League of Legends: 100 Thieves Next Gears up for UPL Playoffs
By s. samek
100 Thieves Next continues their dominating League of Legends play in the UPL, but now the playoffs loom.
When I first introduced you to 100 Thieves Next (aka “100 Next”), I said a lot of the LCS teams should follow suit in adding amateur teams below the academy rosters. I then watched the first couple of weeks of their matches as they dominated winning both matchups in convincing fashion in 2-0 sweeps. Well with the Upsurge Premier League (“UPL”) – an amateur and collegiate League of Legends tournament in North America – now hitting the playoffs, let’s look at 100 Next’s season and what are the next steps for this team.
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Well, sorry for the spoiler in the title, but 100 Next did indeed make the UPL playoffs. They finished 6-0 in match play to finish first in the Ocean Division during regular season play. They also didn’t drop a game during this time going 12-0. Only one other team in the UPL Orgless went undefeated at 6-0, but they finished 12-2 in games, giving 100Thieves Next the top record during the round-robin.
The UPL playoffs are double elimination with eight of 16 teams making the playoffs. The quarterfinals are best of three, while the semifinals and finals are best of five.
100 Next’s challenger in the first round is going to be First Blood Crusade, the second-place team from the Cloud Division. First Blood Crusade went 4-2 with an 8-4 game record and also have a notable player in ADC Toàn “Asta “Trần, a former LCS player with Optic Gaming and Immortals.
It should help this team to play against a player that has seen LCS time to test their skills. Though I would still think 100 Next is the favorite to advance, after such a strong regular season.
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The four opening matches of the UPL playoffs take place on March 17th, 2020 at 8 PM Eastern Time. You can view them here.