<
        >

          NA LCS by the numbers -- Summer Split playoffs

          play
          NA LCS Playoff Preview (2:56)

          Though it took an extra day of playing to sort out the order, the dust has settled in the NA LCS and the playoff field is set. Xander Torres joins Phil Murphy to get you ready for the action this weekend. (2:56)

          • ESPN Stats & Info
          Aug 24, 2018, 01:37 PM ET

          The 2018 NA LCS Summer Split Playoffs feature the Summer Split's top six North American teams in a bracket-style, best-of-five competition. The winner of the tournament will be the Summer Split champion and auto-qualify in to the 2018 World Championship in October.

          The tournament kicks off Saturday, August 25th at 5 p.m. ET with Echo Fox facing Team SoloMid in the first of two quarterfinal matchups. All matches will stream live on ESPN+.

          Top things to know

          • The winner of the Summer Split Playoffs will automatically qualify for Worlds 2018. North America's second qualifying team will be based on Championship Points, which teams can earn based on their placement at this tournament. The final team is determined via a regional gauntlet, where the winner will head the Worlds.

          • Cloud9 enters the playoffs as the hottest team in the league, looking to extend its current eight-game winning streak, the longest since Team Solo Mid won 11 in a row in the 2017 Summer Split (June 11-30).

          • The #3-#6 seeds in the tournament had to be decided via tiebreakers Monday evening as all teams were tied at 10-8 at the end of the Summer Split.

          • FlyQuest must win its match Sunday vs 100 Thieves in order to keep their hopes alive for a place at Worlds 2018.

          Format

          Six teams compete in a bracket style, best-of-five competition. Based on their performance in the Summer Split, Team Liquid and Cloud9 earned byes to the semifinals as the top two seeds, while 100 Thieves, Echo Fox, Team SoloMid and FlyQuest will play against each other in the quarterfinals. As the #1 overall seed, Team Liquid will get to choose its semifinal opponent from the two teams that advance from the quarterfinals. Cloud9 will have to play the remaining team.

          What's at Stake

          The winner of the Summer Split Playoffs will automatically qualify for Worlds 2018 as North America's #1 seed. The team that has accumulated the most Championship Points at the conclusion of the Summer Split Playoffs (other than the winner) will automatically qualify to Worlds 2018 as North America's #2 seed. The next four teams in the Championship Points table will qualify for the regional gauntlet to determine who gets the third and final qualification spot.

          Championship Points are gained based on a team's final placement in each of the two splits.

          Notably, all of the teams in the Summer Split Playoffs have already at least qualified for the Regional Qualifier with the exception of FlyQuest. FlyQuest's series Sunday against 100 Thieves will determine both its own fate, and the fate of Clutch Gaming, who currently sit at 30 Championship Points with no way to gain more. A win means FlyQuest will jump Clutch Gaming and knock them out of Worlds contention. A loss would mean Clutch Gaming would qualify, and would have to wait until September 14 to play a competitive match.

          At the top of the table, Team Liquid can clinch a Worlds 2018 berth if both 100 Thieves and Echo Fox lose their quarterfinal matchups. Otherwise, a semifinal victory of any kind would also qualify Team Liquid for Worlds.

          Team Liquid (12-6)

          • The Summer Split Playoffs will feature teams playing on patch 8.16 for the first time in competitive play. Team Liquid is an NA best 7-3 in games played in a week featuring a new patch.

          • Team Liquid rely on bot laners Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung for success. They have identical kill participation at 72.7 percent, both best among bot lane carries and supports.

          Cloud9 (11-7)

          • Cloud9 enters the playoffs as the hottest team in the league, looking to extend its current eight-game winning streak, the longest since Team Solo Mid won 11 in a row in the 2017 Summer Split (June 11-30).

          • Cloud9's current starting roster features support Tristan "Zeyzal" Stidam (11-5), bot laner Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi (10-2), mid laner Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen (9-4), and jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang (8-1) all having a better win percentage than the team as a whole. Only top laner Eric "Licorice" Ritchie has played all 18 games for Cloud9 this split.

          • Blaber, Jensen and Zeyzal all featured the highest KDA (4.2, 6.0 and 3.9 respectively) among their positions over the Summer Split.

          100 Thieves (10-8)

          • 100 Thieves is 3-2 all-time against FlyQuest, its quarterfinal opponent Sunday.

          • Cody "Cody Sun" Sun (72) and Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho (66) will look to continue carrying their team as they ranked first and third across the league in total kills throughout the Summer Split.

          • Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black led the league in total assists with 143, but also had the most deaths among support players with 50. He will need to find ways to continue making big plays for his team without dying as easily. Dating back to Spring Split, 100 Thieves is 19-4 in regular season games in which Aphromoo has two or fewer deaths.

          Echo Fox (10-8)

          • Echo Fox clearly excel when playing through top laner Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon as putting him on a tank has not yielded a win this season (0-3). Its overall aggressiveness shows as they are five kills shy of the most team kills (223) and they have the most deaths (254) of any team in the split. The playoff team with the next most team deaths is Cloud9 at 193.

          • Despite having an under-performing bottom lane, Echo Fox managed a 63% dragon control rate, second only to Team Liquid.

          Team SoloMid (10-8)

          • Since starting the season 5-7, TSM has won six of its last eight games. Unfortunately, it drew their worst nightmare as both losses came at the hands of their quarterfinal opponent, Echo Fox. They are now 0-3 against Echo Fox this split, making them the only team they have lost to more than once.

          • TSM should try and target an assassin for its mid-laner Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg. TSM is 6-1 when he is put on assassin style picks this split (Irelia, Talon, Syndra, Akali, and LeBlanc) and Bjergsen has an astounding 12.5 KDA in such games.

          • TSM had a baron control rate of 71%, the best control rate since Immortals (72%, 2016 Summer Split). They are the only team to ever take at least 20 barons and give up less than 10 in the last three years.

          FlyQuest (10-8)

          • FlyQuest enters the playoffs on a three game losing streak, the only team of the six with an active losing streak of any kind.

          • FlyQuest has beat up on the bottom four teams this spilt. They are a league worst 3-9 against playoff teams in the Summer Split and tiebreakers.