Riot Games has made a rule change to the LEC Summer Split rulebook mid-way through the competition to bring back the Head-to-Head Game Score tiebreaker for the Group Stage.
According to the LEC Commissioner Artem Bykov, the tiebreaker criteria was mistakenly removed and should’ve been part of the tiebreaker order.
The Head-to-Head Game Score is a method used to rank teams with the same win-loss records in the standings.
With the 2025 LEC Summer Split‘s revamped format, the tierbreaker could come into play to decide which teams will advance to the next phase while splitting the 10 teams into two equal for the first stage of tournament.
According to the rulebook (Section 7.5.13), the tiebreaker criteria will now be applied in the following order:
- Head-to-Head Game Score
- Winter and Spring combined Split Placements
- Spring Placement
- Strength of Victory (SoV) – combined record of all teams that were beaten in that schedule
- Head-to-Head Victory Time
- Overall Victory Time
- Coinflip
The rulebook makes an exception for teams tied at 5th place. In this instance, the organisations will play a tiebreaker game.
It will be applicable after ties are broken by the aforementioned criteria, meaning the situation can result in at most a two-way tie. In such a case, the losing team would be eliminated from the LEC and playoff contention.
Can this Mistake Set a Precedent?
The timing of the LEC rule change currently has no impact on the standings, since the group stage is not yet complete.
However, members of the community have called out the league ops for altering the rules after the event kicked off, arguing it could compromise competitive integrity. The sudden change could also set a potential precedent for the foreseeable future.
“A change in the rules halfway through the split, with only 2 weeks left until the end. The change itself isn’t bad, but it gives a crappy and careless image of how the LEC is being handled right now,” said a user on X.
Some fans also expressed disappointment with the current Summer Split format regarding its competitiveness.
The European league has struggled internationally over the past few years, with no team placed in the top eight at the previous two Worlds tournaments.
Even the most recent Mid-Season Invitational saw both MKOI and G2 being eliminated early in the playoff stage.
The LEC Summer Split action continues this weekend with the third week, featuring matches on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
