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Pacific Championship Series

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Pacific Championship Series
FormerlyLMS and LST
GameLeague of Legends
Founded19 December 2019 (2019-12-19)
First seasonSpring 2020
Organising body
No. of teams7 (regular season)
11 (playoffs)
Most recent
champion(s)		 PSG Talon (8th title)
Most titles PSG Talon (8 titles)
Sponsor(s)Chunghwa Telecom
Relegation toPacific Challengers League
International cup(s)World Championship
Mid-Season Invitational
Pacific Championship Series
Traditional Chinese英雄聯盟太平洋職業聯賽
Simplified Chinese英雄联盟太平洋职业联赛
Literal meaningLeague of Legends Pacific Professional League
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinYīngxióng Liánméng Tàipíngyáng Zhíyè Liánsài
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationYīnghùhng Lyùhnmàhng Taaipìhngyèuhng Jīkyihp Lyùhnchoi
JyutpingJing1hung4 Lyun4mang4 Taai3ping4joeng4 Zik1jip6 Lyun4coi3

The Pacific Championship Series (PCS) is a professional esports league for League of Legends teams competing in the Asia-Pacific.[a] Riot Games, the game's developer, created the league in 2019. This followed an announcement by Garena – the game's distributor in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia – that it planned to merge the League of Legends Master Series (LMS) and League of Legends SEA Tour (LST) into a single tournament jointly run with Riot Games.

Initially, ten teams competed in the regular season, but this was reduced to eight teams in the 2024 spring season and finally seven in the 2024 summer season. In its final year of tier-one competition, the top six teams from the PCS regular season advanced to the playoffs and were joined by the top three teams from Japan and the top two teams from Oceania. Oceania became a part of the PCS region in 2022, with the League of Legends Circuit Oceania (LCO) being downgraded to a tier-two league secondary to the PCS. Japan followed suit the next year, with the League of Legends Japan League being similarly downgraded and integrated into the PCS.

Riot Games announced in 2024 that the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) would replace the PCS as the Asia-Pacific's tier-one league from 2025 onward. The PCS, along with the LJL and VCS, would become the LCP's secondary leagues, with a path to promotion to the LCP.

History

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Prior to the PCS

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The first professional esports league for League of Legends players in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia was the Garena Premier League (GPL), which ran from 2012 to mid-2018. Teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau were given their own league, the League of Legends Master Series (LMS), in late 2014.[1] Three years later, the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) was upgraded to a Tier 1 tournament and Vietnam became its own competitive region, separate from the rest of Southeast Asia.[2][3] The GPL was rebranded as the League of Legends SEA Tour (LST) in mid-2018.[4]

Formation

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Garena announced on 25 September 2019 that it intended to merge the LMS and LST into a single league, the details of which would be released near the end of the year.[5] On 19 December, Riot Games announced the name of the new league, the Pacific Championship Series (PCS),[6][7][8] and a list of nine of the ten teams that would compete in it.[9][10] Berjaya Dragons was announced as the last team joining the PCS on 17 January 2020.[11][12]

Inaugural season

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Main article: 2020 PCS season

The 2020 season was postponed until further notice on 29 January due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[13][14] It was later announced on 18 February that the 2020 season would officially begin on 29 February.[15]

On 13 February it was announced that G-Rex had disbanded its League of Legends team and forfeited its spot in the PCS as a result of internal restructuring by their parent company Emperor Esports Stars.[16] Five days later, Machi Esports was announced as G-Rex's replacement.[15]

Expansion

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Riot Games announced on 18 November 2022 that the PCS would expand to include Oceania, beginning in 2023. Two major changes were made: The winners of the League of Legends Circuit Oceania would no longer directly qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and the World Championship (Worlds). Instead, the LCO's top two teams would have to compete in the PCS playoffs to gain a spot. Additionally, LCO players would have their residencies changed from "Oceania" to "PCS", meaning they would no longer take import slots on PCS teams, and vice versa.[17]

On 26 November 2023, Riot Games announced that the League of Legends Japan League would join the PCS playoffs in a similar manner to the LCO. From 2024 onwards, the top three teams from the LJL would have to compete in the PCS playoffs for a spot at MSI and Worlds. Additionally, LJL players would have their residencies changed from "Japan" to "PCS".[18]

Format (2024)

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Regular season

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  • Ten teams
  • Double round-robin, best-of-one
  • Top six teams advance to playoffs

Playoffs

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  • Eleven teams: Top six from the PCS regular season, top three from the LJL playoffs, and top two from the LCO playoffs
    • Top two teams from the PCS regular season and the winner of LJL receive a bye to the Stage Two
  • Divided into two stages:
    • Stage One: Eight teams are divided into two groups of four; teams within each group compete in a double-elimination bracket. The three teams consisting of the winners of each group and winner of match between two group runners-up advance to the Stage Two.
    • Stage Two: Six teams compete in a double-elimination bracket.

Qualifications

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Teams

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Ten teams were initially selected by Riot Games as permanent franchise partners of the PCS.[9][10] However, it was announced on 4 August 2020 that a promotion tournament would be introduced for the 2021 season to promote regional competitiveness.[19]

Notable 2025 teams

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Team Joined
Hell Pigs 12 January 2023
Frank Esports 28 January 2022
West Point Esports[b] 17 January 2023

Former teams

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Team Joined Left Reason
G-Rex 19 December 2019 13 February 2020 Withdrew[c]
Resurgence 19 December 2019 8 September 2020 Relegated
ahq eSports Club 19 December 2019 26 January 2021 Withdrew
Nova Esports 19 December 2019 5 February 2021 Withdrew
Berjaya Dragons 17 January 2020 16 November 2021 Withdrew
Hong Kong Attitude 19 December 2019 24 November 2021 Withdrew
BOOM Esports 5 February 2021 28 January 2022 Withdrew
Liyab Esports 19 December 2019 28 January 2022 Withdrew
Machi Esports 18 February 2020 28 January 2022 Withdrew
SEM9 16 November 2021 3 December 2022 Withdrew
Meta Falcon Team 28 January 2022 12 January 2023 Withdrew
Dewish Team[d] 19 December 2019 7 October 2023 Relegated
Impunity Esports 8 September 2020 8 October 2023 Relegated
Nate9527 6 October 2023 19 January 2024 Withdrew[c]
PSG Talon Academy 7 October 2023 19 January 2024 Withdrew[c]
Beyond Gaming 26 January 2021 20 April 2024 Withdrew
Deep Cross Gaming 28 January 2022 1 November 2024 Withdrew
J Team 19 December 2019 1 November 2024 Withdrew
PSG Talon[e][f] 19 December 2019 3 November 2024 Promoted[g]
CTBC Flying Oyster 27 January 2022 3 November 2024 Promoted[g]

Results

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Year Split Champions Runners-up Third-place
2020 Spring Talon Esports Machi Esports ahq eSports Club
Summer Machi Esports PSG Talon J Team
2021 Spring PSG Talon Beyond Gaming Machi Esports
Summer PSG Talon Beyond Gaming J Team
2022 Spring PSG Talon CTBC Flying Oyster J Team
Summer CTBC Flying Oyster Beyond Gaming PSG Talon
2023 Spring PSG Talon Frank Esports CTBC Flying Oyster
Summer PSG Talon CTBC Flying Oyster Beyond Gaming
2024 Spring PSG Talon SoftBank Hawks CTBC Flying Oyster
Summer PSG Talon SoftBank Hawks Frank Esports

Number of top three finishes

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By team

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  denotes a team that no longer competes in the PCS.

Pos Team 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) T
1. PSG Talon[f] 7 1 1 9
2. CTBC Flying Oyster 1 2 2 5
3. Machi Esports 1 1 1 3
4. Beyond Gaming 0 3 1 4
5. SoftBank Hawks 0 2 0 2
6. Frank Esports 0 1 1 2
7. J Team 0 0 3 3
8. ahq eSports Club 0 0 1 1

By country or region

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Pos Country / Region 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) T
1.  Taiwan[h] 6 6 8 20
2.  Hong Kong 4 2 2 8
3.  Japan 0 2 0 2

Notes

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  1. ^ Riot Games also used the term "PCS region", which includes competitors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Southeast Asia (excluding Vietnam), and Oceania.
  2. ^ West Point Esports was partnered with SEM9 and competed as SEM9 WPE from 17 January 2023 to 15 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Withdrew before the start of their inaugural season.
  4. ^ Dewish Team was known as Alpha Esports from 2019 to 2021, and Hurricane Gaming in 2022.
  5. ^ PSG Talon was formed from a merger between Talon Esports and PSG Esports on 18 June 2020.
  6. ^ a b PSG Talon was previously based in Hong Kong but moved to Taipei in 2023.
  7. ^ a b Announced as a partnered team in the League of Legends Championship Pacific.
  8. ^ The PCS refers to Taiwan as "Taipei" in its official publications.

References

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  1. ^ Kulasingham, Nilu (1 October 2014). "Garena to separate Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from South East Asia for the 2015 GPL Season". Yahoo News. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2. ^ Wolf, Jacob (21 February 2018). "Vietnam promoted to independent region in League of Legends". ESPN. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  3. ^ Goslin, Austen (21 February 2018). "Vietnam is now its own independent competitive league". The Rift Herald. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  4. ^ "A New Beginning for Esports in Southeast Asia". LoL Garena. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  5. ^ "全新聯賽將於 2020 年啟動，聯合LMS及LST全面提高戰區戰力". 《英雄聯盟 LoL》官方網站 – 全球第一多人連線遊戲，挑戰你的電子競技夢想！ (in Chinese (Taiwan)). LoL Esports; Garena TW. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  6. ^ Hao, Dexter Tan Guan (19 December 2019). "Pacific Championship Series created as combination of League's LMS and LST". Dot Esports. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  7. ^ Nicholson, Jonno (19 December 2019). "Riot Games announces Pacific Championship Series". Esports Insider. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  8. ^ Matthiesen, Tom (20 December 2019). "League of Legends: Riot merges the LMS and the LST to form one large Pacific Championship Series in 2020". Inven Global. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  9. ^ a b Chen, Ethan (22 December 2019). "League of Legends Pacific Championship Series teams revealed for 2020". Daily Esports. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  10. ^ a b Tuting, Kristine (19 December 2019). "Here are the teams for the League of Legends Pacific Championship Series (PCS) 2020". ONE Esports. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  11. ^ Zijdenbos, Arend (17 January 2020). "The Berjaya Dragons enter the League of Legends PCS". Daily Esports. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  12. ^ "Berjaya Dragons set to rock the League of Legends arena". www.thesundaily.my. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  13. ^ Lunardi, Lara (29 January 2020). "League of Legends: The Pacific Championship Series has announced the postponing of its Spring Split due to the risks of a Coronavirus outbreak in the region". Inven Global. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Start of PCS postponed due to coronavirus". Field Level Media via Reuters. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  15. ^ a b Garnace, Simon Juleovenz (18 February 2020). "PCS Starts Inaugural Season On 29th February, Machi Esports Joins As 10th Slot". Inquirer.net. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  16. ^ Geracie, Nick (13 February 2020). "League of Legends: [OFFICIAL] G-Rex disbands; withdraws from PCS as part of parent company's restructuring". Inven Global. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  17. ^ Mclaughlin, Declan (18 November 2022). "Riot Games announces PCS will expand into Oceania". Dexerto. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  18. ^ Ho, Liam (27 November 2023). "LoL esports announces Japan's LJL will join Oceania in PCS playoffs for Worlds entry". Dexerto.
  19. ^ "PCS Promotion Qualifier". PCS Official. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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