The 15th season of the LCK season will start on 12 January.
The League of Legends competitive season is just days away from starting as the LCK Spring Split begins next Wednesday, 12 January. For its 15th season, it will feature the top 10 teams in South Korea vying for a spot in the Mid-Season Invitational 2022. As for the LPL, it will be starting its spring split two days earlier on Monday, 10 January.
The LCK 2022 Spring Split will feature 10 teams in the group stage that will go on for nine weeks. Each team plays a total of 18 matches with a double round-robin, best-of-three series format. Only the top six teams will earn the right to compete in the playoffs with the first and second place finishers getting a shortcut to the semifinals. The playoffs themselves will be a single-elimination bracket with each series being a best-of-five.
The top six will also earn championship points, which will play a bigger role as they get closer to the World Championship later this year. The LCK is also allowing teams to make weekly roster changes with their academy teams with its call-up/send-down cycle. There will also be games being played five days a week due to the regional qualifiers for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Last year's victors, DWG.KIA will be looking to mount a formidable challenge this year with their new roster. Having won both the spring and summer splits of 2021, all eyes will be on DWG once more to see if they can be the top team in South Korea once more. While the team has undergone a roster shuffle, they have retained the likes of Heo "ShowMaker" Su and Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu who can hopefully propel the team to new heights.
Aside from DWG, the likes of Gen.G Esports and T1 will also have valid stakes after their performances at Worlds 2021. With both teams finishing in the semifinals, it showed just how far the LCK has come with three of the top four teams hailing from the region. Of course, none of them did walk away with the biggest prize of them all. Gen.G also went through its roster shuffle, bringing in one of the most promising mid-laners, Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon. As for T1, they decided to stick with the same core roster aside from their toplaner with Choi "Zeus" Woo-je now replacing Kim "Canna" Chang-dong. With the likes of Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok leading the charge, he will be hoping to lead the young group to the promised land once again.
With just a week to go until the start of the LCK 2022 Spring Split, it will be an interesting next few months to see who will be the new top dog of South Korea.
