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On 8th November, Riot Games introduced significant changes to the North American Challengers League. The new changes will improve the development ecosystem of League of Legends esports (LoL Esports) in North America in 2023 and the current Academy and Proving Grounds tournament structure will be replaced by the new North American Challengers League (NACL). One of the biggest organizations in North America will be entering the 2023 circuit with a brand new roster in the development league. Team SoloMid (TSM), on 11th November, parted ways with its entire LCS [League of Legends Championship Series] Academy roster.
TSM surprises fans with its announcement
On 11th November, TSM bid farewell to all its LCS Academy players, including the Academy coach. It promised that it has some exciting updates in the coming months about the future of the upcoming TSM NACL program and asked fans to stay tuned for further updates.
After this announcement, the following players are out of TSM Academy:
Cheng "S0ul" Luo: Top lane
Andy "AnDa" Hoang: Jungler
Ji "Takeover" Cha Hyeun-min: Mid-laner
Tony "Instinct" Ng: Bot-laner
Choi "Mia" Sang-in: Support
Jake Kevin "Xmithie" Puchero: Coach
TSM was criticized throughout the 2022 season as it made numerous roster changes which did not help the team put on a good performance. The team had some of the lowest finishes in its LCS history. Notably, its academy team also did not make it out of the bottom two spots in the league and was not able to qualify for both Proving Grounds.
Riot Games’ NACL announcement
Riot Games announced that the new NACL system will consist of ten fixed Teams (the ten former “Academy” teams) and six Provisional Teams (formerly “Amateur” teams). These 16 teams will compete in two seasonal splits – Spring and Summer – that culminate in double-elimination playoffs.
The Provisional Teams will qualify for the NACL through a promotion and relegation system and after each split, the bottom four Provisional Teams and the top four teams from the open NACL Qualifiers will compete in the NACL Promotion Tournament to fill the final four NACL spots. The Fixed Teams won’t be eligible for relegation, noted Riot Games.
“To promote upward mobility for new talent, all NACL player contracts listed on the GCD [Global Contract Database] will be subject to a Notification of Interest System, allowing LCS organizations to officially state their interest in a player under contract with another organization,” added Riot Games.
Talking about the North American Tier 2 League of Legends esports scene in 2022, the company noted that it received positive responses from players, teams, and fans about the reformatted Proving Grounds structure. As a result, these changes created exciting cross-ecosystem matches between aspirational players and semi-pro standouts.
According to TSM’s announcement, the team will be one of the sixteen competing teams in the NACL and it also stated that it has some surprises up its sleeves.
