2022 LPL Spring Split Postponed Again Due to COVID-19

The League of Legends Pro League (LPL) announced on social media that the league’s remaining playoff games have been further delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis as cases are on the rise once again in China. The LPL playoffs recently began on 26th March and the top ten teams in the league were qualified to fight for the coveted title and the trophy, and a chance to represent the region at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) in Busan, Korea.

In an announcement on Twitter, the LPL wrote, “Due to the current Covid situation, to protect the health and safety of our players, coaches, team personnel, and staff, we have decided to postpone the playoffs schedule to April 12th and onward. The games will be played remotely.”

The LPL added that the schedule for the 2022 LPL Spring Split Finals will be released later and asked the fans to stay tuned for more updates.

Victory Five, Top Esports, Royal Never Give Up (RNG), and JD Gaming are still in the running towards becoming the LPL Spring champions and are vying for a shot at the MSI 2022 spot. Before the 2022 LPL Spring Split finals, there are six more best-of-five series that are yet to be played.

The first two upcoming matches are:

• Top Esports vs Victory Five - 12th April

• JD Gaming vs RNG - 13th April

LPL’s first postponement

Earlier on 29th March, the league announced the postponement of the games scheduled from 1st April. Initially, the games were slated to be held continuously from 26th March till 2nd April, and after a day’s break, they were supposed to resume on 3rd April once again. However, the league pushed the games to start by 8th April due to a city-wide lockdown in Shanghai.

Chinese pro Doinb says LPL team may miss MSI if there’s no remote play

LNG’s mid-laner Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang stated that there is a high possibility that the LPL representative for the 2022 MSI will miss the international tournament if there is no remote play.

According to him, this is because of the COVID-19 policy in Shanghai which mandates people to quarantine for 21 days after entering the city. As a result, the players may not make it back in time for the commencement of the LPL Summer Split.

A report by Dot Esports said that the LPL Summer Split is rumored to be cut short this year to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games, where esports is introduced as a medal sport.

Fans will have to wait and find out what decision Riot Games takes to make sure that the league participates in MSI 2022, which is scheduled to begin on 10th May in Busan, Korea.