The North American LCS took a short halt recently. This break was required as the league matches normally take place at the Los Angeles studio with a live audience. One of the initial options was to not have a crowd, but it became clear isolation of all staff and players was necessary.
How this was tackled
The NA LCS took a couple of weeks of with the background staff working together to brainstorm ways of overcoming the current situation. For a few weeks’ majority of sporting events and esports events were being played behind closed doors.
On March 17th, it was confirmed that the LCS and it’s academy series would resume but with games being played out online. Shortly after this the LEC (European Franchised League of Legends League), confirmed that their matches would also be played out online.
How the standings weigh up
The LCS Spring Split was already an interesting one with how teams were performing and the run to playoffs was becoming incredibly exciting. The final week of action in the regular season didn’t disappoint.
We seen teams leapfrog each other up and down the standings, as they battled it out for the most crucial seeding places heading into playoffs.
The regular season finished like this:
| Place | Team | Record |
| 1st | Cloud9 | 17-1 |
| 2nd | Evil Geniuses | 10-8 |
| 3rd | 100 Thieves | 10-8 |
| 4th | FlyQuest | 10-8 |
| 5th | Team SoloMid (TSM) | 9-9 |
| 6th | Golden Guardians | 8-10 |
| 7th | Dignitas | 8-10 |
| 8th | Immortals | 8-10 |
| 9th | Team Liquid | 7-11 |
| 10th | Counter Logic Gaming | 3-15 |
Cloud9 rounded off the regular season with an impressive 17-1 record, looking considerably stronger than anyone else. The downfall of Team Liquid was the biggest surprise this split. Liquid went from winning all of the playoffs since franchising (4) to coming second last.
Playoffs thus far
Round 1 of playoffs has recently been completed, and there was a sliglthy different format this time around. Instead of the #1 and #2 seed advancing through to the semi finals, the #1 to #4 seeds faced off in the first round of Winners Bracket; whilst seed #5 and #6 waited in the Losers Bracket.
Results:
Round 1 Winner’s Bracket:
- Cloud9 3 – 0 100 Thieves
- Evil Geniuses 3 – 1 FlyQuest
Round Losers Bracket:
- FlyQuest 3 – 0 Golden Guardians
- 100 Thieves 2 – 3 TSM
The Winners Bracket & Losers Bracket semi-finals are up next. Cloud9 clash with Evil Geniuses in the winners bracket, with TSM battling FlyQuest for survival.
