Photo Credit: Game Spot
With Worlds right around the corner, the summer playoffs for every region are hotly contested. For many regions, the winner of the summer season playoffs are given the top spot to worlds while placing high gives teams a generous portion of circuit points to determine the additional spots. Each region has their own way of setting up their playoff brackets and their own unique rules to determine their Worlds’ representatives.
NA LCS and EU LCS
Photo Credit: Pax Gaming
The two regions of LCS uses a traditional tournament bracket format to conduct their summer playoffs. The top two teams receive a bye for the first round of the tournament and are placed directly into the semifinals. The teams who finished 3rd to 6th place in the regular season play against each other in the quarterfinals to determine who gets to move on to the semis. The highest ranked seed plays against the lowest ranked seed in each round of the playoffs in accordance with a normal tournament format. The winner gets a direct spot in worlds as the top representative of their respective region of the LCS, while the other places receive circuit points. The summer and spring season circuit points are added up and the next highest teams receive the remaining Worlds’ spots.
LCK
As the strongest League of Legends region, the teams Korea sends to Worlds have to maintain top form in both seasons of the LCS. Korea use a gauntlet system to distribute their circuit points and determine their Worlds’ representatives. Simply put, 4th and 5th place play the first match with the winner playing against the 3rd place from the regular season and so on. The gauntlet playoffs makes every single position in the regular seasons very important, as just being one place lower results in an additional game needed to be played to reach the finals. This format rewards teams that consistently finish high in the regular seasons by placing them high in the gauntlet.
LPL
The LPL combines both the tournament and gauntlet formats in their playoffs. Their regular season uses two groups and the top two team receives a bye to the semifinals while the second place teams in the groups receive a bye to the quarterfinals. The playoffs uses a double-sided gauntlet bracket to determine the two teams in the grand finals. The teams that lose in the semifinals play a match to determine the 3rd place team.
LMS
The South East Asia region of the LMS also uses a gauntlet to determine their Worlds’ representatives. The top four teams enter the gauntlet with the 2nd place team of the regular season getting a bye to the semifinals and the 1st place team a bye to the grand finals. This year, the LMS will be getting three spots at Worlds which they gained by wrestling a spot away from the EU LCS at the Mid-Season Invitational.
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