Pacific Championship Series

The Pacific Championship Series (PCS) is a professional esports league for League of Legends players competing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia (excluding Vietnam). Its creation was officially announced by Riot Games on 19 December 2019,[2][3][4] after Garena, which ran the League of Legends Master Series (LMS) and League of Legends SEA Tour (LST), announced in September that it was planning to merge the two leagues.[5] The PCS has ten teams: four from Taiwan, two from Hong Kong, and four from Southeast Asia.[6][7]

Pacific Championship Series
Upcoming season or competition:
2021 PCS season
FormerlyLMS and LST
GameLeague of Legends
Founded19 December 2019 (2019-12-19)
Inaugural seasonSpring 2020
Owner(s)Riot Games
Garena Esports
Carry Live Co.[1]
No. of teams10
Most recent
champion(s)		 Machi Esports
(1st title)
Most titles Machi Esports
PSG Talon
(1 title each)
QualificationPromotion tournament
Sponsor(s)CTBC Bank[1]
International cup(s)Mid-Season Invitational
World Championship
Official websitewww.lolpcs.com

History

Prior to the PCS

The first professional esports league for League of Legends players in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia was the Garena Premier League (GPL), which ran from 2012 to mid-2018. Teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau were given their own league, the League of Legends Master Series (LMS), in late 2014.[8] Three years later, the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) was upgraded to a Tier 1 tournament and Vietnam became its own competitive region separate from the rest of Southeast Asia.[9][10] The GPL was rebranded as the League of Legends SEA Tour (LST) in mid-2018.[11]

Formation

Garena announced on 25 September 2019 that it was intending to merge the LMS and LST into a single league, the details of which would be released near the end of the year.[5] On 19 December, Riot Games announced the name of the new league, the Pacific Championship Series (PCS),[2][3][4] and a list of nine of the ten teams that would compete in it.[6][7] Berjaya Dragons was announced as the last team joining the PCS on 17 January 2020.[12][13]

Inaugural season
Main article: 2020 PCS season

The 2020 season was postponed until further notice on 29 January due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[14][15] It was later announced on 18 February that the 2020 season would officially begin on 29 February.[16]

On 13 February it was announced that G-Rex had disbanded its League of Legends team and forfeited its spot in the PCS as a result of internal restructuring by their parent company Emperor Esports Stars.[17] Five days later, Machi Esports was announced as G-Rex's replacement.[16]

Format

Regular season
  • Ten teams
  • Double round-robin, best-of-one
  • Top eight teams advance to playoffs

Playoffs
  • Eight teams
  • Double elimination bracket
    • Top two teams from the regular season receive a bye to the second round of the winners' bracket
    • Third to sixth place begin in the first round of the winners' bracket
    • Seventh and eighth place begin in the first round of the losers' bracket
  • Games in the first round are best-of-three; all other games are best-of-five

Qualifications

Teams

Ten teams were initially selected by Riot Games as permanent franchise partners of the PCS.[6][7] However, it was announced on 4 August 2020 that a promotion tournament would be introduced for the 2021 season to promote regional competitiveness.[18] Taiwan, Hong Kong and four Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) are currently represented in the league.

Current
Location of current PCS teams
Alpha Esports
Beyond Gaming
J Team
Machi Esports
Liyab Esports
Impunity
BOOM Esports

Former

Results
Year Split Champions Runners-up Third-place Fourth-place
2020 Spring Talon Esports Machi Esports ahq eSports Club Hong Kong Attitude
Summer Machi Esports PSG Talon J Team ahq eSports Club

Number of top four finishes

By team
Pos Team 4
1. Machi Esports 1 1
1. PSG Talon 1 1
3. ahq eSports Club 1 1
4. J Team 1
5. Hong Kong Attitude 1

By country or territory
Pos Country / Territory 4
1.  Taiwan 1 1 2 1
2.  Hong Kong 1 1 1
—  Malaysia
—  Philippines
—  Singapore
—  Thailand

References
  1. "Pacific Championship Series: 2021 Spring Split Announcement". www.lolpcs.com. Riot Games Southeast Asia. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  2. Hao, Dexter Tan Guan (19 December 2019). "Pacific Championship Series created as combination of League's LMS and LST". Dot Esports. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  3. Nicholson, Jonno (19 December 2019). "Riot Games announces Pacific Championship Series". Esports Insider. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  4. Matthiesen, Tom (20 December 2019). "League of Legends: Riot merges the LMS and the LST to form one large Pacific Championship Series in 2020". Inven Global. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  5. "全新聯賽將於 2020 年啟動，聯合LMS及LST全面提高戰區戰力". 《英雄聯盟 LoL》官方網站 - 全球第一多人連線遊戲，挑戰你的電子競技夢想！ (in Chinese). LoL Esports; Garena TW. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  6. Chen, Ethan (22 December 2019). "League of Legends Pacific Championship Series teams revealed for 2020". Daily Esports. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  7. Tuting, Kristine (19 December 2019). "Here are the teams for the League of Legends Pacific Championship Series (PCS) 2020". ONE Esports. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  8. Kulasingham, Nilu (1 October 2014). "Garena to separate Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from South East Asia for the 2015 GPL Season". Yahoo News. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  9. Wolf, Jacob (21 February 2018). "Vietnam promoted to independent region in League of Legends". ESPN. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  10. Goslin, Austen (21 February 2018). "Vietnam is now its own independent competitive league". The Rift Herald. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  11. "A New Beginning for Esports in Southeast Asia". LoL Garena. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  12. Zijdenbos, Arend (17 January 2020). "The Berjaya Dragons enter the League of Legends PCS". Daily Esports. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  13. "Berjaya Dragons set to rock the League of Legends arena". www.thesundaily.my. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  14. Lunardi, Lara (29 January 2020). "League of Legends: The Pacific Championship Series has announced the postponing of its Spring Split due to the risks of a Coronavirus outbreak in the region". Inven Global. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  15. "Start of PCS postponed due to coronavirus". Field Level Media via Reuters. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  16. Garnace, Simon Juleovenz (18 February 2020). "PCS Starts Inaugural Season On 29th February, Machi Esports Joins As 10th Slot". Inquirer.net. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  17. Geracie, Nick (13 February 2020). "League of Legends: [OFFICIAL] G-Rex disbands; withdraws from PCS as part of parent company's restructuring". Inven Global. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  18. "PCS Promotion Qualifier". PCS Official. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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