and the Promotion Tournament. We wanted to cover some changes happening to NA CS for Summer Split around format, schedule, and broadcast: 

Format

Regular Season

The regular season of the NA Challenger Series will transition from two back-to-back Best of 2 (Bo2) on a single day with a point system as seen in Spring Split to a double Best of 3 (Bo3) taking place over two days (Wed + Thurs) each week starting this Summer Split.

In recent splits, we’ve worked closely with Challenger teams to understand if NA CS was hitting the mark to best prepare them for pro play. After extensive discussions with the Challenger Teams around their preferred format, their feedback was overwhelmingly to move to the Bo3 format to mirror the NA LCS format and give teams more practice in the format used for Playoffs and Promotion Tournament.

Schedule

Regular Season

  • Week 1: June 7-June 8
  • Week 2: June 14-June 15
  • Week 3: June 21-June 22
  • Week 4: June 28-June 29
  • Week 5: July 13-July 14

The full match schedule is available here and similar to NA LCS, we’ll be taking a break for a week in July for Rift Rivals.

Playoffs and Promotion Tournament 

The NA CS Playoffs will continue to be Best of 5 and played on-site to better equip CS teams for the upcoming Promotion Tournament on August 11-13.

Spring Playoffs will take place on:

  • Semis: Wednesday, July 19 & Thursday, July 20
  • Finals: Thursday, July 27

Broadcast and Content

Last split, we broadcasted 4 games including one full Bo2 series, the second game of a Bo2, and the second game of a third Bo2. As we move towards 2018, our focus is to prepare for the upcoming Academy League, as we believe that’s the best path forward to develop talent within NA. Because of that focus, we’re only able to broadcast the same number of games that we did for Spring Split. A Bo3 series has more variables as matches end in 2 or 3 games - to avoid showing something that feels incomplete, we’ll be broadcasting one of the series in entirety. After talking to pros, they agreed that the benefits of moving to Bo3 where less teams would be shown live on air would still outweigh the additional exposure provided by remaining on Bo2s.

We’ll also be retiring our Challenger VODs; instead we're providing replays of the games to teams, and working with them to produce their own team content. We expect that the move away from directed camera VODs to team created content will provide a variety of new and creative ways to experience CS matches. We’ve had some initial talks with the teams about their plans around producing content and are excited about the possibilities.

If you want to see which NA CS games will be broadcasted live on Thursdays at 5:00 PM PT, check out the schedule below:

Regular Season Live Broadcast Games

  • Week 1 - June 8: eUnited (EUN) vs. Gold Coin United (GCU)
  • Week 2 - June 15: Delta Fox (DFX) vs. Big Gods Jackals (BIG)
  • Week 3 - June 22: CLG Academy (CLA) vs. Tempo Storm (TS)
  • Week 4 - June 29: Tempo Storm (TS) vs. Gold Coin United (GCU)
  • Week 5 - July 13: eUnited (EUN) vs. Big Gods Jackals (BIG)

With the increased interest in NA CS based on a certain stream dream team, we’re looking at ways to bring more games to the broadcast and spin up some additional Challenger content. Stay tuned for more information.

Playoffs Live Broadcast

As with last split, all Playoff matches will be broadcasted live.

What about the Promotion Tournament?

As we previously announced, NA LCS will be moving to a model without promotion and relegation next year and the Challenger Series will be transitioning to an Academy League. While the promotion tournament will not automatically promote any teams to the NA LCS in Spring 2018, there will still be financial incentives for teams as well as the opportunity to reward pros for their split’s achievements.

Don’t miss the first NA CS broadcast of Summer Split with eUnited vs. Gold Coin United on Thursday, June 8 at 5:00 PM PT.

18 Comments

I Chewie I6/7/2017, 11:45:00 PM21 votes

Cmon Riot, give the people what they want, just allow someone on Delta Fox to stream with a delay. Or you broadcast it (free money). That one week with Delta Fox will get more viewers than all of the other games combined. This is just disappointingAmumu .

Paquay6/7/2017, 9:16:18 PM18 votes

Retiring vods so we can't even watch unless it's team released content? Am I understanding that correctly? Seems like a step in the wrong direction. Very disappointing.

Bandmaster6/7/2017, 10:31:46 PM15 votes

I'm gonna say what we're all thinking: ONLY ONE DELTA FOX STREAM ACROSS 5 WEEKS?!?!?!?!?!? THAT'S THE MAIN REASON PEOPLE ARE GOING TO WATCH CS! IT'S EVEN STATED IN YOUR ARTICLE!!!

Nöcturne6/7/2017, 9:23:10 PM7 votes

retiring Vods this is the most disappointing thing in league history i only watch vods. now im gonna be like Amumu is the same format going for eu cs ? cause if i cant watch origen i will be extremely disapointed

The Tank Man6/8/2017, 1:54:23 AM4 votes

If one game could be broadcast live a week, why not more? You wouldn't even have to provide casters, I'm sure people would be happy to watch the games without them or provide their own casting. Giving the replays to teams is cool and great and all, but it doesn't have to be one or the other between that and broadcasting games live.

TheeBeast036/14/2017, 7:39:31 PM2 votes

Let me watch delta fox

TurquoiseYoshi6/7/2017, 11:13:59 PM2 votes

I'm kinda pessimistic about this idea. Honestly, there's a day every week where games are playing and no games are broadcasted. That's just pointless, in my opinion. Even if you guys couldn't get the normal casters, or the games had to use no spectators and use just the normal client viewing feature, it would be way better to have games broadcasted when they're on. It's better for fans by giving more games at decent times in NA, I don't see any way it can hurt Riot or have major downsides, and if whatever team-oriented VOD system is some sort of test for teams, you can use the other games since this adds very few broadcasted games.

Thê Moisturizer6/8/2017, 8:05:48 PM2 votes

Riot doesn't do anything what people want, it's useless even trying.

ZephyrDrake6/8/2017, 11:53:21 PM2 votes

how to kill the challenger series in a few simple steps, by Riot.

Its ok Riot maybe in 10 years the NA challenger series will actually mean something

Worst On Team6/12/2017, 10:42:12 PM2 votes

Never watched CS before.

I'm here cause of QTPie.

Bring back VoDs you Jags.

I'd pay to watch those. I'll buy a Delta Fox hoodie, and I'll even watch the other garbo CS teams play.

:)

Hide on Shroom6/8/2017, 2:23:33 PM2 votes

Praying Delta Fox makes it to the playoff or else the people only get to see one game of what we want. What a dumb move Riot. You could charge money for people to watch Delta Fox matches and we'd all pay. EUN vs GCU....yeaaaaaaa tell me more.

TrollFan016/8/2017, 2:22:15 AM1 votes

Alright! Challenger is back! I may be one of the few who watches it but it's good fun.

Beastly Timmy6/7/2017, 11:50:41 PM1 votes

This seems like one of the worst ways the game is going. Without the actual promotion and relegation next year the actually skill level will go down now that no one job is up for grabs. Being able to lose your job cause you are bad lights a fire under your ass to get better. The overall skill will drop by far...

CamQuatch6/8/2017, 7:58:10 PM1 votes

Kind of a slap in the face to Challenger Teams other than Delta Fox. Only reason this change went through is so Delta Fox can be marketed, but fuck the other teams before that? Challenger Series Teams need to all be treated the same in terms of how much marketing they get. This seems like a total circle jerk around past pros.