2018 NA LCS Playoffs Picture

Riot·Mar 13, 2018·1 votes·21,812 views

Heading into Week 9, Spring Playoffs are top of mind. Find out which teams are locked in, on the bubble, and eliminated from Playoffs. Can CLG make it? Maybe. Learn more below.

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LOCKED IN:

Echo Fox (FOX)
Cloud9 (C9)
100 Thieves (100)
Clutch Gaming (CG)

ON THE BUBBLE:

Team Liquid (TL)
TSM (TSM)

TL & TSM just need to win 1 game to get into Playoffs

Counter Logic Gaming (CLG)

CLG has 4 options:

Option A:

-If TL wins at least one of their two games (vs C9 and OPT) in Week 9.

-Hope TSM loses vs. GGS on Saturday

-Win both games in Week 9 against OPT on Saturday then TSM on Sunday.

-Win the tiebreaker against TSM for 6th.

Option B:

-If TSM wins vs. GGS next Saturday.

-Hope TL loses to C9 on Saturday and OPT on Sunday.

-Win both games in Week 9 against OPT on Saturday then TSM on Sunday.

-Win the tiebreaker versus TL.

Option C:

-Both TL and TSM manage to go 0-2 next week.

-Win both games in Week 9 versus OPT on Saturday then TSM on Sunday

-Three-way tie between TL, TSM, and CLG

a) Earn the highest strength of victory score, placing them first in the three-team tiebreaker and thus autoseeding them into Playoffs.

b)In the game they don't earn the highest strength of victory score, win the first game in the three-team tiebreaker.

Option D:

-HAVE FAITH.

ELIMINATED:

FlyQuest (FLY)
Golden Guardians (GGS)
OpTic Gaming (OPT)

With 2 spots remaining at Spring Playoffs, find out if TL, TSM, or CLG will make the cut during Week 9. Don't miss any of the remaining regular season games starting at 2:00 PM PT on Saturday, March 17 and 12:00 PM PT on Sunday, March 18.

16 Comments

BoldRevelationMar 13, 20188 votes

I just wanna mention how good it is for the game for the top 4 teams to look completely different than it has in any year previous, as well as for 3 teams to be vying for the last two spots.

I consistently hear the analysts talking like its hard to peg these teams and to figure out who is at the top and who is at the bottom. Their comments seem to be based in an expectation that the "worse" teams will always lose against the "best" teams. In reality, if you have a league where great talent is fielded by every organization, and stability has been granted through franchising, then we should expect teams like Golden Guardians or Optic to come out and have a chance to win on "any given Sunday" against teams like C9 or Echo Fox. Sure, you can reasonably predict the higher ranked team will win against the lower ranked team, but especially in best-of-1s, dropping one or two games per split to lower ranked teams is not necessarily indicative of a team's downtrend into bad play. It may just mean this league has the chance to be really interesting every split.

We don't watch because we know what happens. We watch because of what might happen. That is the essence of sport, and even taking the time to figure out CLG's 3 playoff scenarios proves that deep down we want to see the impossible happen.

Zim ZimMar 14, 20184 votes

Agree, it is just like the NHL, sometimes the top team loses to the bottom team. Does it mean the bottom is better? No. But goes to show anyone can have a good day/game and win, or the other way have a bad day/game and lose. Really the main difference comes down to consistency.

Terabyte MarineMar 14, 20181 votes

I honestly had four teams I was looking at for being underrated or who had hidden potential coming into this season. C9, 100T, CG and GGS were the teams I was particularly keen on. C9 is pretty self-explanatory after their amazing first half. 100T as an organization seemed like it had more tools in their pocket, and with that roster, I felt like they had a lot more potential than their counterpart in Optic that joined the league. There was always the chance that they would flop, but with how they approached the game I had a feeling they couldn't be easily counted out.

I honestly thought that CG had one of the best rosters, excluding the insane "implosive" roster that Echo Fox got, so I was still high on them, even after their awful losses. To me, they've already proven themselves to be a top tier team. The organization as a whole and the consistent play I've seen out of this roster has given me that faith they they will perform at the highest level they possibly can, even if they lose. GGS on the other hand, I thought would come into the split on a winning high and then fall off come the end of the split. However, I think it's better it turned out this way as it means that GGS actually are steadily improving to be quite a scary team and with Hai on the roster, I can always expect crazy plays. This team is one step away from being a Gigabyte Marines style of team and I like that a lot.

Overall, I think the league as a whole has been upgraded, seeing as I'm rooting for both bottom and top tier teams. On any given day, if the playoffs were a one off thing every week, I could see just about any team winning it all depending on how good their performance is on any given week. That makes this season all the more exciting and I can't wait to see where my favorite four teams will end up come the end of this season. It sure to be a good one with no teams with a terrible record going into the next split.

DilwoahMar 18, 20181 votes

It's actually not good for the GAME at all. It's good for viewership and the storyline and for riot and tencents pockets. It's terrible for the competitive scene itself and our chances at worlds.

TrollFan01Mar 14, 20182 votes

I laughed so hard at option D

Pollo FrescoMar 14, 20182 votes

Option D is the most logical one :p

RiotPwnLoveMar 14, 20183 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pollo Fresco,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=XEPpRkuf,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2018-03-14T16:22:02.284+0000)

Option D is the most logical one :p

It's the most faithful option :P

RiotPwnLoveMar 14, 20183 votes

{quoted}

I laughed so hard at option D

Glad you liked it - Option D was my contribution, hehehe [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

EsaulMar 14, 20182 votes

I do miss bo3’s. I think that shows more definitively who the top tier teams are. Right now NA has been described as quiet or even chaotic. We don’t know for sure who the top teams are. While bo1 fluctuates that and allows other teams opportunities to climb to the top, especially new orgs, I feel it doesn’t show as much in comparison to like LCK or LMS. While NA is behind the structure of esports relative to Korea, for a real chance at worlds, they need to have more rigorous structure than bo1’s. Look at both first and second place teams. They fell to bottom tier teams. They got complacent. This should not happen. Just my thoughts.

SciFi ScrivenerMar 14, 20181 votes

I understand what you are saying, but I think the Bo5 play offs will separate the top teams from the rest. In the end NA will send their best team to MSI. I was opposed to Bo1 when it was first announced, but I have to admit it has been a lot better experience this split, as a viewer. I'm confident the 6 teams going to the playoffs will be better than the 4 staying home. Bo1 did it's job, now we'll see who can handle Bo5 in the play offs.

Dane BelthoundMar 15, 20181 votes

We have seen BO1s in NA LCS before. NA gets to any international event and they would collapse once they got to BO3 or 5 matches because they lacked the experience of having to adjust to a team throughout the course of several matches. When we went to BO3, it felt like they struggled in the BO1 round robin. I don't know what the answer is honestly. It seems no matter what, NA struggles in some aspect of the tournament.

C9 Squeeky Mar 17, 20182 votes

Option D should say "Have Doubt" Because Doubt = Faith. Counter Logic.

Pollo FrescoMar 14, 20181 votes

This is worth watching now!!! I can't wait to see the full results. I stayed away from watching when I saw everyone pick the same champs, but now things are back on track. I now see Darius Draven Veigar Volibear Olaf all up in the mix and man the diversity is awesome. I finally get to see some of these champions played in a professional level. Now if only someone picked Aatrox or Tryndamere wouldn't that be cool? [zombie-brand-mindblown]

Nate GGMar 14, 20181 votes

It's is great for the scene that the 3 teams that were pegged to be the best by far prior to the season starting (TSM, TL and CLG) are the 3 teams fighting for the last playoff spot. It means that more brands will have the opportunity to compete and I love seeing teams like Clutch and 100T at the top.

SilentNight102Mar 15, 20182 votes

TSM has never thrived in a Bo1 environment, they are the best in NA at adaption in a series, thus why they have constantly made finals.

SewbeatMar 17, 20181 votes

While I think this won't happen wouldn't it be interesting if: TL and TSM win both of their matches this weekend, C9 and Fox lose both of matches, and CG beats 100T. You would have a six-way tie for first with all 6 teams having 11 wins. Like I said this is unlikely but wow it would make things wild.