LPL Summer Split Survival Guide

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Big things are coming to the LPL Summer Split.

The LPL Summer Split is about to begin and it will introduce something different to what fans are normally used to. There has yet to be a confirmed end date for the Summer Split but it is slated to start on Saturday, June 1st with all 17 teams making a return to the regional league. All eyes will be on the defending champions of the LPL, Bilibili Gaming who also came in first-runner-up at MSI recently.

With the Esports World Cup occurring later in July, the two teams that received a direct invite to the tournament are BLG and Top Esports. Seeing as they will be missing from the Summer Split, it remains to be seen how the schedule will be for these two teams, especially given the new format.

LPL Summer Split - Format & Schedule

The previous format for the LPL Summer Split usually consisted of all teams facing against one another in one large group stage. This only allowed the top 10 teams to qualify for the playoffs. But there is now a brand-new format for the LPL as it introduces three stages to the new Summer Split.

Group Stage

Dates: June 1st - 29th

The group stage will now split all 17 teams into four groups based on their respective results during the Spring Split. There will be three groups of four teams while the last group will have five to accommodate the odd number of orgs in the LPL. All four groups will play a double round-robin best-of-three series with a twist - Fearless Draft. This means there will be no bans in the first match but all the champions used will not be available to either team for the rest of the series.

There will be two games a day for the entirety of the Summer Split that will determine who goes through to the Rumble Stage. The top two teams from each group (three for the last group with five teams) will go through to the next phase of the tournament into the ‘High’ bracket, known as Group Ascend. As for the bottom two teams of each group, they will drown down to the ‘Low’ bracket, which is also called Group Nirvana.

Rumble Stage

Dates: July 5th - 31st

Teams will have almost a week's worth of rest before the start of the Rumble Stage, which is another new introduction to the LPL. The Rumble Stage was mostly seen during previous MSI events over the years but it was phased out just a few years ago. It now returns with a single round-robin format for both groups while all games are a best-of-three series. There will also be no Fearless Draft for the Rumble Stage.

All 17 teams will be vying for a spot in the playoffs with four teams facing elimination from Group Nirvana. Of the bottom eight teams from the group stage, they will now face one another in the Rumble Stage with the top four teams booking a place in the Play-In Round of the playoffs. As for the bottom four teams, they will be eliminated.

Things will also be different for the top nine teams in Group Ascend. The bottom two teams will join the top four of Group Nirvana in the Play-In Round of the playoffs and it only goes up from there. The top two teams will earn a spot directly into the semifinals of the playoffs while the third and fourth-placed teams will be in the third round. Teams that finished in fifth and sixth will be in the second round and the team to finish seventh will get the final spot in the first round.

Playoffs

All matches are a best-of-five (Standard Draft)
Phase One: Play-In Stage (Knight's Rivals)
Dates: August 3rd - 5th

There will be six teams in the Play-In Stage of the playoffs, which will be considered phase one. The teams that placed first and second from Group Nirvana will face one another with the winner moving forward to go up against the team that finished seventh in Group Ascend. On the other side of the bracket, the team that finished last from Group Ascend will face the team that ended up third in Group Nirvana.

And lastly, the team that finished eighth in Group Ascend will play the team that was fourth in Group Nirvana. Once those three series are done, the playoffs' second phase begins.

Phase Two: King-of-the-Hill
Dates: TBD

Phase two will see three teams from phase one alongside the teams that finished between third and seventh from Group Ascend be divided into two brackets for a 'King-of-the-Hill' format. The teams that are seeded third, sixth, seventh, and 10th are on one side of the bracket and the rest of the teams are on the other. There will be a total of four rounds of games to be played, including the Play-In Stage before we get to the double-elimination portion of the bracket.

Phase Three: Double-Elimination
Dates: TBD

The final hurdle of the LPL Summer Split will be a four-team, double-elimination format with all games being a best-of-five series. They will do battle to see who gets to lift the Summer Split title as well as earn an automatic spot in Worlds 2024.

LPL Summer Split - Prize Pool

There is a total of ¥4,200,000 CNY to be split among the final six teams of the tournament. There will also be Championship Points up for grabs for the teams that finish between second to seventh and eighth as this will come into play once the LPL Regional Finals rolls around.

Placement	¥CNY	Qualified	Points
1st	¥2,000,000	Worlds 2024	-
2nd	¥1,000,000	-	110
3rd	¥500,000	-	80
4th	¥300,000	-	60
5th-6th	¥200,000	-	40
7th-8th	-	-	10
9th-10th	-	-	-
11th-13th	-	-	-
14th	-	-	-
15th	-	-	-
16th	-	-	-
17th	-	-	-