The first international event of the year has finally concluded. Congratulations to Hanwha Life for taking the crown in such convincing fashion. Now that the event is over, teams are gearing up for the start of the second split. For LTA South, this is split 2, and with no North American teams to ruin the day, all eyes will be on the South as they battle for a chance to represent the region at the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational. But which team will that be? Join us as we preview the favorites to lift the Split 2 trophy, followed by a couple of teams that could cause some upsets.
Isurus Estral
One of the teams that impressed the most during the cross-conference playoffs was Isurus Estral. The former LLA squad was the only team from LTA South to pick up a victory over a team from North America, with every other team losing 2-0 to their North counterparts. Isurus, however, had every opportunity to close out a 2-1 victory over the eventual split winners in Team Liquid. Isurus surprised a lot of people last split, but it's evident why they're one of the favorites going into Split 2. Josedeodo is still causing havoc on North American teams and is expected to be one of the top players for Split 2.
LOUD
Split 2 is a big Split for LOUD as far as their future at the top of the Brazilian mountain goes. LOUD did not perform up to the level of dominance they have displayed for many years in the region. LOUD crashed out of the LTA Split 1 cross conference playoffs in embarrassing fashion, losing 2-0 to Cloud9. Even dating back to the regular season, LOUD finished outside the top two, one of the reasons they were playing one of the higher seeds in the playoffs. That meant changes were needed, with Wiz, Winsome, and Headcoach Aoshi all heading for the exit door. One of the main additions to the squad is RedBert, who is back in the lineup after spending a year with the organization prior.
Are there other contenders?
The two other teams that represented the region at the first cross conference playoffs were Leviatan and paiN Gaming. Starting with Leviatan, the South American squad impressed in their first split in the new league. They ended up reaching the finals of the regular season ahead of Brazilian favorites LOUD and paiN Gaming. Lev was a solid team during the regular season and is expected to compete at the very top of LTA South once again.
As for paiN Gaming, the historic CBLoL org also underperformed compared to expectations; they had to go up against LLL in the third-fourth place match, and ultimately had to go up against 100 Thieves, the first-placed team from the regular season. The LTA Sul team had some solid early games against 100T, but weren't able to close out any game, an ongoing issue with the squad. Nevertheless, they are a very strong team, and it'll be interesting to see who comes on top in this split.
What about the format?
There are eight teams competing in the LTA South for Split 2. Seven of those teams are partnered with one being the guest slot. That guest team will have to fight in the promotion and relgation tournament regardless of how they perform throughout the year, even if they qualify for the 2025 League of Legends World Championship.
It was announced recently that the format for the LTA North and LTA South Split 2 will be changing to align with the new fearless draft rules being in play. Therefore, the teams will now be competing across multiple stages in Split 2. Firstly, in the positioning phase, the eight teams will compete in a single round robin with each match being a best-of-one.
No team will be eliminated from this stage at the end, this is just to seed the teams into the next stage called the group phase. The eight teams will be seeded into two groups of four, depending on how they did in the positioning phase. They will then play a single round robin against the teams in their group. Every match will be best-of-three. In week seven, teams will then play cross-group matches to decide who makes it into the playoffs. The top two teams will go up against one another, while the bottom two teams will face off in elimination matches. At the end, the top six teams will advance to the playoffs.
Lastly, the playoffs, the six teams will compete in a double elimination bracket. Every series will be a best-of-five, with the winner qualifying for the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational and the Esports World Cup.
What are all of the teams?
Here is the complete list of the eight teams competing in the LTA South Split 2:
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