LPL switches to championship mode! Player reveals: S15 practice squad formation begins, aiming for home ground victory

Greetings to all LPL fans and League of Legends summoners, this is Tianxia Game Report.

Yesterday, the LPL finished the losers' bracket matches of the play-in stage, where JDG triumphed over WBG and will now battle IG for the last seed spot. The winning team will then face T1 in the final confrontation.

During this process, an LPL player revealed that the LPL region is planning to assemble a practice squad once more this year.

S15 practice squad formed, championship mode activated

LNG’s top laner Zika was recently invited by Zitai to co-cast matches, during which he shared an important piece of news. He told Zitai that he was about to return from break, which surprised Zitai since LNG had been eliminated early. Why would Zika be returning now?

Zika then explained that the LPL officials are organizing a practice squad this year, and his club sent him there. The officials will hold a selection process to finalize the practice squad roster.

In short, the LPL will recruit many eliminated players to form temporary teams to help LPL squads advancing to the S15 World Championship with scrims. This concept is familiar to many, as the first LPL practice squad was formed in the S7 season, which was the first Worlds held in China.

To achieve strong results on home soil, the LPL created this practice squad. With the Worlds being hosted in China again this year and the overall regional situation being challenging, forming the practice squad once more is undoubtedly a wise decision. It signals that the LPL region is fully committed to championship mode, striving for a comeback at this Worlds.

LPL aims to reverse disadvantages, but the challenge is immense

Another key reason for forming the practice squad is the unique situation seen in previous Worlds where LCK teams refused to scrim with other regions’ teams. Especially when Worlds are held in Korea, LCK teams can scrim more frequently with their own region’s squads.

Generally, at the semifinal or final stages of Worlds, teams find it hard to arrange scrims against each other. But if a region has an advantage, they can scrim with other teams from their own region. For example, last year BLG scrimmed T1, who arranged scrims with lower-ranked LCK teams, while BLG struggled to find scrim partners.

To counter this, the LPL needs to form a practice squad this year to ensure that on home soil in China, LPL teams can always arrange scrims to practice specific tactical systems.

Even so, it remains very difficult for LPL to overturn the disadvantage against LCK because China is geographically close to Korea, allowing LCK teams to still scrim eliminated teams online with minimal delay impact.

LPL practice squad suggestions and potential player list

In my opinion, over the past few Worlds, LPL has often fallen behind LCK in tactical preparation. LCK excels at developing strategies and disrupting conventional drafts, gaining advantages in the draft phase. Any small weakness in LPL’s draft can be exploited heavily, making it very difficult to win once at a disadvantage.

This means that for the LPL region to pull off a championship upset this year, the challenge is huge for both teams and coaching staff. The practice squad should include not only players but also coaches.

I believe LPL could adopt a more extreme approach by having four teams collaborate closely and play with greater unity. This requires LPL teams to set aside differences, share tactical approaches, and help each other develop new strategic styles.

Achieving this will be very difficult. Regarding practice squad members, Zika is indeed a good choice. Besides him, there’s Xiaoxu, depending on whether JDG qualifies. Teams like JDG, WBG, and IG could participate as full squads or make personnel adjustments to strengthen the practice squad.

Additionally, players like Leave and Jwei can definitely join the practice squad. LPL must bring out all available players and teams to stand a fighting chance against LCK.