The entire competitive League of Legends circuit will undergo major changes in 2025, including the LJL. Tier 1 Japanese teams will compete in the brand new LCP (League of Legends Championship Pacific) while the LJL brand continues as the Japanese Tier 2 scene. For more information about the LCP, check out our explanation video.

The new Tier 2 system will feature an open circuit throughout 3 splits, concluding in the LJL Finals at the end. The winner of LJL Finals will go on to fight in the LCP Promotion & Relegation tournament for a chance to participate in the Tier 1 league for the next year.

LJL FORGE (Winter) – mid January to early March

LJL starts with FORGE, the first split of the three. Each split will feature different main stages, however all of them start with an Open Qualifier. There will be a maximum of 64 spots for teams, however given similar open circuits (like Valorant’s VCJ having 53 teams this year), most likely there will be less participating teams than that.

No matter how many teams apply, at the end of the Bo1 single round robin Group Stage, there will be a total of 16 teams moving on to the next stage, the Open Qualifier’s Bracket Stage.

Things get a little complicated here, since the format heavily depends on how many previous LJL teams would participate in the new system. All 2024 LJL teams are invited to the new system, and if they accept the offer, they would skip Open Qualifier all together. The more of them accept it, the less teams qualify from the Open Qualifier Bracket Stage.

In total, 16 teams would participate in the Main Stage. On one end of the spectrum, if no team accepts the invitation from previous years, all 16 Bracket Stage teams would move on, with this stage being played only for seeding. However, it’s possible 6 previous teams would accept the invitation, in which case this stage would be for the 10 remaining spots. In all cases, the Bracket Stage features a Bo3 Single Elimination format, with a possible “Losers Round” if needed for more precise ranking.

With our 16 teams decided (some from Open Qualifier, some might be from previous years) we enter the Main Stage. This stage features the Swiss format for LJL FORGE (Winter). Bo1 all the way, whoever get 3 wins advance, and whoever suffer 3 losses get eliminated. Each round will feature matchups of teams with the same score, the same Swiss system that we could see now for the second year at Worlds! At the end of this stage, 8 teams will be advancing to the final, Knockout Stage.

In the Knockout Stage, Quarterfinals and Semifinals will be Bo3, while the Grand Final will be Bo5. Ranking will determine how many Championship Points each team gets, with the top 4 teams (Semifinalists) also guaranteeing their spot to the next split’s Main Stage, skipping Open Qualifiers.

LJL STORM (Spring) – mid March to early May

(UPDATE: 2024/11/18 – LJL STORM format announcement)

STORM will feature the same Open Qualifier Group Stage as the previous split, where 16 teams advance to the Bracket Stage.

Given the smaller Main Stage in both STORM and IGNITE, the Open Qualifier Bracket Stage will feature a slightly different format as well. The Lower Bracket’s format still depends on the number of teams accepting the invitation to the Main Stage from the previous split (teams could disband between splits), however there will be at least 6, with a maximum of 8 teams advancing. This means, Round 1 will be Single Elimination no matter what, and the possibility of a Lower Bracket after that depends on how many free spots there would be in the Main Stage.

Joined by the seeded teams, the 12 teams in total would play in a new format, called “Storm Swiss”. There will be 3 sets of swiss stages, each set rewarding teams with points.

In a single set, teams play a total of 3 rounds of Bo1 games. Round 1 and 2 are following the normal Swiss rules. In Round 3 however, one team from the 1-1 bracket would move up, and one would move down, making each group having 4 teams. (At the time of writing this article, there is no information about the selection process.) These “displaced teams” still keeping their 1-1 record, play their last match against a different record team, ending the set with either a 2-1 or a 1-2. After each set, the swiss bracket resets, and teams will be rewarded “Storm Points”. Teams with 3-0 getting 5, teams with 2-1 getting 3, teams with 1-2 getting 1, and teams with 0-3 getting 0 Storm Points. Based on these, the top 6 teams will move onto the Knockout Stage.

Knockout Stage will be Single Elimination with 6 teams. The top 2 teams from the previous stage will get a bye to Semifinals, and the higher seeded team in each round will be able to choose their opponent. Quarterfinals and Semifinals are Bo3, while the Final is Bo5.

Similar to FORGE, the top 4 teams in STORM will also qualify to the next split’s Main Stage, skipping Open Qualifiers.

LJL IGNITE (Summer) – mid May to mid June

(UPDATE: 2024/11/22 – LJL IGNITE format announcement)

IGNITE will feature the same Open Qualifier Group Stage as the previous splits, where 16 teams advance to the Bracket Stage.

Similar to LJL STORM, the Open Qualifier Bracket Stage, and more specifically, the Lower Bracket’s format will depend on the teams already seeded into the Main Stage. There will be at least 6 teams advancing, however if there are teams from STORM who won’t continue the season, additional 2 teams might advance as well.

Joined by the seeded teams, the 12 teams in total would play in a brand new format, called the “Bounty Match Format”.

The “Bounty Match Format” consists of 6 rounds (every game is Bo1). Each round follows the same structure where teams can earn points based on many factors. The matchups are selected by the teams themselves in a reverse ranking order. The last seeded team by points will always choose their opponent first, followed by the second to last, and so on. After playing out a match, the losing team gets 4 points, while the winning team gets 10 points + 3 points for each win the opponent previously had. For example, if Team A beats Team B who has 3 wins, Team A would get 10 points + ( 3 × 3 points ) = 19 points in total, hence the name of the format. Teams with more wins are accumulating bounty, and taking them down will come with a higher reward. The team selection process happens at the end of each round according to total points, and after 6 rounds, the top 6 teams move to the next stage.

Same as STORM, IGNITE Knockout Stage will be Single Elimination with 6 teams. The top 2 teams from the previous stage will get a bye to Semifinals, and the higher seeded team in each round will be able to choose their opponent. Quarterfinals and Semifinals are Bo3, while the Final is Bo5.

After IGNITE, teams will get their final Championship Points, and the top 6 teams with the highest overall Championship Points qualify to the LJL FINALS TOURNAMENT.

LJL FINALS TOURNAMENT – late July to late August

(UPDATE: 2024/11/25 – LJL FINALS TOURNAMENT format announcement)

The LJL FINALS TOURNAMENT will go on for a month with the 6 best teams throughout the year. It will feature a hybrid elimination format, with Seed #1 – Seed #4 starting in the Upper Bracket, while Seed #5 – Seed #6 starting in the Lower Bracket. All matches are Bo5, with one champion crowned at the end.

The LJL Champion will then qualify to the LCP Promotion & Relegation tournament (more info about that in 2025) where they have a chance to ascend, and fight as one of the Tier 1 guest teams the next year.

New LJL rules

With a brand new format, there will be new rules for the competing teams and players as well.

For Players

• Must submit an identity document verifying their nationality.
• Must have achieved Diamond 3 or higher rank at the end of any split since 2020, or have participated in previous tournaments.
• Be at least 17 years old by September 1, 2025.
• Agree to and comply with the tournament’s rules, code of conduct, and other specified regulations.

For teams

• At least three registered players must hold Japanese nationality.
• Only two or less imports are allowed in one team.
• Players must be able to communicate in Japanese.

Imports

The import rule will also undergo a major change with the new system. Previously granted LJL residencies through the Interregional Movement Policy (IMP) won’t be considered. Any player who doesn’t hold Japanese nationality in their documents, will be counted as an import. (This only applies to the LJL. LCP import rules are separate.)

Final words

2025 will bring a new era of LoL Esports, with a lot of uncertainties. We don’t know where these changes will lead in the future, but hopefully in a more open circuit we will see more talent coming up. LJL got downsized multiple times the past few years, so a robust system like that will definitely bring some life back to the scene. We hope for exciting matches, we hope for exciting players (veterans, streamers, and fresh names alike) and we hope for the LJL to flourish, REFORGE AS ONE.