League of Legends Championship Series launches Season 3 qualifiers

Last week saw the North American qualifiers for Season 3 of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) kickoff. The 16 teams who made it through competed for one of five spots in the tournament.

Hosted by Riot Games, the North American qualifiers followed a double-elimination format consisting of four groups made up of four teams each. Teams finishing in the top two of each group went on to the winner's bracket, where they faced off against each other in a best-of-three, single-elimination format.

The first half of Season 3 officially begins February 7 and runs until April 20, with the second half to follow on June 1 to August 31. At the conclusion of the second half, the top teams from each division will advance to the World Championship to compete for a prize pool that Riot Games has described as "millions of dollars." The 16 teams will be composed of eight North American teams and eight European teams.

A full write-up of the weekend qualifier results will be posted shortly on GameSpot. For more on the LCS Season 3 North American qualifier, including team interviews, check out GameSpot’s coverage of the event.