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Fans are highly anticipating the return of League of Legends pro play. For LCS viewers, they will get a first look at NA teams' new rosters with the pre-season Lock-In tournament starting very soon. All 10 teams will get a chance to show off what they've been preparing in the off-season, or even experiment with fun champion picks. Here's all the details on the Lock-In 2022 schedule, format, and groups.
LCS Lock-In 2022: Schedule, Format, Teams
After pulling off a successful Lock-In tourney in 2021, the LCS is bringing it back this year to again build up the hype before NA's pro league sets into motion. Lock-In 2022 kicks off on January 14, while the LAN final is slated for January 30 at the LCS studios in Los Angeles.
The 10 teams will be split into two groups of five. They will compete in best-of-ones in a single round robin. From there, the top four teams in the standings will advance to the knockout stage. Essentially, this means that only one team per group will not make it to the next stage.
Group A
- 100 Thieves (100T)
- Cloud9 (C9)
- Team SoloMid (TSM)
- Golden Guardians (GGS)
- FlyQuest (FLY)
Group B
- Team Liquid (TL)
- Evil Geniuses (EG)
- Immortals (IMT)
- Counter Logic Gaming (CLG)
- Dignitas (DIG)
In the knockout brackets, depending on their seeding, teams will go head-to-head with counterparts from the other group. While the Lock-In champions won't gain much in the way of LCS Spring or Summer benefits, they do get bragging rights and a substantial cash prize of $150,000.
Moreover, for fans, this will be a great chance for them to gauge how well their teams might perform in the LCS itself. Last year, Cloud9 had put up a solid performance in Lock-In and went on to win the LCS Spring Split. Of course, the results of this tournament may not mean a whole lot in the end, as teams can definitely improve or fall off throughout the season.
Nonetheless, fans will definitely be excited to see their favorite players back in pro play as well as some fresh faces. Most teams underwent huge roster changes in the off-season.
Among the notable changes are Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg moving to Team Liquid, alongside the additions of Bwipo and Hans sama. TSM has opted to use import slots on Chinese stars-in-the-making, while C9 has picked up three Koreans and Fudge has role-swapped to mid. 100 Thieves stuck with their LCS Summer title-winning squad, so it'll be interesting to see if they still stay ahead of the pack.
Whatever the outcome, and no matter how serious or experimental the Lock-In stage will be, fans can look forward to yet another roller coaster LCS season this 2022.
