2018 Spring Promotion Tournament

Riot·Aug 9, 2017·2 votes·21,873 views

Having wrapped up the 2017 Summer Split regular season, teams are now turning their attention to Playoffs and the Promotion Tournament.

With the competitors locked in, teams will fight in the Promotion Tournament one last time. Let’s recap who’ll be competing and what to expect as we witness the final battles of this tournament.

Who's participating?

[[{"fid":"24349","view_mode":"centered","fields":{"format":"centered","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/centered/public/su17_promo_tournament_brackets_1920x1080_2.jpg%3FXL_M4oN3CdVHzWO1zepaWsdUd7ChOIJd%26itok%3DLwmalLHQ","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-centered","height":"558","width":"992"}}]]

The finest teams the NA CS has to offer, eUnited and Gold Coin United will face off against the bottom two NA LCS teams, Phoenix1 and Team Liquid. They’ll be squaring up in Bo5 matchups from August 11 to August 13 with the first winner crowned on August 12 and the second winner on August 13. Since the NA LCS will be moving to a new structure for in 2018, Promotion Tournament winners will not auto-qualify for the 2018 Spring Split as they have in the past.

How do I catch the action?

[[{"fid":"24350","view_mode":"centered","fields":{"format":"centered","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/centered/public/su17_promo_tournament_schedule_1920x1080_2.jpg%3F75rXxdQwiP2Ftw6.d5B3AZxPby.rVw4O%26itok%3DHZRTayFL","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-centered","height":"558","width":"992"}}]]

The tournament will kick off Friday, August 11 at 12:00 PM PT with Phoenix1 taking on Gold Coin United and Team Liquid facing-off against eUnited. Be sure to tune in as the tournament will rage throughout the weekend as teams fight for pride and to send off the Promotion Tournament with fireworks.

18 Comments

ReaxetionAug 9, 20173 votes

Soooooo..... What exactly are they playing for? 2018 is going to be franchised, so even the teams currently in the LCS aren't promised a spot... Does winning and/or losing here do anything aside from provide bragging rights and pride?

Not trying to cynical, I am genuinely curious.

Camba4everAug 9, 20171 votes

My thoughts exactly...

Meanie40Aug 10, 20171 votes

The teams have $3 million reasons to "win the spot".

BigBellBruteAug 10, 20171 votes

{quoted}

The teams have $3 million reasons to "win the spot".

But if they aren't going to pony the 10 million in the first place, why would they care about winning?

Meanie40Aug 10, 20174 votes

The spot is $13 million. Teams currently in the LCS (after the promotion tournament) that get a franchise get a $3 million value applied toward the purchase of the spot. Teams in the LCS that are not accepted as a franchise will get a $3 million payment as a buyout of their spot.

ReaxetionAug 10, 20171 votes

Thanks for the info everyone! So the stakes are still high indeed!

yoboseoAug 9, 20172 votes

The article linked to the evolution of NA LCS. It is unclear what exactly happens during this promotion series. Ie if GCU and EUnited both win, then what happens? I am sure this has been explicitly explained to the teams, but it seems very unclear for us fans. I have been hearing multiple different things via content creators and well, it ain't true unless rito says so.

also First.

Cyber DranzerAug 9, 20172 votes

As far as I can tell nothing happens except they win some prize money (?). Next year's teams are gonna be franchises that get established like teams in other NA sports so a NACS team can't be promoted in but the players can be signed by a team in the LCS.

Camba4everAug 9, 20171 votes

Right, so I don't understand why even have the tournament then if it has no bearing on their re-entry or not to the League. I mean once they decided to switch to the franchise format, why even do through with the challenger series and promotion tournament at all?

yoboseoAug 9, 20171 votes

I remember hearing from a talk show (with Mark Z - not sure who exactly said it, just recall his dork face as part of the cast) that if Liquid and P1 both lose the promotion tournament, Liquid may be given slack and let back in to LCS. But P1 since the team is looking for an exit, they will get the boot. 11 teams? EU teams? Just all signs are pointing separate directions. Would be nice to explicitly state what will happen. Of course that is assuming a conclusion has been reached. Would suck donkey...(dunkey?) balls if they decide AFTER the results of the promotion tournament. The challenger series has some legit talent (MADLIFE senpai), sucks for those imports that were promised only to get the floodgates closed on them.

Miror BAug 9, 20171 votes

Basically, whichever 10 teams hold LCS spots at the end of the season will be able to pay $10m for the franchising thing. For non-LCS teams, that number goes up to $13m. Thus, the stakes could not be higher for any team not named TL who looks to potentially be moving out of the thing, should what they did with overwatch be an omen of things to come.

landontyral459Aug 10, 20171 votes

Was it the stateoftheleague podcast with Travis?

TrollFan01Aug 10, 20172 votes

I think GCU might make it in this time. They came so close last time and with their upgrades they should.

III BAKURYU III Aug 10, 20172 votes

The tournament will be interesting mainly from the franchising point of view, but also from other regions for example Eu. I keep hearing that some EU teams are actually thinking about coming to NA(G2/FNC/UOL/H2K) because of the franchising of sorts and no real word on EU, I mean that whole region seems to get 0 coverage on anything(weekly stats, articles, decent interviews etc) + on the silent and dark news from Riot above that.

SharoozAug 10, 20171 votes

The battle for 3 million

Andy GuoAug 10, 20171 votes

Damn this sucks, we all know even with team liquid lose, they will probably buy their spot back. And it will also sucks if they are allowed to replaced their entire roster with their current players, that not really fair to the players on gcu and enunited, any thoughts on that?

BigBellBruteAug 10, 20173 votes

[{quoted}](name=Andy Guo,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=tNWHf5ro,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2017-08-10T01:33:07.847+0000)

Damn this sucks, we all know even with team liquid lose, they will probably buy their spot back. And it will also sucks if they are allowed to replaced their entire roster with their current players, that not really fair to the players on gcu and enunited, any thoughts on that?

Really not too much different than last time around. They bought a rent a player from TSM, stayed in LCS, then came back with the exact same line up that put them up for relegation in the first place. TSM can probably just run liquid as a farm team right in the LCS.