The LCS is back, starting with the preseason Lock In tournament in January — here’s everything you need to know about the first North American event of the 2022 competitive calendar, including teams, streams, schedule, and more.
Evil Geniuses only undefeated team in Group B after Liquid, CLG wins
Veteran Liquid go 1-1 along with rookie-filled CLG
100 Thieves, Cloud9 dominate Group A on Day 1
The preseason LCS Lock In tournament is finally here, and that means North American League of Legends is back underway for another competitive year.
Evil Geniuses and Cloud9, both 3-0, have emerged as early Lock In favorites, dominating their preseason matches with interesting reshuffled rosters and — in EG’s case, at least — two young North American wunderkinds in Joseph “jojopyun” Pyun and Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki.
Team Liquid and their LCS superteam had a rocky start to the event, falling to EG in a barnstormer on Saturday night, but outside that lengthy defeat the TL squad have been untouchable. The team have been rotating Hans Sama-Eyla and Yeon-CoreJJ due to green card issues early on in the 2022 season.
Elsewhere, TSM has started 1-2 with their Academy lineup.
The preseason event continues Friday, January 21, and sees all ten LCS orgs duke it out for the year’s first silverware. Here’s everything you need to know.
100 Thieves with LCS trophy100 Thieves
100 Thieves enter the 2022 season as reigning North American champions.
LCS 2022 Lock In streams
The official broadcast for the preseason LCS event will go live on the league’s Twitch channel below once the first matchday begins. The same stream can also be accessed on YouTube on the LCS channel, and on Riot’s dedicated LoL Esports website.
All three streams will go live around 12pm PDT on Friday, January 14.
LCS 2022 Lock In groups
The North American preseason Lock In tournament sees the league’s ten franchised teams split into two five-org groups. They then play a single round-robin to eliminate one team from each group and determine knockout seedings.
Group A standings
Placement Team Record
1 Cloud9 3-0
1 100 Thieves 2-1
3 FlyQuest 2-2
4 TSM 1-2
4 Golden Guardians 0-3
Group B standings
Placement Team Record
1 Evil Geniuses 3-0
2 Team Liquid 2-1
2 Dignitas 1-1
2 CLG 1-2
5 Immortals 0-3
LCS 2022 Lock In schedule & results
The opening round of matches take place on Friday, January 14. This year’s Lock In will run until the end of January, where a preseason victor will be crowned.
Group Stage schedule: January 14-22
Date Match PT ET BST
January 14 TSM 0-1 100 Thieves 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
Golden Guardians 0-1 Cloud9 1:30PM 4:30PM 9:30PM
TSM 1-0 FlyQuest 2:30PM 5:30PM 10:30PM
Golden Guardians 0-1 100 Thieves 3:30PM 6:30PM 11:30PM
FlyQuest 0-1 Cloud9 4:30PM 7:30PM 12:30AM
January 15 Liquid 1-0 Dignitas 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
Immortals 0-1 CLG 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
Evil Geniuses 1-0 Liquid 1:30PM 4:30PM 9:30PM
Immortals 0-1 Dignitas 2:30PM 5:30PM 10:30PM
Evil Geniuses 1-0 CLG 3:30PM 6:30PM 11:30PM
January 16 FlyQuest 1-0 100 Thieves 10:30AM 1:30PM 6:30PM
Liquid 1-0 CLG 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
TSM 0-1 Cloud9 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
Evil Geniuses 1-0 Immortals 1:30PM 4:30PM 9:30PM
Golden Guardians 0-1 FlyQuest 2:30PM 5:30PM 10:30PM
January 21 CLG vs Dignitas 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves 1:30PM 4:30PM 9:30PM
Liquid vs Immortals 2:30PM 5:30PM 10:30PM
TSM vs Golden Guardians 3:30PM 6:30PM 11:30PM
Evil Geniuses vs Dignitas 4:30PM 7:30PM 12:30AM
Quarterfinals: January 22-23
Date Match PT ET BST
January 22 TBD vs TBD 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
TBD vs TBD 2:30PM 5:30PM 10:30PM
January 23 TBD vs TBD 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
TBD vs TBD 2:30PM 5:30PM 10:30PM
Semifinals: January 28-29
Date Match PT ET BST
January 28 TBD vs TBD 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
January 29 TBD vs TBD 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
Grand Final: January 30
Date Match PT ET BST
January 30 TBD vs TBD 10:30AM 1:30PM 6:30PM
LCS 2022 Lock In teams
All ten competing LCS teams have now submitted their starting Lock In lineups. TSM and Golden Guardians will field their academy rosters for the duration of the tournament, as Visa issues and the ongoing global health crisis have meant that certain international players have been unable to reach LA on time for the start of the Lock In.
Cloud9 coach Nick ‘LS’ De Cesare confirmed on a Twitch stream that multiple members of Cloud9’s official LCS roster would be unable to attend the tournament. Darshan, Zven, and Isles will be playing instead.
Dignitas will replace jungler Kim ‘River’ Dong-woo with academy jungler Lawrence ‘eXyu’ Xu. River has not yet been able to enter the US due to the ongoing global health crisis.
Riot Games
CoreJJ is yet to secure his green card for NA residency, putting Liquid in a tight spot for LCS 2022 Lock In.
Team Liquid have also had Visa issues, with support CoreJJ unable to acquire a green card in time to gain resident status for the Lock In according to a report by Upcomer. Without CoreJJ’s residency, the team currently has three imports in top laner Gabriël ‘Bwipo’ Rau, AD Carry Steven ‘Hans sama’ Liv, and CoreJJ.
Rather than simply using their academy bot lane, the 메이저안전놀이터 team reportedly plans to play Hans sama and CoreJJ on a rotational basis. Hans sama will play with academy support Bill ‘Eyla’ Nguyen, and CoreJJ will play with academy ADC Sean ‘Yeon’ Sung.
Team Top Jungle Mid AD Carry Support
100 Thieves Ssumday/Tenacity Closer Abbedagge FBI Huhi
Cloud9 Summit Blaber Fudge Berserker Winsome/Isles
CLG Jenkins Contractz Palafox Luger Poome
Dignitas FakeGod eXyu Blue Neo Biofrost
Evil Geniuses Impact Inspired Jojopyun Danny Vulcan
FlyQuest Kumo Josedeodo Toucouille Johnsun Aphromoo
Golden Guardians Tony Top Iconic ry0ma Stixxay Chime
Immortals Revenge Xerxe PowerOfEvil WildTurtle Destiny
Team Liquid Bwipo Santorin Bjergsen Hans Sama/Yeon CoreJJ/Eyla
TSM V1per Hyper Takeover Instinct Yursan
