Red Alert was crying out for an event which would bring the best players in the world face to face on a regular basis. LCS is intended to play out like a Boxing heavyweight title, combined with an event format like UFC.
For example, LCS 1: F[a]ust vs Jacob. LCS 2: F[a]ust vs R3sistant.
For years the Red alert community have argued over who is the best player in a certain era. Well we no longer will need to argue. Whoever is the reigning LCS champion can declare themself to be the best. And if anyone disputes it - they are welcome to challenge the champion and prove it in the Bo19 map format which is designed to test all play-styles of the game.
25 maps. 3 maps can be rejected by each player. Leaving 19 total maps. The decision for a 19 game series was based on the idea that the average game length is around 5-6 minutes. So we would have at maximum a 3-4 hour PPV style series. Ideal for the twitch audience and content creators, and ideal for hopefully one day attracting outside sponsorship!
Bo9s if we are honest are very luck based and someone can go on a hot streak or opponent can have a bad day or be rusty etc. In a Bo19 grueling match like LCS, players will have all week to train intensively so they are in the best possible shape for the match. Also in a Bo19 format the best player is far more likely to win.
The ultimate hope is that LCS continues for years and years in Red Alert and gives something for the community to look forward to every single week (or fortnight, depending on how often the matches will be). It is also hoped that LCS will set the bar in Red Alert and give people a goal to aspire to. Competing in the LCS event could be seen as the ultimate achievment in competitive online Red Alert.
For years the Ladder has been great way for players to compete 1v1 - this can be used as great practice and training for LCS and for selecting the best number 1 contender. Also if we are completely honest - everyone wants to see the best players 1v1. There is a reason no-one remembers who won the doubles (2v2) event at Wimbledon. It is because people only care about watching Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray duking it out 1v1. Fans and spectators want to see who the best player is. Who is the MAN!? And 1v1 is the way to do that. For as fun a game as 2v2 is, it lends itself to a lot of random results and upsets and it cannot universally define who the best player is. 1v1 is far more important in Red Alert, just as it is in all other sports/games and this is a hard reality people need to wake up to. On a personal note I also find playing 1v1 is far more fun and enjoyable (albeit more stressful and intense as well) than 2v2. There's nowhere to hide in a 1v1 scenario.
The hope is that LCS becomes the start of something historic in Red Alert. Maybe in 10 years time at LCS event number 500, Faust, Jacob, Hezb etc will look back at their participation in the first LCS events as a real proud achievement.
Let's grow the event so it attracts a bigger and bigger audience every single week. With the ultimate hope of growing the game and attracting new players! More players = more fun for everyone. You never know - maybe someone will accidentally stumble across the LCS stream on twitch and a couple of years later will become the champion having started out on Red Alert from scratch.
In the meantime I hope you all enjoy LCS 2, this coming Sunday 25th April @ 12:00 UK TIME. All information including the map list and link to K0bra's live stream can be found here:
https://challonge.com/l7zhlply
Thanks for reading!