The 10-week-long group stage has drawn to a close, and we have our final 12 competitors for the playoffs. A lot of money ($100,000) and even more prestige is on the line for these western teams, and a win here means you get invited to the prestigious MSI tournament.
The LCS spring split quarterfinals kick off April 8th for both EU and NA and will be played every Saturday and Sunday for the next three weeks. The EU finals will take place at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, UK. The NA finals will be held all the way up north in Vancouver, Canada at the Pacific Coliseum.
There were no immediate surprises among the qualified teams except for perhaps Team Dignitas who sent Immortals packing. There was a lot of talk about whether or not Roccat would qualify, but that dream was shattered when Fnatic lost against G2. Instead, it will be Fnatic taking their place in the playoffs.
In North America, we saw an impressive Team Dignitas who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and qualified, albeit as the lowest seed. Aside from Dignitas, the playoffs are filled with the expected teams. Phoenix1 can be seen as an outlier since this was their first split and no one expected them to perform this well.
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The Quarterfinals
The first game will start 11 AM EST April 8th so be sure to set your alarm clock if you want to see the matches! There will be two matches played on Saturday and another 2 on Sunday, one game from each region (NA and EU).
All matches will be broadcasted live on Riot Games Twitch channel as well as their Youtube channel.
Misfits vs Splyce (April 8 17:00 CEST)
Both these teams had a so-so last three weeks during the group stage, so it is only fitting they get to meet each other in the first round. While both of these teams are sure to put up a fight we believe that Misfits has the upper hand here. We’ve seen Splyce do a full 360 in playoffs before and nearly winning it – but that was almost a year ago.
Odds: bet365 2.00 | Betway 2.05
Phoenix1 vs Dignitas (April 8 12:00 PDT)
Team Dignitas is by far the weakest team in the playoffs, and they’ll be facing P1 – a team that just recently beat Dignitas and has the highest seed in the quarterfinals. P1 did show some signs of fragility during the last weeks, but it was against top teams.
Odds: bet365 1.40 | Betway 1.40
H2k-Gaming vs Fnatic (April 9 17:00 CEST)
Fnatic barely made it to the playoffs but after a win against Misfits and a certain other team losing they made it through as the lowest seed. We’ve got a situation similar to the P1 vs. DIG match, and unfortunately, the underdogs are looking to lose here as well. Unless Fnatic made extensive adjustments to their strategy, this is going to be a quick win for H2k.
Odds: bet365 1.33 | Betway 1.35
Counter Logic Gaming vs FlyQuest eSports (April 9 12:00 PDT)
By all accounts, this is looking to be the most intense meetup of the quarterfinals. Both CLG and Fly have shown similar performance throughout the last few weeks with the exception being a match where CLG beat Fly 2-0. While CLG most likely has the edge in this meetup, it’s not by a lot, and Flyquest can definitely grab a victory here. Flyquest also has excellent odds that offer a big payout, so we’ll stick with them.
