Cloud9 guaranteed itself no worse than a tie for the top spot in the regular-season standings on Thursday, beating Immortals on the penultimate day of the League of Legends League Championship Series Spring Split.
Cloud9 improved to 14-3 in the event, one game ahead of FlyQuest (a winner over Golden Guardians on Thursday). Cloud9 beat FlyQuest on Wednesday to get the inside track on the top seed.
The regular season ends on Friday.
The 10 teams in the top North American League of Legends circuit play every other team twice through Friday. The first- through fourth-place teams will then head to the upper-bracket semifinals of the double-elimination playoffs. The fifth- and sixth-place teams will enter the playoffs in the lower bracket.
The winner and runner-up in the playoff final will earn berths in the Mid-Season Invitational along with other teams from LoL leagues worldwide. The LCS Spring Split carries a $200,000 prize pool, with the champion earning $100,000.
Cloud9 needed only 27 minutes to get by Immortals while playing on blue. (All five winners on Thursday played on blue). Four players registered multiple kills for Cloud9, led by Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami’s 5/1/7 kills/deaths/assists ratio. Shane Kenneth “Kenvi” Espinoza did the most damage for Immortals with a 4/1/2.
FlyQuest, also playing on blue, also finished off its opponent in 27 minutes. Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang posted a 6/4/11 and Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan went for a 5/4/10 for FlyQuest, while GG’s Kim “Gori” Tae-woo tied for the match high in kills with a 6/1/6.
The battle for the final two berths into the upper-bracket semis tightened up, however, as 100 Thieves beat Evil Geniuses (10-7) to close to within a game of third place, while GG and CLG sit with 100 Thieves at 9-8.
100 Thieves took 41 minutes to dispatch EG, with Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng putting up another monster game with a 10/1/5 (he posted an 11/2/9 a day earlier). EG’s Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme went for a 3/5/4 in the loss.
CLG beat Team Liquid in 41 minutes, as well. Cristian “Palafox” Palafox led the way with a 7/2/5, while Harry “Haeri” Kang put up a 4/6/3 in the loss.
TSM beat Dignitas in 29 minutes in a battle of teams already eliminated. Jonathan “Chime” Pomponio did not get a kill but had 11 assists for the winners, while Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen posted a 3/4/2 for Dignitas.
Friday’s matches:
–CLG vs. Cloud9
–TSM vs. FlyQuest
–Team Liquid vs. Evil Geniuses
–Dignitas vs. Golden Guardians
–Immortals vs. 100 Thieves
League Championship Series (LCS) Spring Split group-stage standings
1. Cloud9, 14-3
2. FlyQuest, 13-4
3. Evil Geniuses, 10-7
t4. CLG, 9-8
t4. Golden Guardians, 9-8
t4. 100 Thieves, 9-8
7. TSM, 8-9
8. Team Liquid, 7-10
9. Immortals, 4-13
10. Dignitas, 2-15
–Field Level Media
