The Off-Season is an exciting time for fans of any sport. They forget past failures and dream of future glory. Roster changes bring both goodbyes to favorite players and celebrations for the arrival of new talent. Fans can convince themselves that their team is just one roster move away from being a contender. But when October 20th arrived, the fans’ expectations were not met. The Expansion Tournament happened instead.
2014 Expansion Tournament Schedule
November 15-16: NA Expansion (Round 1)
November 22-23: NA Expansion (Round 2), EU Expansion (Round 1)
November 29-30: EU Expansion (Round 2)
December 12-14: NA Live Expansion
December 18-21: EU Live Expansion
One thing Riot has struggled with is the timing of their Promotion Tournaments. In the past, these tournaments were held so late in the season that newly qualified teams had very little time to secure living arrangements and equipment before the split began. Some teams had to rely on the generosity of established teams to crash at their places while they sorted things out. This was not an easy task for teenage boys who could only afford housing for four months at a time. It seemed like Riot had learned from their mistakes by scheduling the promotion tournament immediately after the Summer Split and before Worlds. This gave qualified teams about four months to secure their arrangements. However, Riot seemed to have forgotten this lesson when they scheduled the Expansion Series finals for mid-December, less than a month before the LCS was to start. This means that the recently qualified LCS teams will have little time to find housing before the Spring Split starts, unless the Split starts later than usual (which is unlikely). It’s possible that Riot had logistic reasons for starting the tournament in mid-November, but spreading the expansion tournament over four weeks seems unnecessary.
The delayed start and unnecessarily long tournament structure have left most LCS teams with limited options as much of the top talent in both regions is participating in the Expansion Tournament. Players like Keane, Saintvicious, BunnyFuFu, Nien, and Nintendudex in North America, and many former LCS players in Europe, including all of Millennium, could be replacement options if their current teams do not qualify through the Expansion Tournament. This has slowed down the offseason as many teams are left with difficult choices. They can either sacrifice the chance at a better player for more practice time with their full team, or they can sacrifice practice time for the chance at a better player knowing that the player may still qualify for LCS and become unavailable. This decision becomes even harder for teams that cannot add any more foreign players, as their available player pool is smaller.
Neither choice is ideal, and as a result, the LCS may face some challenges in the upcoming weeks as teams struggle to adjust to new rosters. Established teams with complete rosters may have an early advantage, while other teams try to acclimate. It is unclear if Riot will push back the start of the 2015 Spring Split to give teams more time to prepare. But considering the expanded playoffs and the already tight schedule, it is unlikely that Riot will move the start date back. This means that we may have to wait for a few weeks, if not more than a month, before the Off-Season picks up again.