After battling within their respective regions, the top four teams from both LTA North and LTA South advanced to the Split 1 Cross Conference stage—a single-elimination bracket played in Fearless Draft. The quarter-finals and semi-finals follow a best-of-three format, while only the grand final is played as a best-of-five. In the opening round, each team was matched against an opponent from the other region. LTA North’s first seed, 100 Thieves, faced off against LTA South’s fourth seed, paiN Gaming. Conversely, the top LTA South team, Isurus Estral, was drawn against LTA North’s fourth seed, Team Liquid.

Similarly, Cloud9 (LTA North #2) took on LOUD (LTA South #3), while Leviatán (LTA South #2) squared off against FlyQuest (LTA North #3). However, the results of the first round reaffirmed the existing competitive hierarchy between the two regions, as all four LTA North teams emerged victorious. As a result, LTA South is entirely absent from the semi-finals, where 100 Thieves will face FlyQuest (February 22, 8 PM CET), and Team Liquid will take on Cloud9 (February 22, 11 PM CET). Follow the LTA Cross Conference bracket’s progress in this article.

With LTA North sweeping the competition, an NA team will represent LTA at First Stand, the year’s first international event, which brings together the champions of the five major regions (LTA, LEC, LCK, LPL, LCP). The tournament will take place in Seoul, South Korea, from March 10 to 16. The LTA format for Split 2, Split 3, will differ from this one. In Split 2, the two regions will remain separate, with each winner earning a spot at MSI.

Three slots at Worlds

In Split 3, the winner of each region will qualify for Worlds, with an additional slot up for grabs at the Regional Championship, where the top three teams from each region will compete. If the Regional Championship winner has already secured a Worlds spot by winning either LTAN or LTAS, the additional slot will be awarded to the runner-up. If the runner-up has also previously qualified, the spot will go to the lower-bracket finalist.