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
Prior to the PCS
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
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]
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
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)
Regular season
Ten teams
Double round-robin, best-of-one
Top six teams advance to playoffs
Playoffs
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.
The winner and runner-up of the summer split qualified for the World Championship as the PCS' first and second seeds respectively
Teams
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]
^Riot Games also used the term "PCS region", which includes competitors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Southeast Asia (excluding Vietnam), and Oceania.
^West Point Esports was partnered with SEM9 and competed as SEM9 WPE from 17 January 2023 to 15 June 2023.
^ abcWithdrew before the start of their inaugural season.
^Dewish Team was known as Alpha Esports from 2019 to 2021, and Hurricane Gaming in 2022.
