We're on the threshold of Worlds, whittling down the last few teams to decide who will represent North America and Europe on the World's stage. Before we get into the matches this weekend, let's take an inventory of points already earned by teams from Spring Split.
Europe:
1 - 90 points - Fnatic
2 - 70 points - Unicorns of Love
3 - 50 points - H2K
4 - 30 points - SK Gaming
5 - 10 points - Gambit Gaming
6 - 10 points - Copenhagen Wolves
North America:
1 - 90 points - Team SoloMid
2 - 70 points - Cloud 9
3 - 50 points - Team Liquid
4 - 30 points - Team Impulse
5 - 10 points - Counter Logic Gaming
6 - 10 points - Gravity
Fnatic and Team SoloMid really only had to show up in the Summer Playoffs to go on to Worlds--not surprisingly, both teams have done extremely well in the competition thus far. Now, the standings with an update as to the range of points they have the chance of earning (remember that four teams are still up in the air until Sunday).
*NOTE* : Points are minimum points earned - maximum potential to earn
Europe
1 - Fnatic: 180 - Automatically Qualified
2 - Unicorns of Love: 110 - 160
3 - H2K - 90 - 120
4 - Origen - 90 - Automatically Qualified
5 - ROCCAT - 20
6 - Giants - 20
North America
1 - Team SoloMid: 180 - Automatically Qualified
2 - Counter Logic Gaming: 100 - Automatically Qualified
3 - Team Liquid: 90 - 120
4 - Team Impulse: 70 - 100
5 - Cloud 9 - 70
6 - Gravity - 20
7 - Team Dignitas - 20
*NOTE: SK Gaming, although having earned enough points to qualify as #5, didn't qualify for the Summer Playoffs and instead ended in potential relegation, which doesn't allow them to compete for the third place spot.
There's a couple of different ways this could work out--all to crazy results in both Europe and North America.
Europe
1. Fnatic wins their match, and UOL wins theirs.
- Fnatic goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- Unicorns of Love go to Worlds as the #2 seed.
- Origen, H2K, ROCCAT and Giants would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be ROCCAT vs Giants, the winner vs. H2K, then the winner vs. Origen.
- Fnatic goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- H2K goes to Worlds as the #2 seed.
- Unicorns of Love, Origen, ROCCAT and Giants would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be ROCCAT vs Giants, the winner vs. Origen, then the winner vs UOL.
- Origen goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- Fnatic goes to Worlds as the #2 seed.
- Unicorns of Love, H2K, ROCCAT and Giants would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be ROCCAT vs Giants, the winner vs. H2K, then the winner vs UOL.
- Origen goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- Fnatic goes to Worlds as the #2 seed.
- Unicorns of Love, H2K, ROCCAT and Giants would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be ROCCAT vs Giants, the winner vs. UOL, then the winner vs. H2K.
North America
1. Team SoloMid wins their match, and Team Liquid wins theirs.
- Team SoloMid goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- Team Liquid goes to Worlds as the #2 seed.
- Counter Logic Gaming, Team Impulse, Gravity, and Cloud 9 would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be Cloud 9 vs Gravity, the winner vs. Team Impulse, then the winner vs CLG.
- Team SoloMid goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- Counter Logic Gaming goes to Worlds as the #2 seed (based on gaining more points in the Summer Split than Team Impulse).
- Team Impulse, Team Liquid, Gravity, and Cloud 9 would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be Cloud 9 vs Gravity, the winner vs. Team Liquid, then the winner vs Team Impulse.
3. Counter Logic Gaming wins their match, and Team Liquid wins theirs.
- Counter Logic Gaming goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- Team SoloMid goes to Worlds as the #2 seed.
- Team Impulse, Team Liquid, Gravity, and Cloud 9 would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be Cloud 9 vs Gravity, the winner vs. Team Impulse, then the winners vs Team Liquid.
- Counter Logic Gaming goes to Worlds as the #1 seed.
- Team SoloMid goes to Worlds as the #2 seed.
- Team Impulse, Team Liquid, Gravity, and Cloud 9 would compete in a Regional Qualifier. The tournament would be Cloud 9 vs Gravity, the winner vs. Team Liquid, then the winners vs Team Impulse.
Predictions.
Fnatic vs. Origen. Although I'd like to cheer for Origen's meteoric rise through the LCS (xPeke sure can bring together an exceptional team), Fnatic has proven--quite definitively--that they are the best team in the European LCS. There's a fairly decent chance that Origen will take the first victory over Fnatic this season, but the series can end no better for them than 3-1.
Unicorns of Love vs. H2K. This is much harder to predict than who will take the top spot in Europe. Between the two, H2K is much more consistent and puts out an expected level of performance. They'd be the clear choice, if Unicorns of Love wasn't centered around the unpredictable nature of their play. The introduction of Horo has brought some stable consistency to the team, but there's still a lot of outside picks that could go to their benefit. H2K has looked a little better in the playoffs so far, but the Unicorns really fell apart at the hands of Fnatic. Either way, the series will probably end 3-2. We're favoring the Unicorns to bring their full power to bear.
Team SoloMid vs Counter Logic Gaming. The rivalry between these teams runs deep--honestly, what would a Summer Split be without an epic showdown between these two North American titans? Based on their track record through the regular season, CLG would be the better pick--but, historically, TSM has a reputation of pulling out wins in a series setting. We're going to go with TSM on this one, but it will be a bitterly fought match.
Team Liquid vs Team Impulse. Both of these teams brought their best to the forefront over the Summer--to be honest, we're a little surprised that the TSM vs TL matchup didn't go all five games--and this should be no different than before. Team Impulse has been looking excellent with their early game aggression, but Team Liquid has been playing a solid game all around throughout the Summer. They'll play at least four games, but in the end Team Liquid will most likely clinch the third place spot. This means that they'll also clinch the second seed into Worlds for North America.
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