Four of the five teams that won their opening League Championship Series Summer Split matches prevailed for the second night in a row on Thursday.
Cloud9, Team Liquid, Immortals and Evil Geniuses all moved to 2-0, while 100 Thieves dropped to 1-1 as they fell against Liquid. The night’s other winner was TSM.
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 will 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.
In Thursday action, Cloud9 defeated Dignitas in 27 minutes on red. The United States’ Robert “Blaber” Huang recorded a 9-3-7 kill-death-assist ratio for Cloud9, while South Korea’s Lee “Rich” Jae-won finished at 3-4-1 for Dignitas.
Liquid needed 33 minutes on red to get past 100 Thieves. South Korea’s Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon paced Liquid with a 4-0-3 K-D-A ratio. The United States’ Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng ended up at 2-3-1 for 100 Thieves.
Immortals downed NRG in 41 minutes on red thanks to an 8-5-8 effort from the United States’ Edward “Tactical” Ra. A 15-5-5 K-D-A ratio from Australia’s Ian Victor “FBI” Huang wasn’t enough for NRG.
Evil Geniuses topped Golden Guardians in 31 minutes on red with Canada’s Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun logging an 8-4-4 K-D-A ratio. The United States’ Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes finished at 5-2-2 for Golden Guardians.
TSM took down FlyQuest in 34 minutes on red behind the 6-0-2 production of the United States’ David “Insanity” Challe. South Korea’s Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang posted a 2-4-1 K-D-A ratio for FlyQuest.
Week 1 play concludes on Friday with five matches:
–Immortals vs. Team Liquid
–Golden Guardians vs. FlyQuest
–Evil Geniuses vs. Dignitas
–NRG vs. 100 Thieves
–Cloud9 vs. TSM
League Championship Series Spring Split group-stage standings
T1. Cloud9, 2-0
T1. Evil Geniuses, 2-0
T1. Immortals, 2-0
T1. Team Liquid, 2-0
T5. 100 Thieves, 1-1
T5. TSM, 1-1
T7. Dignitas, 0-2
T7. FlyQuest, 0-2
T7. Golden Guardians, 0-2
T7. NRG, 0-2
–Field Level Media