Ahead of the 2020 competitive League of Legends season, a major announcement was made regarding the smaller Asian regions. Starting in the next competitive year, the teams of the League Master Series and the Southeast Asia Tour will be combining forces. This announcement was initially posted on the Facebook page of League of Legends – Phillippines.
What does the new league look like?
The new league is set to combine the best teams from the LST (League of Legends Southeast Asia Tour) and the teams from the LMS (League Masters Tour). This merger attempts to form a new, 10-team league that will represent the best teams of the region. It will combine the best talent from Thailand, the Phillippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau into one league. The goal is to improve the overall talent competing and to merge the fanbases of the previous two leagues into one.
At this point, there is no information yet about what format and schedule the league will be using. The announcement explained this will be revealed during the pre-season for 2020, later this year. Additionally, they will announce which teams will receive a starting position in the new SEA tour at a later date.
However, we can expect to see franchise League of Legends teams – such as J Team and MEGA Esports – make it into the league. J Team is the winner of the LMS Summer playoffs, and MEGA Esports won the LST summer playoffs. Besides these big winners, AHQ Esports Club will likely be included in the new league, as AHQ has one of the most storied histories in League of Legends. The Taiwanese team has competed with the top of the region since its creation back in 2012.
For more news surrounding League of Legends, be sure to check out the news surrounding the Prestige skin program going forward.
