Cloud9, TSM keep pressure on Liquid in LCS

Cloud9 and Team SoloMid remained in the chase for first place in the League of Legends Championship Series’ Summer Split by posting wins Friday as the final regular-season weekend began.

Both Cloud9, who beat Dignitas, and TSM, who defeated Golden Guardians, are 12-5 with one match remaining. They are chasing Team Liquid, who are 13-3 with two matches to go.

Cloud9 got Week 9 started with a narrow victory over Dignitas, needing 41 minutes and actually winding up with one fewer kill than Dignitas, 13-12. But Cloud9 had 2,500 more gold, 73.6K to 71.1K. Playing on red, Dignitas got a 5/2/4 kill-death-assist ratio from Canadian top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie, who was playing as Gangplank. Fellow Canadian Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen, an ADC, led Dignitas with a 5/1/7 as Ashe.

Dignitas (4-13) are alone in last place but still could tie for the eighth and final playoff position. Golden Guardians (9-8) had already wrapped up a postseason berth.

The 10 teams in the North American-based LCS Summer Split are playing a double round robin of best-of-one matches through Aug. 9. The top eight teams will advance to the double-elimination playoffs, scheduled for Aug. 13-Sept. 6.

The first- and second-place teams will receive byes into the second round of the winners bracket. The third- through sixth-place teams will open in the first round of the winners bracket, and the seventh- and eighth-place teams will begin in the first round of the losers bracket. Liquid, Cloud9, Team SoloMid, FlyQuest and Golden Guardians have all clinched spots in the winners bracket.

All playoff matches will be best-of-five.

The two playoff finalists will earn spots in the League of Legends World Championship, scheduled to be played in China at a date to be announced. The third-place team will advance to the Worlds play-in event.

The Summer Split regular season has eight matches remaining:

Saturday

—100 Thieves vs. Dignitas

—Golden Guardians vs. Evil Geniuses

—Team Liquid vs. Immortals

—FlyQuest vs. Counter Logic Gaming

Sunday

—100 Thieves vs. Evil Geniuses

—Counter Logic Gaming vs. Cloud9

—Team Liquid vs. Team SoloMid

—FlyQuest vs. Immortals

League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split standings:

1. Team Liquid, 13-3

T2. Cloud9, 12-5

T2. Team SoloMid, 12-5

4. FlyQuest, 10-6

5. Golden Guardians, 9-8

6. Evil Geniuses, 7-9

7. 100 Thieves, 6-10

8. Counter Logic Gaming, 5-11

9. Immortals, 4-12

10. Dignitas, 4-13

—Field Level Media

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source: reuters.com