RIP LCS Challenger Series (and integrity)

ciderspace·1/9/2016, 6:33:14 PM·1 votes·820 views

What's the point of the Challenger Series or Promotion/Relegation if Immortals and NRG can just BUY THEIR SLOTS as your own infographic states?! I have completely lost respect for this system and my opinion of LCS has just taken a huge hit. So it's essentially a money tournament now where the prize is something to be sold on the open market? What happened to the integrity of esports? Should we let Sirens buy a slot because it will bring in ad dollars from thirsty guys? For a company that talks so much about the Summoner's Code and punishes the most minor out-of-competition violations severely, I'd have given it a bit more consideration before allowing this kind of precedent.

3 Comments

Stillname1/9/2016, 9:13:43 PM4 votes

I disagree that the buying and selling of teams is the problem with the current system.

The problem is that the old system of challenger series leading to the LCS counts on players earning their way in but a team is no longer 5 players that get together and make a team. Teams are now organizations that hire and fire players when it seems that they can get a leg up. What is the point of 5 players earning their way in if they jump to different teams before the split even begins?

Just look at the number of "NEW" tags next to players and that doesn't even cover all of the players who were backups last season (like huhi) or on different sub teams within the organization (like liquids double roster). I think that every split is going to be like this from now on.

A Sprinkle of BM1/9/2016, 7:04:49 PM3 votes

Well keep in mind that for some teams, staying in the LCS isn't an option. I know TiP didn't sell their spot, but look at what happened there. Xwx got banned for elo-boosting, then their star players Impact and Rush jumped ship. They then lose Apollo, because they have no leverage to keep him there. At this point, TiP is looking like they will be by far the weakest team this split, and most people would assume they'll be relegated. If you're the owner of TiP, and everyone has just left, you can either sell the spot or spend money on salaries, housing, food, utilities, etc. all just so you will likely be out of the LCS next split anyway. If a team is doomed to fail, I think it's more healthy if they sell their spot to a team who will atleast make the scene more competitive.

However, because TiP did NOT sell their spot, we may wind up with a team like VES or CST, where they are only there to play the upset card. If the other teams that were collapsing in on themselves would've stayed to, we probably would have had a very clear top half/bottom half of the standings, and personally I would rather have new* faces who pose legitimate threats. All opinions, not saying you're wrong, just saying there are other things to consider.

OblivionsMight1/9/2016, 9:59:06 PM2 votes

real sports buy and sell teams in any game you can name this is a free market were almost everything is for sale i don't see why League should be any different