Game developer Riot Games has unveiled the teams and format for its new pan-American League of Legends esports competition, now called the LTA.
Short for the League of Legends Championship of the Americas, the LTA will be split into two separate leagues — North and South. Within those leagues will be a mixture of permanent partner teams and ‘guest teams’ that will compete across three distinct splits.
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The permanent teams for LTA North will be Cloud9, Team Liquid, FlyQuest, Shopify Rebellion and Dignitas, all of which were participants in the last-ever LCS split. Lyon Gaming, a new organisation created through a merger between Six Karma and Movistar R7, has also joined LTA North as the league’s official LATAM Partner team.
North American esports organisation 100 Thieves also joins LTA North. However, it will be a ‘Provisional Guest Team’.
According to the announcement, 100 Thieves sold its franchise slot to Riot Games due to ‘business reasons’. 100 Thieves will remain in the LTA and will not be eligible for the Promotion Tournament at the end of 2025. Interestingly, Riot Games has noted that it will review its plans for this slot throughout 2025.
The remaining team in LTA North is the creator-owned esports organisation Disguised, which will occupy the league’s guest slot. Previously Disguised competed in the NACL, League of Legends’ tier-two competition in North America. As a guest team, at the end of the LTA campaign the organisation will defend its slot in a Promotion Tournament against representatives from the NACL and the LRN, a LATAM esports competition.
Following the announcement, it has been revealed that rumours of NRG and Immortals’ exit are true, with both former LCS organisations not named as participants. NRG rejoined the North American competition as recently as 2023 after acquiring previous LCS franchise holder CLG that same year. Immortals, on the other hand, has been competing in North America’s top league since 2020.
The LTA South, previously the CBLOL, has also named its list of participants. Brazilian esports organisations Fluxo, FURIA, LOUD, paiN Gaming, Vivo Keyd Stars and RED Canids will be joined by LATAM esports organisation Leviatán as permanent partners.
Argentine esports organisation, and two-time World Championship qualifier, Isurus has been named as LTA South’s guest team. Similarly to Disguised, the organisation will compete against representatives of CBLOL Academy and LRS (South Regional League) at the end of the season to reclaim its slot.
LOS GRANDES, Liberty, INTZ and KaBuM! Esports are the CBLOL franchise teams that were not named as participants.
The LTA format
Ahead of the new season, further details about the LTA’s format have been revealed.
As was already announced, the LTA will operate under three splits, with a final competition taking place to crown the first ever LTA champion. Firstly, LTA North will be based in Los Angeles, with LTA South taking place in São Paulo.
The first split, which will determine a sole representative for Riot Games’ new international tournament, will see each conference compete against each other in a double-elimination, best-of-three tournament using fearless mode. Fearless mode sees champions played at any point in a best-of-series be unable to be picked through the rest of the series.
The top four teams from LTA North will compete in Brazil against the top four LTA South teams in a single-elimination best-of-three tournament until a winner is decided via a best-of-five final.
Split two will see the teams compete in a double round-robin, best-of-one format in their conference. The top six teams from each conference will then take part in a separated double-elimination playoff bracket where a ‘conference champion’ will be crowned. These winners will be the two representatives for MSI.
The third split will introduce a new ‘pick and play’ system in which, after each week of competition, teams will select their opponents for the following week live on stage. Initial matchups will be based on split two rankings. According to Riot Games, after each week, “teams with the worst match and game records will have the chance to challenge teams with better records.”
Riot Games has also imposed rules to avoid challenging an opponent teams have already faced.
Following three weeks of ‘Pick and Play’, elimination stages will commence with the bottom four teams in each conference fighting to stay in the competition. This will continue until week six when only three teams from each conference remain. The top LTA South teams will then travel to the US for the 2025 Americas Regional Championship alongside the LTA North competitors.
In split three, the top seeds from both conferences will not only qualify for the Americas Regional Championship, but will gain an automatic qualification slot to Worlds 2025. Meanwhile, the remaining teams will battle it out to not only lift the LTA Trophy, but to also claim the remaining World Championship spot.
The changes to Riot Games’ North American scene coincide with recent format announcements for the LEC and the LCK.
