The top two teams at the League of Legends League Championship Series Summer Split were both winners on Friday night, even if it didn’t look that way on the scoreboard.
Golden Guardians, who entered the day tied atop the standings with Cloud9, lost to fall into second place. However, thanks to a loss by Dignitas, GG joined Cloud9 in clinching a spot in the upper bracket of the playoffs as the fifth of six weeks of group play concluded.
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.
Playing on blue, Cloud9 took care of Evil Geniuses in 26 minutes. The match actually carried big implications, as a win by EG would have brought them square with Cloud9. Instead, EG saw their losing streak run to four, the longest current skid in the league.
Australia’s Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami produced a 3-1-2 kill-death-assist ratio to lead Cloud9. Canada’s Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun wound up at 4-2-1 for Evil Geniuses.
GG, meanwhile became the first of two teams on Friday to lose despite being on blue. In a match that saw GG take the lead early, NRG came back to win the night’s longest contest, taking it in 36 minutes.
Indian-American Niship “Dhokla” Doshi produced a 7-2-7 K-D-A ratio for GG. The United States’ Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes finished at 6-1-5.
GG got bailed out in the night’s final match, as Dignitas lost to Immortals, the team with the worst record in the league entering the night — despite Immortals playing on red. In another long match, Immortals prevailed in 35 minutes.
The United States’ Edward “Tactical” Ra logged a 10-1-8 for Immortals, while another U.S. player, Frank “Tomo” Lam, posted a 6-3-2 for Dignitas.
In the first match of the night, Team Liquid moved into a tie for third with EG by beating FlyQuest in 30 minutes on blue. The United States’ Sean “Yeon” Sung paced EG with an 8-2-7 K-D-A ratio, while South Korea’s Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang led all players in kills (9-5-4) in the loss.
100 Thieves inched closer to a coveted top-six spot with a 24-minute win over TSM on blue. South Korea’s Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung led the way with a 10-2-4 for 100 Thieves, while TSM had more players with zero kills (three) than they had with kills (two players had one each).
The final week of group play begins on Wednesday.
League Championship Series Summer Split schedule
Week 6
Wednesday
–Immortals vs. Evil Geniuses
–Golden Guardians vs. Team Liquid
–FlyQuest vs. TSM
–NRG vs. Cloud9
–Dignitas vs. 100 Thieves
League Championship Series Summer Split group-stage standings
1. Cloud9, 11-4
2. Golden Guardians, 10-5
T3. Evil Geniuses, 9-6
T3. Team Liquid, 9-6
T5. NRG, 8-7
T5. TSM, 8-7
T7. 100 Thieves, 6-9
T7. Dignitas, 6-9
T9. FlyQuest, 4-11
T9. Immortals, 4-11
–Field Level Media