Cloud9 and Golden Guardians each won their respective matches on Thursday to maintain their place atop the group stage standings at the League Championship Series Summer Split.
Both squads entered the day locked in a three-way tie for first with Evil Geniuses. Cloud9 beat 100 Thieves and Golden Guardians toppled Immortals to improve to 10-4, while EG fell into third place at 9-5 with a loss to FlyQuest.
The 10 teams in the top North American League of Legends circuit will play every other team twice in the group phase, which runs through July 21. All group-stage matches consist of a single map.
The first- and second-place teams will head to the upper-bracket semifinals for the double-elimination playoffs. The third- through sixth-place teams will open the playoffs in the upper-bracket quarterfinals. The seventh- and eighth-place teams will enter the postseason in the lower bracket, while the ninth- and 10th-place teams will be eliminated.
The playoffs will feature best-of-five matches. The top three finishers will earn berths in the League of Legends World Championship, to be played in South Korea from Oct. 10 to Nov. 19. The fourth-place finisher will head to a wild-card qualifier with a chance to land a spot at the World Championship.
TSM also stayed in contention on Thursday, beating Team Liquid. In the day’s other match, NRG beat Dignitas to run their winning streak to three. NRG beat FlyQuest on Wednesday after ending Week 4 with a victory over Evil Geniuses.
Week 5 continues Friday with five more matches:
–Team Liquid vs. FlyQuest
–100 Thieves vs. TSM
–Golden Guardians vs. NRG
–Evil Geniuses vs. Cloud9
–Dignitas vs. Immortals
League Championship Series Summer Split group-stage standings:
T1. Cloud9, 10-4
T1. Golden Guardians, 10-4
3. Evil Geniuses, 9-5
T4. Team Liquid, 8-6
T4. TSM, 8-6
6. NRG, 7-7
7. Dignitas, 6-8
8. 100 Thieves, 5-9
9. FlyQuest, 4-10
10. Immortals, 3-11
League Championship Series Summer Split prize pool:
1. $100,000, berth in League of Legends World Championship
2. $50,000, berth in League of Legends World Championship
3. $30,000, berth in League of Legends World Championship
4. $20,000, berth in wild-card qualifier for League of Legends World Championship
5-10. No prize money
–Field Level Media