5 Things North America and European LCS Can Learn From Korean OGN

In its own right, the league championship series has been a massive success in both North America as well as Europe. With hundreds of thousands of viewers every week and aspects such as a strict and predictable schedule, professional touches like player interviews, after game play review, and talented shoutcasters, LCS has become an event to watch for league fans everywhere. However, being in its first year (second season) it still leaves some things to be desired. The Korean professional scene, the Olympus "Champions," (or OGN) however is far longer running and has an even larger following. 5 things I would like to see adopted from OGN that would put LCS over the top in both professional and entertainment value"

1) Intro videos

Okay, so this one isn't entirely accurate. LCS did have a preview trailer, namely this. However, unlike OGN this is a very broad video only displaying players from prominent members of some teams, and representing not even half of the teams. Compare this to OGN's intro video here, or the incredibly well received and spine tingling finals preview video here, the difference is clear. An awesome looking, high production value intro would go a long way in establishing a greater sense of professionalism in LCS.

2) Uniforms

Let me start by saying this is much more true of NA than of EU, but both have instances of it. It may seem cheesy, but uniforms establish a sense of professionalism and unity, critical aspects of any team. Take an established NA team, Team Solo Mid:

I'm sure Regi thanks me for choosing this photo

Now compare this to an established Korean team, CJ Entus Frost:

Snazzy

Again the difference is clear. One team creates a unified and downright intimidating front, while the other seems more individualist. This is by no means a deciding factor for a game or even a large factor, but with as much flack as esports gets struggling to become mainstream teams need to be looking as professional as possible if they hope to be taken seriously.

3) Best of 2

In LCS, each match is BO1 format until the reigonal tournament. While this may not seem like a big deal, when it comes down to it its a lot of pressure riding on just one game, especially when the end of the season comes around and the games start to matter more and more. In Korean OGN, every set of games in group stage is best of two, giving the teams a chance to come back if, say, in the first game a disastrous early play causes a team to essentially lose the game in the first 3 minutes. While the LCS system is nice in the sense that with tremendous strategy and skill a weaker team could overcome a stronger one, if the intended outcome is truly to get the strongest teams into the playoffs then adding a second game could only help.

4) Circuit Points

In Korea, the way that the top two teams will qualify for the world championship is circuit points, which are the points awarded for winning major Korean tournaments. MVP Ozone recieved 400 points for winning OGN Spring. Najin Black Sword received 100 points for winning NLB Summer. In this way, the teams get a sense that every game and every tournament matters. The team pictured above, NA's TSM was the winner of the very first NA LCS split in the spring, and yet as of now they sit facing a game against Counter Logic Gaming today that will decide whether or not they can compete in the world championships. Their impressive victory over Good Game University (now Team Coast) is nothing more than a title and pride. Unfortunately, the LCS system is designed to be a revolving door of teams through relegation every split, and so cannot make use of circuit points because it would be unfair to newcomer teams. This leads me to my last point...

5) NO MORE RELEGATION

In Riot's defense, I understand the need for relegation. In theory it sounds nice, give as many players as possible a chance to become pros and if they don't perform well give that chance to another team. I get that. But here's the problem: some teams just don't play well their first season. They just don't. For whatever reason they take too long to find a gaming house, or just cant get a good schedule down, or don't have the time or money to stick together as an amateur team, etc. Relegation is a decent idea on paper, but unfortunately it's promoting the revolving door method of teams and it's just going to make the old teams stronger and stronger. (and yes, i know a relegation team in both NA and EU had the best record at the end of the split, even though it happened that there were two extremely strong teams out there relegation as a whole still hurts new teams struggling to get organized in time).

So there's my five suggestions for LCS to become more professional and well organized. As an esports enthusiast, I would love to see league of legends esports become increasingly professional and taken more seriously. As an avid league fan, I would gladly watch professional games if ti were hosted in a dimly lit basement and shoutcasted by Lee Sin.

Obligatory Riotpls

-GMB