LoL Americas 2025 Guide: Teams, Conferences, Format, Start Date
League of Legends will shift to a competitive format similar to the VALORANT Americas League as North and South American teams merge to form a new league titled, League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA).
As the 2024 League of Legends circuit comes to an end, fans have been greeted with new changes to the competitive circuit going into 2025. Now, North and South American League of Legends fans have a new league to follow next year. For years, the LCS, CBLoL, and LLA leagues have become synonymous with Tier One North American, Brazilian, and Latin American League of Legends. These three established regions, however, will now blend all these leagues to create the LTA.
Here are the format, teams, start date, and everything else you need in the beginner’s guide to understanding the new League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA) heading into 2025.
LTA Format
The LTA will be divided into two conferences, LTA North and LTA South. Each conference will feature eight teams competing across three LTA splits throughout the 2025 season.
Here is how each of the three splits will play out:
LTA Split One
- LTA South and North compete in two separate Double-Elimination Brackets featuring Fearless mode.
- The top four teams from each of LTA North and LTA South compete in a merged Single-Elimination bracket as all eight teams compete against one another.
- All matches are best-of-three except the Grand Final which will be best-of-five.
- Winner qualifies for a new international event in 2025.
LTA Split Two
- Double round-robin best-of-one format against other teams in their conference.
- The top six teams from each conference enter the double-elimination playoff bracket where both conferences compete against each other.
- Winner is crowned Conference Champion and qualifies for the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational.
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LTA Split Three
Similar to the previous two splits, both the North and South Conferences will compete interconference. However, Split Three of the LTA 2025 season will feature a unique format known as the Pick and Play system. This system will allow bottom teams to choose their next opponent live on stage. The opening matches for Split Three will be determined by Split Two Rankings before utilizing this Pick and Play Format that benefits lower-ranked teams. Teams cannot play a team more than once in this format and Split Two Rankings will act as the Tiebreaker in Split Three.
The final three weeks will then transition into the elimination stage where by the end of Split Three, only six teams (three each from North and South) will be left standing and all qualify for the 2025 Americas Regional Championships.
Here are all the key points you need to take note of for LTA Split Three:
- Best-of-Three format where teams start by competing interconference.
- LTA Split Three implements new Pick and Play Format.
- Initial Pick and Play matches are picked based on Split Two rankings in week one.
- Teams cannot play a team more than once in this format.
- Split Two Rankings will act as the tiebreaker in LTA Split Three Standings.
- The final three weeks will host elimination matches.
- Teams will compete in Split Three until there are only three teams from each of the North and South Conferences.
- The top Split Three performers from each of the North and South Conferences automatically qualify for Worlds 2025.
How many LTA Teams Qualify for LoL Worlds 2025?
Three LTA teams will qualify for LoL Worlds 2025 and two of those slots will be comprised of the top teams from each of the LTA conferences. These two teams, alongside the remaining top three teams from each of the North and South Conferences, will qualify for the 2025 Americas Regional Championships. The remaining four teams will compete for the final Americas slot at Worlds 2025 where the ultimate champion of these six teams will go home with the first-ever LTA trophy.
All the LTA 2025 Teams
The LTA North Conference will feature six Partner Slots and two Guest slots. The LTA South Conference will feature seven Partner Slots and one spot reserved for a Guest Team.
Here are all 16 teams that will be competing in LTA 2025:
LTA North
- Cloud9
- Team Liquid
- Dignitas
- FlyQuest
- Shopify Rebellion
- Lyon Gaming
- 100 Thieves (Provisional Guest Team)
- Disguised (Guest Team)
LTA South
- Fluxo
- Furia
- Leviatán
- LOUD
- paiN Gaming
- RED Canids
- Vivo Keyd Stars
- Isurus (Guest Team)
Five teams from the previous LCS 2024 season will return in 2025 as partner teams in the new LTA North system while 100 Thieves will temporarily join the LTA North conference as a Provisional Guest team. Former LLA teams, Movistar R7 and Six Karma will be teaming up to reintroduce the iconic Lyon Gaming brand back to League of Legends as the sixth partner team of the LTA North Conference.
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Finally, Disguised will slot in as the eighth team competing in the LTA North Conference as the Guest Team heading into LTA 2025. This will mark the organization’s first entry into Tier One League of Legends after spending the past two years competing in NACL, the League’s Tier Two North American development system.
LTA Partner vs LTA Guest team in LoL Americas 2025
LTA Partner teams are permanent team slots in the new LoL Americas system while the LTA Guest slots are temporary positions within the Tier One ecosystem. Currently, 13 total LTA Partner teams and three LTA Guest teams are competing in 2025.
Here is what being a “Guest Team” means for 100 Thieves, Disguised, and Isurus Gaming.
Are 100 Thieves leaving LTA after the 2025 season?
100 Thieves will still be able to experience all of the benefits other North partner teams have and can still qualify for international tournaments in 2025. However, they will be deemed ineligible for the Promotion tournament where their position in the LTA 2026 season is undetermined as this provisional LTA slot will receive further evaluation going into 2026.
For now, 100 Thieves will compete in the LTA as if they were a Partner Team in the LTA North Conference where the organization will look to make it back to the World Championships.
How does being an LTA Guest Team affect Disguised and Isurus Gaming?
As the LTA North Guest Team, Disguised will receive all of the same benefits that Partner Teams have. They will be eligible to qualify for international tournaments such as MSI and Worlds during the 2025 season.
Disguised will also be eligible to retain their spot in the LTA North Conference through the Promotion Tournament against representatives of the NACL and the LRN.
This format will also be available for Isurus Gaming, the Guest Team of the LTA South Conference and will compete against representatives from CBLOL Academy and LRS in the LTA South Promotion Tournament.
When will the new LTA 2025 Season start?
The LTA 2025 season will officially begin on January 25, 2025, as both the North and South Conference teams will kickstart their new journey towards the World Championship stage.
For now, new LTA fans should be sure to tune in for the League of Legends Worlds 2024 Grand Final between China’s Bilibili Gaming and South Korea’s T1. The LoL Worlds 2024 Grand Final will take place on November 2, 2024, at 7 am PT, and one team will become the next LoL World Champion.
Those interested in learning about the new LEC changes should check out our guide detailing the new format for European League of Legends.
Sage got his start in esports as a volunteer writer in 2016 for esports organization, Dignitas. Since then, he has continued to work on his craft as a journalist and reporter for a number of established esports publications, such as esports.gg, Unikrn, Akshon Esports, Howla, The Player’s Lobby, Nerd Street Gamers, and most recently Dot Esports. Now, as a member of Esports Illustrated’s content team, Sage’s primary duties are centered around creating groundbreaking written and video content about the esports industry that impacts the community in a meaningful way. Sage graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Informatics. There, he was a member of the Rutgers Esports Executive Board, both as the head of the fighting game community and a videographer/photographer for the Content team.