Vietnam Championship Series

Vietnam Championship Series

Game	League of Legends
Founded	2013
No. of teams	8
Countries	Vietnam
Most recent champion(s)	GAM Esports (10th title)
Most titles	GAM Esports (10 titles)
Qualification	Promotion and relegation
Relegation to	Vietnam Championship Series B
International cup(s)	Mid Season Invitational World Championship
Related competitions	Garena Premier League
Official website	vcs.vnggames.com

The Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) is a professional League of Legends esports league run by Riot Games and VNG Games - a subsidiary of VNG Corporation since 2022 after Garena stopped publishing League of Legends and its major competitions in Vietnam. From 2013 to 2017, the VCS was a tier below Garena Premier League (GPL). In 2018, the VCS broke away from the GPL and became a separate tier one league. The Vietnamese teams have the opportunity to participate directly in international events of League of Legends organized by Riot Games without having to participate in the GPL. ^[1]

History

2012–2013

Before changing the name to the Vietnam Championship Series tournament that once named the Glorious Arena. Over 4 seasons from mid 2012 to the end of 2013 the tournament saw the dominance of Saigon Jokers with 3 times of champion and once champion of Full Louis. By the end of 2013, it was changed to Vietnam Championship Series.

2013–2015

The first tournament was held in 2013 with the name Vietnam Championship Series without qualifying, the participating teams were invited by Vietnam Esports and the total prize value of the first tournament was VND 200,000,000. From the third season, the tournament starts with qualifiers and names are also changed to Vietnam Championship Series (VCS A) to distinguish them from the qualifying tournament of Vietnam Championship Series B (VCS B). In 2014, sponsored by Dell, the name of the prize was named Dell Championship Serie A (DCS A).

In 2015, the number of teams participating in VCS A was increased to 16 teams, playing in a round robin format with two turns (first and second round) scoring according to the Bo1 format. The team with the most points will be crowned champion. Saigon Fantastic Five has won the VCS A championship in spring 2015 and then the GPL spring 2015, becoming the first Vietnamese team to win the GPL.

2016

In 2016, VCS A made a big step when the tournament was officially part of the Riot Games tournament system, marking the official VCS A step up professionally. The organizing committee reduced the number of participating teams to 10, in return it will give 2 million VND / month to the coaches and athletes. The tournament format also changes accordingly: 10 rounds of 2 rounds count Bo1 points, 4 teams with the highest score will participate in play-offs to find champions. VCS A was also renamed Coca-Cola Championship Series (CCCS) under the sponsorship of Coca-Cola. By the summer of 2016, the Coca-Cola Championship Series was renamed the MountainDew Championship Series (MDCS) under the sponsorship of the Mountain Dew drinking water label.

2017

The number of teams participating in the competition continues to be reduced to 8, in return for the coach and athletes' salary increased to 3 million VND / month. The format of the tournament is also changed: 8 rounds of 2 rounds count Bo3 points, 4 teams with the highest score will participate in play-offs to find the champion. ^[2]

2018

Riot Games directly participated in the tour operation, the tournament returned with the name Vietnam Championship Series, the total prize pool increased to 1 billion VND 200 million, the salary of coach and athletes increased to VND 4 million / month . In addition, VCS matches are held at GG Stadium - 6th Floor, Crescent Mall, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City built by Riot Games, instead of being organized online as before. Teams not based in Ho Chi Minh City will be supported by the organizers during the VCS Spring 2018. ^[3] On 21 February 2018, VCS separated from GPL. This is a result based on the fact that in recent years VCS has always been the dominant force of the GPL. Especially at the two spring and summer events in 2017. Impressive competitions at MSI 2017 and World Championship 2017. Riot Games believes that this is a very appropriate time to get Vietnam away from the GPL to become a separate area. Changes in Vietnam's participatory international tournaments are as follows:

• Vietnam (VCS) will be grouped with Turkey (TCL) and CIS (LCL) at Rift Rivals.
• MSI: Will be expanded into a tournament for 14 teams.
• World Championship: Definitely get a boot round.

VCS Championship team Spring Spring 2018 will increase to 100 million VND, bringing the total value to 500 million VND will be separated from GPL's reward Spring 2018 (The expected prize that the Vietnamese champion team attends GPL Spring) . However, this only applies to Spring, and from Summer onwards Vietnam will no longer relate to the GPL tournament. ^[4]

Current participants

• ⁠Vikings Esports
• CERBERUS Esports
• GAM Esports
• Team Whales
• MGN Blue Esports
• Rainbow Warriors
• Team Flash
• Team Secret

Competition format

Group stage

This period will have the participation of 8 teams, playing rounds of 2 rounds to find out the 4 strongest teams participating in the qualifying rounds. Matches of the Group Stage will take place in the Best of 3 format (3 games maximum), each game is played according to the Prohibition mode and Choose 5vs5 on the map Summoner's Rift. ^[5]

Round knockout

4 teams will compete against each other in a ladder mode to find the champion: the 3rd and 4th teams will fight each other in the first match, the winning team will go on to meet the 2nd team and whoever wins this match will be competing Finalists meet the top team. Matches of this stage will take place in the form of Best of 5 (5 games maximum), each game is played according to the ban and Select 5vs5 on the map Summoner's Rift. ^[5]

Past seasons

Year	Split	Duration	1st	2nd	3rd
2013	Winter	11 February 2013 – 17 December 2013	XGame	Hanoi Dragons	Beautiful Life Gaming
2014	Spring	22 February 2014 – 13 April 2014	Team Ozone Cutie Monsters	Hanoi Dragons	Hanoi Fate
	Summer	14 June 2014 – 24 September 2014	Hanoi Fate	HoL Elements	Hanoi Phoenix
2015	Spring	15 November 2014 – 4 June 2015	Saigon Fantastic Five	Saigon Jokers	Boba Marines
	Summer	17 May 2015 – 24 August 2015	Boba Marines	Full Louis	Saigon Jokers
2016	Spring	15 January 2016 – 3 June 2016	Saigon Jokers	Full Louis	269 Gaming Boba Marines
	Summer	20 May 2016 – 18 July 2016	Saigon Jokers	Saigon Mongaming	An Phát Ultimate Boba Marines
2017	Spring	8 February 2017 – 2 April 2017	GIGABYTE Marines	Young Generation	UTM Esports
	Summer	7 June 2017 – 13 August 2017	GIGABYTE Marines	Young Generation	ROG Friends
2018	Spring	18 January 2018 – 4 July 2018	EVOS Esports	GIGABYTE Marines	UTM Esports
	Summer	21 June 2018 – 22 September 2018	Phong Vũ Buffalo	Adonis Esports	Friends Forever
2019	Spring	17 January 2019 – 13 April 2019	Phong Vũ Buffalo	EVOS Esports	Sky Gaming
	Summer	20 June 2019 – 15 September 2019	GAM Esports	Lowkey Esports	Team Flash
2020	Spring	31 January 2020 – 18 April 2020	Team Flash	GAM Esports	EVOS Esports
	Summer	19 June 2020 – 5 September 2020	Team Flash	GAM Esports	EVOS Esports
2021	Spring	22 January 2021 – 18 April 2021	GAM Esports	Saigon Buffalo	⁠Team Secret
	Summer	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
	Winter	16 November 2021 – 26 December 2021	CERBERUS Esports	GAM Esports	Burst The Sky Esports
2022	Spring	11 February 2022 - 24 April 2022	GAM Esports	Saigon Buffalo	Team Secret
	Summer	7 June 2022 - 4 September 2022	GAM Esports	Saigon Buffalo	Team Secret
2023	Spring	24 February 2023 – 23 April 2023	GAM Esports	SBTC Esports	CERBERUS Esports
	Summer	23 June 2023 – 9 September 2023	GAM Esports	Team Whales	Team Secret
2024	Spring	20 January 2023 – 7 April 2024	GAM Esports	Vikings Esports	Team Secret

Statistics

Top-performing teams

Team(s)	1st	2nd	3rd
GAM Esports	10	3	3
Saigon Buffalo	2	5	0
Saigon Jokers	2	1	1
Team Flash	2	0	2
EVOS Esports	1	1	2
Hanoi Fate	1	0	1
Cerberus Esports	1	0	0
Saigon Fantastic Five	1	0	0
XGame	1	0	0
Team Ozone Cutie Monsters	1	0	0
Full Louis	0	2	0
Team Whales	0	1	0
Team Secret	0	0	5

Individual awards

Season MVP Standings

Year	Split	Player	Team	Time/Points
2017	Spring	Đỗ "Levi" Duy Khánh	GIGABYTE Marines	400
	Summer
2018	Spring	Nguyễn "YiJin" Lê Hải Đăng	EVOS Esports	900
	Summer	Phạm "Zeros" Minh Lộc	Phong Vũ Buffalo	10
2019	Spring	Phạm "Zeros" Minh Lộc	Phong Vũ Buffalo	1100
	Summer	Đỗ "Levi" Duy Khánh Nguyễn " YiJin " Lê Hải Đăng	GAM Esports Team Flash	800
2020	Spring	Lê "Dia1" Phú Quý	GAM Esports	1100
	Summer	Lê "Dia1" Phú Quý	GAM Esports	1000
2021	Spring	Đỗ "Levi" Duy Khánh	GAM Esports	1000
	Winter	Lê Lưu "Killerqueen" Bách Đạt	Luxury Esports	11
2022	Spring	Trần "BeanJ" Văn Chính	Saigon Buffalo	1000

References

1. "Vietnam is now an independent competitive region". lolesports.com. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
2. "Điều lệ DCSA". Liên Minh Huyền Thoại. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017.
3. "Họp báo công bố giải đấu VCS Mùa Xuân 2018".
4. "CHÍNH THỨC: Đội vô địch VCS Mùa Xuân 2018 sẽ được tăng 100 triệu đồng tiền thưởng!" . Retrieved 31 May 2019.
5. "LMHT: Thể thức thi đấu VCSA Mùa Xuân 2018, vòng playoffs sẽ đánh như LCK Hàn Quốc". gamek.vn. 12 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2019.