2023 LCS season

The 2023 LCS season was the 11th season of the League Championship Series (LCS), a North American professional esports league for the video game League of Legends. The season was divided into two splits: Spring and Summer. The Spring Split began on January 26, 2023, and culminated with the Spring Split Finals on April 9, 2023. The Summer Split began on June 14, 2023, and culminated with the LCS Championship Final on August 20, 2023.

Prior to the end of the spring split playoffs, NRG Esports acquired Counter Logic Gaming's franchise slot. Just before the original planned start of the Summer Split, most LCS franchises ended their Challenger programs, leaving many pro players without teams. In response, the LCS Players Association threatened a walkout. Riot Games, the governing body of LCS, responded by delaying the Summer Split by two weeks for negotiations. They also warned that if no agreement was reached in that time, the entire LCS season would be canceled, and North American teams would miss Worlds 2023. Ultimately, negotiations continued, and the Summer Split started two weeks late.

Cloud9 won the spring split playoffs, directly qualifying them for the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), while Golden Guardians finished as the runners-up, qualifying them for the MSI play-in stage. In the LCS Championship playoffs, NRG, Cloud9, and Team Liquid claimed the first, second, and third positions, respectively, earning direct qualifications to the 2023 World Championship. Golden Guardians, finishing in fourth place, qualified for the Worlds Qualifying Series.