The 2020 LCS Spring Split saw a pretty huge amount of disruption, as so many events did due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally being held as an in-person event per usual, the matches eventually had to be broadcast from a public-excluded studio in keeping with new government guidelines to help fight against the spreading pandemic.
Thankfully, this reorganization didn’t greatly affect the tournament, and we still have our finalists for the tournament. The first round of matches will take place soon, with games on April 4th, 5th, and 7th.
ICYMI: The 2020 #LCS Spring Playoffs schedule for round one. All matches begin at 1PM PDT / 10PM CEST.
Sat, April 4- @FlyQuest vs @EvilGeniuses
Sun, April 5- @100Thieves vs @Cloud9
Tue, April 7- @GoldenGuardians vs Loser of FLY vs EG
Wed, April 8- @TSM vs Loser of 100 vs C9 pic.twitter.com/tTQJzH3TjL
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) April 4, 2020
After these matches, we’ll move to the next stage of the bracket on Saturday, April 11th, where the winners of the first two matches will battle against each other. The winner will move onto the finals of the tournament, but in the meantime, we’ll have the loser’s bracket to watch.
On Sunday, April 12th, the winner of Match 3 (April 7th) and Match 4 (April 8th) will play against each other. The winner will move onto the finals against whoever wins on the 11th, while the loser will continue on to see who gets runner up as the victor of the lower bracket on Saturday, April 18th.
April 19th will be the day that we get to see the champion crowned. The winner of Match 5 and Match 6 will go against each other, with the victor taking home the crown.
We have six teams to fill out the brackets at the moment, with Evil Geniuses and Flyquest doing battle on the first day for Match 2. The next day, Match 1 will be played between Cloud9 and 100 Thieves.
The loser of the Flyquest/Evil Geniuses matchup will go against Golden Guardians in the lower bracket. Our loser for Cloud9 and 100 Thieves will do the same against TSM.
Between these six teams, we have a pretty intense tournament on the way. Cloud9 definitely seem to be the favorites, having lost only one match this Split with a 17-1 record and 51 points. Evil Geniuses is second behind them, but it’s a far gap with only 30 points and a 10-8 record. 100 Thieves and FlyQuest share identical scores and points, so while second place is contested on paper, first place seems pretty wrapped up with Cloud9’s dominance so far.
Of course, there’s always room for an upset, and plenty of (non-Cloud9) fans might be looking for that drama. Whether you’re in it for the drama or not, though, the tournament is shaping up to have a fiery ending.
