Seeing several non-franchise teams starting to disband got me thinking about improving the Tier-2 tournament ecosystem.
I think the term "Champions" should be open to any team, whether franchise or non-franchise. Because every team deserves the opportunity to prove themselves as the best at the end of the year.
So, before the Champions tournament, there should be a tournament that brings together franchise and non-franchise teams. From there, we can also see the difference in quality between franchise and non-franchise teams. Perhaps the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) could include participants from both franchise and non-franchise teams.
Therefore, it might be good to hold a tournament before the LCQ to select teams that failed to advance from the challenger split to ascension. Let's call it "Tournament X". The participants in this tournament could be the top 2 and 3 teams from each regional challenger split. Example for Pacific with a total of 16 participants from 10 regions (ID, PH, TH, SG/MY, KR, JP - 2 slots + VN, IND, OCE, HK/TW - 1 slot). The top 3 teams from this tournament will then proceed to "Tournament Y".
Now, Tournament Y itself will consist of the teams that failed in ascension (9 teams) plus the top 3 teams from Tournament X, making a total of 12 participants. The top 2 teams from Tournament Y will then advance to the LCQ.
As a result, the participants in the LCQ will be:
(1) All franchise teams that failed to reach the master - 7 teams
(2) Ascension Champions - 1 team
(3) Top 2 teams from Tournament Y - 2 teams
Therefore, the LCQ will have a total of 10 teams, where franchise and non-franchise teams will compete for one slot to Champions.
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