LCS Summer 2020 Playoffs: Breaking Down the Playoff Picture

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 1: — during 2020 LCS Spring Split at the LCS Arena on February 1, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.. (Photo by Tina Jo/Riot Games) /

The last week of LCS Summer 2020 has a lot at stake with spots in the playoffs still up for grabs.

The LCS is down to just one week of action left after Sunday’s games. With each team having two more games to play and eight of the ten teams earning a spot in the playoffs, the race for the playoffs still looks wide open. Let’s break down each team’s chances of making the Summer 2020 playoffs!

Team Liquid

Team Liquid sits in first place at 13-3 after a 2-0 Week 8 performance. They’re two games ahead of TSM and Cloud9 for the top seed in the bracket. A single win will clinch the top spot, which with Immortals on the schedule, looks likely to happen.

TSM is Liquid’s other Week 9 match, but only matters for seeding if Liquid and TSM both lose their first games of the week. TSM would then have to beat Liquid to force a tie-breaker for the top seed. Team Liquid is pretty much safe to make the playoffs.

Cloud9

Well, Cloud9 is having a down split after a great spring. Though they still sit at 11-5 and tied for a second they’re currently on a three-game slide.

A 2-0 weekend is must needed for Cloud9 to take the top spot and luckily they have CLG and Dignitas left on their Week 9 schedule. But even if they can win both games, they would have to play tiebreakers with TSM and Team Liquid if both those teams finish at 13-5. Cloud9 is pretty safe in terms of making the playoffs, but they have some work to do for the top seed or a first-round bye.

TSM

TSM is pretty much in the same boat as Cloud9 except that their path to a 2-0 Week 9 goes through Golden Guardians and Team Liquid, both teams they lost against earlier this split. Riding a four-game winning streak, I feel TSM may be getting warmed up for a playoff run. I would call it a must-watch match between TSM and TL this weekend, as that’s the game that would largely determine the seedings. TSM is safely in playoffs though, but I feel they want the best possible seed to maximize a run for a Worlds spot.

FlyQuest

At 10-6 they sit in fourth place, a game behind Cloud9 and TSM and a game ahead of fifth-place Golden Guardians. They have a pretty forgiving Week 9 schedule in Immortals and CLG, so 12-6 is a real possibility.

As far as seeding Flyquest can’t do worst than fifth and could place as high as second. However second place is pretty much a given if TSM and Cloud9 both go winless, which may be a bit less likely to happen. However, a 2-0 weekend gives them a six-game winning streak heading into the playoffs and could do wonders for their momentum.

It’s also worth noting during the Spring Spit FlyQuest came into the playoffs as the fourth-seed and ran the table in the loser’s bracket to win a spot in finals. So if they are seeded a bit lower I wouldn’t sleep on them.

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