TSM captured the last two maps to pull out a 3-2 win over FlyQuest on Thursday in a lower-bracket, opening-round match at the League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split playoffs.
The tight triumph sends TSM to a Sept. 2 lower-bracket match against the loser of the Evil Geniuses-Cloud9 upper-bracket semifinal scheduled for Sunday.
The $200,000 double-elimination event culminates the season for the top North American League of Legends circuit. The top three finishers will earn berths in the $2.25 million League of Legends World Championships, scheduled for Sept. 29-Nov. 5 in San Francisco, Atlanta, New York and Mexico City. The LCS winning side will pocket $100,000, and the runner-up will get $50,000.
All LCS Summer Split matches are best-of-five, through the grand final on Sept. 11.
On Thursday, TSM opened with a 31-minute win on red before FlyQuest captured the next two maps in 27 minutes on blue and 27 minutes on red.
TSM pulled level with a 35-minute victory on blue, then wrapped up the series with a 42-minute win on red.
Taiwan’s Huang “Maple” Yi-tang finished with a 19/9/26 kills-deaths-assists ratio for TSM. Canada’s Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen wound up at 22/14/23 for FlyQuest.
Action continues Friday with the second lower-bracket, first-round match: Counter Logic Gaming vs. Golden Guardians. The winner of that series gets a Sept. 1 clash with the loser of the 100 Thieves-Team Liquid upper-bracket semifinal scheduled for Saturday.
League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split playoffs prize pool
1st: TBD — $100,000, Worlds
2nd: TBD — $50,000, Worlds
3rd: TBD — $30,000, Worlds
4th: TBD — $20,000
5th-6th: Two teams TBD — no money
7th-8th: FlyQuest, one team TBD — no money
9th: Immortals — no money
10th: Dignitas — no money
–Field Level Media