The Garena Premier League (GPL) was a professional League of Legends esports league with teams in Southeast Asia (included teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau before 2015 and Vietnam before 2018). It was founded in 2012. The opening event took place on May 5 with Riot's CEO Brandon Beck, VP of Gaming Dustin Beck, Taiwanese game designer Jeff Lin, and Nikasaur attending personally. It is the first regional professional esports competition of League of Legends in the world. In last season - 2018 Spring - the league consists of 5 teams who are the champions of 5 national leagues in Southeast Asia. The top four teams of group stage are advanced to the playoff, which are held in a best-of-5 single elimination system.[1]

Garena Premier League
SportLeague of Legends
First season2012
Replaced byLST
Owner(s)Garena
No. of teams5
Countries Southeast Asia
5 countries
Venue(s)Various
Most recent
champion(s)
Thailand Ascension Gaming
Most titlesTaiwan Taipei Assassins
Qualification
5 minor leagues
  • LoL Garuda Series
  • LoL Champion Malaysia
  • Pro Gaming Series
  • Singapore Legends Series
  • Thailand Pro League
TV partner(s)Garena Live, YouTube
Sponsor(s)Riot Games, Garena
Level on pyramidTier 1
International cup(s)Mid Season Invitational
Rift Rivals
World Championship
Related
competitions
LMS
VCS
PCS

In late 2014, Riot and Garena split teams from Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong into their own league, the LMS, which began play in Spring 2015.[2] Following the changes, the GPL no longer sent teams directly to the League of Legends World Championship group stage. The GPL became part of the International Wildcard tournament, along with CBLoL (Brazil), OPL (Oceania), LCL (CIS), LJL (Japan), TCL (Turkey), LLN (Latin America North) and CLS (Latin America South), and would compete to represent the Wildcard regions in the play in stages at the Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship.[3]

In 2018, the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) separated from the GPL. The winner of VCS will qualify for Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship without taking part in the GPL.[4]

The 2018 GPL Spring Split was the last GPL tournament. Afterwards, the GPL was replaced by the League of Legends SEA Tour (LST) with a new format. The winner of the LST will represent Southeast Asia to qualify for Play-in Stage of Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship, begin from World Championship 2018.[5]

Participants of GPL

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Last season (2018 Spring split)

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Region League
  Indonesia LOL Garuda Series (LGS)
  Malaysia LOL Championship Malaysia (LCM)
  Philippines Pro Gaming Series (PGS)
  Singapore Singapore Legends Series (SLS)
  Thailand Thailand Pro League (TPL)

In mid-2018, the GPL was replaced with the LST, and the leagues of each country were replaced by "LST Qualifiers"

Former

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Region Championship League Note
  Taiwan
  Hong Kong
  Macau
League of Legends Nova League (LNL) Separated in 2015, became a Major Region (guaranteed two slots in the World Championship, three slots from 2017 onwards). The LNL was replaced by the League of Legends Master Series (LMS).
  Vietnam Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) Separated in 2018, became a Wildcard Region (guaranteed one slot for MSI and the World Championship). VCS became a Tier 1 league like the GPL.

Results

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Year Split Winner Runner-Up
2012 Season 1   Taipei Assassins   Singapore Sentinels
2013 Spring   Taipei Assassins   Singapore Sentinels
Summer   ahq e-Sports Club   Singapore Sentinels
2014 Winter   Taipei Assassins   Taipei Snipers
Spring   Taipei Assassins   ahq e-Sports Club
Summer   Taipei Assassins   ahq e-Sports Club
After Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau separated
2015 Spring   Saigon Fantastic Five   Bangkok Titans
Summer   Bangkok Titans   Saigon Jokers
2016 Spring   Saigon Jokers   Bangkok Titans
Summer   Saigon Jokers   Bangkok Titans
2017 Spring   GIGABYTE Marines   Ascension Gaming
Summer   GIGABYTE Marines   Young Generation
After Vietnam separated
2018 Spring   Ascension Gaming   Kuala Lumpur Hunters

Record

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Top-performing

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Team Winner Runner-Up
  Taipei Assassins 5
  ahq e-Sports Club 1
  Singapore Sentinels 3
  Taipei Snipers 1
After Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau separated
  Saigon Jokers 2 1
  GIGABYTE Marines 2
  Bangkok Titans 1 3
  Saigon Fantastic Five 1
  Young Generation 1
  Ascension Gaming 1
After Vietnam separated
  Ascension Gaming 1
  Kuala Lumpur Hunters 1

References

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  1. ^ "Garena Premier League (GPL) in 2018 and Beyond". Garena LoL. Archived from the original on March 8, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  2. ^ "Garena to separate Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from South East Asia for the 2015 GPL Season". yahoo.com. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  3. ^ "The Philippines just lost another chance to compete in one of the biggest esports events of the year". Inquirer.net. July 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  4. ^ "Vietnam is now an independent competitive region". lolesports.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  5. ^ "A New Beginning for Esports in Southeast Asia". Garena LoL. Archived from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
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