Blog of Legends
Fansided

Remembering the challenger promotion tournaments

By Calvin Henninger

GWANGJU, SOUTH KOREA - OCTOBER 28: Team Cloud9 of North America stand on the stage before the semifinal match of 2018 The League of Legends World Championship at Gwangju Women's University Universiade Gymnasium on October 28, 2018 in Gwangju, South Korea. (Photo by Woohae Cho/Getty Images)
GWANGJU, SOUTH KOREA - OCTOBER 28: Team Cloud9 of North America stand on the stage before the semifinal match of 2018 The League of Legends World Championship at Gwangju Women's University Universiade Gymnasium on October 28, 2018 in Gwangju, South Korea. (Photo by Woohae Cho/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 2
Next

In the brave new world of franchising, it’s easy to forget the dread and anticipation of the Promotional and Relegation tournament. We take a look back at the wonderful, crazy era before franchising.

The end of the summer split – crammed as it was with action, tiebreakers, and late-season hustles – once held a sharp sense of danger, buzzing, nervous anticipation which disappeared with the franchising era of 2018. In those days, underperforming teams had the very real possibility of being relegated, returned to the anonymity of the challenger scene to make way for fresh blood.

A whole new series of storylines emerged from these last-stand situations, grittier and more desperate than even a run at Worlds.

Would your team rally in this moment of reckoning, or would they falter to a roster of ambitious newcomers? Would they live on for another split, or be flung back into the primordial swamp of the Challenger League? Though franchising has brought the league stability and room for roster experimentation, it’s important that we take a moment to remember what was lost along the way.

Relegations

More from League of Legends

The LCS Promotion/Relegation tournament began with the establishment of the NA and EU LCS following the second season in 2012, and lasted up until the era of franchising at the beginning of 2018.

The idea behind this tournament was a simple one: LCS teams near the bottom of the proverbial totem pole would undergo a “proving grounds” against the top challenger teams. The penalty for continued underperformance during relegations was equally simple: loss of your LCS spot and a humiliating demotion to the Challenger league.

A Bridge Between Challenger and Champion

The Challenger Series itself looked considerably different pre-franchising. While some LCS names sponsored academy teams, the League was also rife with new squads looking for their chance to hit the big leagues.

Cinching the top spots in the Challenger League meant a shot at taking down the weakest teams in the LCS and securing your own spot for the next split. The dread for faltering pro teams mingled with the hopes of upstart challengers to set a polarizing and tense scene.

Many of the former LCS teams, once demoted, never recovered. On the other hand, some of the promoted former challengers squads went on to have incredible performances in the pro league.

Dignitas, a legacy team that emerged before the LCS was even established, suffered a tragic 3-0 defeat at the hands of Team Dragon Knights in 2016. They disbanded their League roster shortly thereafter.

Meanwhile, arguably the most decorated NA team in the history of the LCS, Cloud9, started as a challenger squad of friends and solo queue warriors. Cloud9 (then Quantic) burst on the scene with their own 3-0 over compLexity, and went on to dominate the scene for the next two splits, before giving up the LCS trophy to TSM in the Summer split of Season 4.

Home/League of Legends