eSports

NACL 2024 Summer Split – Lots of updates!

June 4, 2024

Just like all major regions, the NACL is resuming action with the summer split: here’s everything you need to know.

Image Credit: Riot Games

NACL 2024 Summer Split – Fearless draft, new entries, and more

First of all, Riot announced two new organizations to the NACL: Brandon Sanderson’s Dragonsteel and OTK’s Starforge Systems. Brandon Sanderson is a fantasy and science fiction writer, mostly known for the Cosmere fictional universe where most of his series are set.

Aside from the new entries, however, Riot also announced a new partnership model for the NACL to gain better financial support to foster talent: Dragonsteel is partnering up with Maryville University, while Starforge Systems will be partnering with Cincinnati Fear.

Things are changing and it’s not only related to the participants. The NACL will be the first region to implement the Full Fearless Draft. Different from the one applied in the LPL, the full Fearless Draft implies that champion picks will be locked out across both teams when banned or selected. Together with the single round robin Bo3 format, champion diversity will play a major role.

There will be a modified version of the double elimination playoff bracket, increasing the number of Bo5s from four to eight. In these series, however, Game 4 will only allow for teams to ban 3 champions (no second round bans). If a Game 5 were to occur, both teams won’t be allowed to ban any champions.

NACL 2024 Summer Split – Teams and Schedule

Below are the 10 teams for the upcoming split

Area of Effect (AOE)
Blue Otter (BLUE) – New from the Promotion Tournament!
CCG Esports (CCG) – New from the Promotion Tournament!
Disguised (DSG)
Dragonsteel (DSTL)
Fear x Starforge (FXS)
FlyQuest NZXT Challengers (FLYC)
Supernova (SN)
Team Liquid Honda Challengers (TLC)
Winthrop University (WU) – New team!

Just like in spring, the NACL will be played on weekends after the LCS ends each week. Games will start at 5 pm PT (2 am CET) if the LCS runs over broadcast time.

NACL Regular Season

Week 1: 6/15 – 6/16
Week 2: 6/22 – 6/23
Week 3: 6/29 – 6/30
Week 4: 7/5 – 7/7 (Money Matches)
Week 5: 7/12 – 7/14 (Money Matches)
Week 6: 7/20 – 7/21
Week 7: 7/27 – 7/28
Week 8: 8/3 – 8/4
Week 9: 8/10 – 8/11

NACL Playoffs

Week 1: 8/17 – 8/18
Week 2: 8/23 – 8/25
Week 3: 8/29 – 9/1
Finals: 9/8 @ Riot Games Arena, Los Angeles
NACL Qualifiers

Money Matches?

On top of that, Riot will be implementing “money match”, a one-off series where the winner will win cash prizes. During the NACL Superweeks (Weeks 4 and 5), each NACL team will have two of their regular season series become Money Matches to create fun opportunities for teams and players to banter while chasing that extra prizing on the line.

NACL Qualifiers

Just like in Spring, the the winner of the second Qualifier in addition to the top 3 teams from points earned across both tournaments will advance to the NACL Promotion Tournament which will give them a chance to make it to the NACL.

The format used will also be the Full Fearless Draft consisting of the Swiss Stage, GSL stage, and Elimination stage.