The LTA North is just over a week away with North American fans eager to see their favorite teams back in action. This time, however, it won’t be called the LCS, it will be the LTA North. This is part of the global esports changes introduced in 2025 by Riot Games. We now have more regions, more games, and more international events.
As part of that change, there was a major shift in how the NA and Brazilian leagues operate. Firstly, gone are the domestic leagues known as the LCS and the CBLoL, those are now called the LTA North and the LTA South. These two leagues combine to make the League of Legends Championship of the Americas, also known as the LTA.
Today specifically, we’re going to look at the North American side of things, going over the format, which teams are participating, the prize pools, and finally which teams are the favorite to to win.
LTA North Split 1 Format
There is one important thing to factor into Split 1 for both leagues is the fact this is the first of multiple occasions where the two leagues will have cross-league games, but we will get into that part later. The first part of Split 1 for LTA North will see the eight teams compete across a double-elimination bracket. All series outside of round three will be a best-of-three, with round three being a best-of-one.
An exciting part about the first split across the globe is that every league will be competing with fearless draft rules. This means in a best-of-series, once a champion has been picked, they are banned for the rest of the series, leaving the opportunity for more exciting picks to be brought out during the games. This will be the same in the LTA North where every series will be played under fearless draft rules.
The top four teams from the bracket stage will advance to the LTA Split 1 playoffs, the remaining four teams will be eliminated from the tournament and will not play again until Split 2. The four teams that advanced will meet up against the four teams that advanced from the LTA South league, the teams will compete in a single elimination bracket. Every series bar the finals will be a best-of-three with the finals being a best-of-five. The winner will advance to the newest international tournament on the LoL esports calendar, First Stand.
Which teams will be competing in LTA North Split 1?
There are eight teams competing in the upcoming LTA North Season. Six of those are the partnered teams from last season with the addition of LYON from the LLA and Disguised being the team in the slot that is up for promotion and relegation each year. Here are each of the teams competing in LTA North Split 1:
What is the LTA North Split 1 Prize Pool?
At the time of writing this article, no specific information has been released by Riot Games or the LTA on the prize pool for the LTA North Split 1. What is only guaranteed is that the winner will earn their chance to represent the Americas region at the first international event.
Which teams are the favorites?
The obvious answers for which teams you should watch straight off the bat in North America are FlyQuest and Team Liquid. Those are the two most dominant organizations over the past year, facing off against one another in both splits while also gaining recognition on the international stage. Let’s start with TL, they were not a team at the start of last year that was predicted to be competing for the title, those honors fell on the shoulders of Cloud9 and FlyQuest. TL shocked the league, however, becoming one of the best lane swap teams in the world, to so much extent they were giving Eastern teams a run for their money.
Team Liquid gained international recognition by pushing teams like the defending world champions T1 to their very limit on multiple occasions. This is why they started to gain the respect of not only North America, but the world started to take notice. Team Liquid was one of the reasons North America was considered the third-best region in international competition in 2024.
FlyQuest was the second team that lit the world on fire in 2024 for North America. FlyQuest’s performance at the 2024 world championship ensured they were the second NA team in as many years to reach the quarterfinals of the biggest stage in esports. Granted they took down another team in Team Liquid to get there, but their performances against the likes of HLE were nothing short of impressive. The biggest surprise came in their quarter-final appearance against Gen.G, one of the tournament favorites. FlyQuest exposed the Korean squad and pushed them to their limit. Forcing them to a fifth game where FLY easily could have walked away victorious.
What’s cool about these two squads in particular is that they retained both their five-man playing roster and the entire coaching staff from both teams, indicating they believe in them fully and want to continue the development of both teams.
LTA North Split 1 Dark Horse
The dark horse for this tournament is Cloud9, the superteam that fell in the 2024 summer split to 100 Thieves, ensuring one of the most expensive teams in the region was not competing at the world championship. C9 is back and looking to put a statement towards the two teams at the top. They have brought back Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen as their ADC, a C9 legend and one of the main voices on the roster. Zven will bring an experienced presence to the team and help calm the nerves that were clearly evident in the younger players last year.
The second addition to the team is Lee "Loki" Sang-min, a mid laner from the Korean Developmental League. Loki will bring a more dynamic feel to the team, excelling in team fights, and should form a better partnership with Robert "Blaber" Huang. It will take a lot for Cloud9 to overcome FLY and TL, but the region is in desperate need of more teams to step up to the plate and cause parody.
The LTA North kicks off January 25, at the time of writing this article, the match schedule has not been released by Riot Games or the LTA. Be sure to check back to this article in the near future to find out which teams will be facing off against one another in the LTA North Split 1.
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