LoL Pro League 2022 – LPL Betting, Schedule, Teams & History

The League of Legends Pro League is arguably the best regional tournament in the world. Three out of the last four World Champions have come from the LPL, and every year teams from the Chinese League have performed extremely well internationally, also winning the last World Champion with Edward Gaming.

Coming into the new season, China will be, alongside Korea, the only two regions to have four teams at the next LoL Worlds Championship. With that being said, the LPL features a much higher competition due to the higher number of participants in the tournament, making it the most extensive LoL betting market of recent history. Many of the best LoL players in history come from the LPL, and each year new talents have the chance to showcase their worth in the best region in the world.

You will have guaranteed action every day, so it’s crucial to be up-to-date and know which teams will have a higher chance once the season starts.

Watch LPL Summer 2022 Live:

Follow the LPL Summer Split 2022 on the following English LPL Twitch channel when it kicks off on June 10th.

LPL Format & Teams

Currently, the LPL is running the 2022 Summer Split in it’s tenth year of play. Seventeen teams in total participate in the league, playing matches over an eleven week Regular Season, followed by a ten team Playoffs stage, and four team Regional Finals.

During the Regular Season, all teams play a single Round-Robin best of three format with game differentials and head-to-head records determining seeds into Playoffs.

Esports.net LPL 2022 Summer Split Teams & Power Rankings

If you didn’t catch up on the League Champions Korea, you can view our LCK Power Rankings right here and head out to make your own match predictions based on them.

LPL TOURNAMENT: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Due to the presence of relegation tournaments, teams playing in the LPL had to make sure they could perform well enough to stay in the league. With the little amount of financial backing back in the days, as well as a more volatile esports scene, most teams struggled to keep their spot.

Nonetheless, there are some teams that have been playing since the creation of the LPL up until today. They might not be the strongest team in the League right now, but their reputation was what allowed them to remain in the competition. In particular, Invictus Gaming, Oh My God and Team WE have participated in the LPL from the very beginning.

Since 2013, new teams have joined the mix and some of them came with the right intention of dominating the LPL. Teams like Edward Gaming, LGD, RNG have all settled down and became fan-favorites in a flash.

During all the years, however, the Chinese League was not the best in the world. Despite sending the best teams at Worlds, China was never able to match the Koreans, back in the LCK Golden Age. This was until 2018, when suddendly, the trend reversed and the LPL became the dominant force in competitive League of Legends.

Uzi hoisting the MSI 2018 trophy starting the LPL era

LPL 2022 Season and how to get started on LPL betting

The LPL became the first-ever league to utilize the franchising format. Back in 2018, the LPL had a total of 14 teams, divided into two different groups based on the team’s location. One was West Region and the other East region.

This particular format, however, only lasted one year. Starting from 2019, the LPL reunited all the teams and made them compete in one single group. This format will also be kept for the upcoming 2023 season, as the League of Legends Pro League will have a total of 17 teams playing.

With so many teams fighting for the top spot, we can expect LPL odds and LPL predictions to change very quickly, mostly on a weekly basis. As a result, momentum will also play a big part in such a competitive environment. To this end, we will update our power rankings in our News Section as each competitive week commences.

Now that we got the basics covered, here are several tips on LPL betting and our most proven strategies to maximize your returns. If you’re interested in other major leagues, you can check out both our LCS betting and LEC betting pages.

LoL Pro League (LPL) History & Background

We mentioned how the LPL became a franchise starting from 2018. Before that, though, the Chinese Pro League was quite different from the rest.

First established in 2013, the LPL was a very small tournament, with only 8 teams participating. It was a very chaotic format, with multiple round robins each split. Every split, the top 6 would’ve stayed in the LPL, with the bottom two dropping out in favor of the two finalists from the Tencent Games Arena: essentially it was a qualifier.

From 2013 onwards, the LPL saw changes to its format every year. Matches became Best of two and a rankings system with points was used, one similar to the football. A win would grant 3 points while a draw would only give 1. This format was kept until the end of 2015, when the point system was eventually abandoned.

During the next season, the LPL started implementing a more universal system similar to the one it is used today. The 12 teams were divided into 2 groups. Teams had to play in a double round robin with teams in its own group, while a single round against teams from the other group. Matches became Bo3 and the top 4 from each group would qualify to playoffs. Nonetheless, the relegation format was still in place and the bottom tier teams saw themselves dropping out after a poor split.

The final format change came into place at the beginning of 2018, when TJ Esports announced that the LPL would become a franchise. Long gone the relegation tournaments, teams could stay in the League as long as they had bought their own spot. 2018 kept a hybrid format between the previous one and the new one, as teams were still split into two groups.

Starting from 2019, however, all the teams were reunited into one big league, with a total of 17 teams participating. Up until now, the LPL is the regional tournament to feature the highest number of teams playing.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS Pro LEAGUE: The start of Chinese dominance

It is almost a coincidence that the start of the franchise in the LPL also marked the first time an LPL team wins a World Championship.

During the whole 2018 season, Invictus Gaming dominated the League, only dropping one series throughout both splits. While everyone expected them to win the championship, they lost the most important series to Royal Never Give Up in the domestic finals.

At Worlds, IG looked like a very strong team, but they did not look like such a dominant force. That was until when they narrowly beat KT Rolster in Quarterfinals, eliminating the last Korean representative. During Semifinals and Finals, IG dominated EU’s G2 Esports and Fnatic, winning both series 3-0 and becoming the first ever LPL team to win a World championship.

With 2018’s victory, the LPL started its own Golden Era in League of Legends.

Fans expected IG to continue their run in the following year, but it was FunPlusPhoenix who took IG’s spot and became the representative for the League in that year. Winning both Spring and Summer Split, FPX also became the 2019 World Champions, beating IG in the semifinals and dominating G2 Esports in the finals.

China took their first back-to-back Worlds Championship, and fans were already expecting a third consecutive trophy. That, however, did not happen…

LPL 2020: Korea’s return

The 2020 season saw both FPX and IG fail to qualify for Worlds, raising questions on who could stop DAMWON Gaming, who was dominating domestically over in the LCK. Despite sending 4 teams and playing at home due to the whole Covid-19 situation, the LPL failed to repeat themselves, as Suning lost to DWG and didn’t have the potential to fight the Champions…

LPL 2021: Edward gaming rise to glory

Plenty of roster changes were made during the 2020 off-season. Organizations went on the hunt for the next superstar rookie.

During the first part of 2021, Royal Never Give Up was unquestionably the best team in the world. After finding Uzi’s substitute GALA and sending Xiaohu to the top lane, RNG won both LPL Spring and the Mid-Season Invitational. They beat LCK’s DWG Kia in the final. It looked like LPL was back to business, and they were… but not with RNG.

At Worlds 2021, the LPL teams all got to the Groups Stage, but only two of them came out alive for the following stage. Both FPX and LNG were eliminated, to most people’s surprise. As a result, only RNG and EDG advanced, but the draws pulled a very bad prank on the LPL. The two Chinese ended up facing each other in quarterfinals, and EDG claimed the victory.

With only one Chinese team left against 3 LCK rosters in semis, it looked like it was over for the LPL. To everyone’s surprise, though, EDG came out on top, prevailing on both Gen.G and former World Champions DWG Kia in the finals.

After being in the LPL for more than 7 years, EDG stepped to the top of the world, beating all their previous World records, and crucially bringing the trophy back to China.

Finally, the 2022 season is here, and there’s one big question left; Will LPL still be the best region in the world? And who will win between the LCK and the LPL? Time will tell…