As the final week of the NA LCS regular season approaches, nine out of the ten teams will jockey for preferential seeding — be it in the playoffs or the upcoming promotion tournament. Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming will do battle for the coveted first round bye, while Team Solomid will try to avoid an early match with Immortals at all costs. Even the bottom three teams, destined to fight with their LCS spots at stake, will have massive seeding implications in the promotion tournament.

With so many hopes on the line, we’ve got everything you need to know for the final week of NA LCS.

The Battle for the Bye — C9 and CLG

The current NA LCS Playoff Picture. 

Although Immortals (15-1) locked down the top seed in the playoffs, C9 and CLG are tied at 11-5 for the second seed bye. Both teams can control their own destiny by winning both their matches. However, if they end the week with a matching record, a tiebreaker would be forced for the all-important bye. The third seed is not a bad position, though, as the loser of the tiebreaker would only face the sixth seed in the quarterfinals, while avoiding Immortals until the LCS Spring Finals in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The schedules for both teams are manageable, as CLG will take on NRG (8-8) and Team Dignitas (4-12). C9 might have trouble with a surging Echo Fox (6-10) and a Team Liquid (8-8) that could be risking a tiebreaker scenario for sixth. Given the unpredictable nature of this split, none of these matches should be considered a guaranteed win. 

TSM has a puncher’s chance to force a three-way tie for second. However, they need 0-2 weeks from CLG and C9, while also managing victories over Immortals and NRG. In the case of divine intervention, a three-way tie is settled by a single round-robin. If the round-robin proves futile, then the teams will be randomly drawn into a single elimination bracket where one team will have a first round bye, according to Rule 7.3.3 of the LCS Ruleset. 

The Seeding Shuffle — TSM, NRG, TL and Echo Fox

Team Liquid will clinch a playoff berth with a win or an Echo Fox loss -- Riot Games

This is where the bracket gets dicey. NRG and TL find themselves tied at 8-8 — one game behind TSM for fourth place. To prevent the likely possibility of teams “sandbagging” to avoid certain sides of the bracket, Riot had impeccable foresight to institute a reseed for the semifinal brackets, pitting the lowest remaining seed vs the top seed. Due to the rule change, the fourth or fifth seed must rely on a sixth seed upset to have any chance of avoiding Immortals. 

TSM’s match-up vs Immortals could produce an upset. While Immortals has only pride to play for, TSM must beat the eventual regular season champs to keep ground on NRG and TL. TSM will face off against NRG in their final match-up of the season. Barring a TSM win and an NRG loss on day one, the winner of this map will earn preferential seeding in round one of the playoffs — as NRG would earn the head-to-head tiebreaker over TSM with a win. TL will have a tough time beating C9, meaning TSM is realistically in the driver’s seat in their final week. 

In case this wasn’t interesting enough, TL and NRG have yet to clinch a playoff berth. Both 8-8 teams split the season series with Echo Fox, leaving the door open for a two or three-way tie for the final playoff berths. Echo Fox would need to overcome C9, but their second matchup with the new-look Renegades is winnable. Despite not controlling their own destiny, Echo Fox’s path to the playoffs requires only two upsets — their C9 match and TL’s vs Dignitas. If TL manages to beat Dignitas, Rick Fox’s darlings would rely on CLG and TSM to force NRG into a winner-take-all tiebreak match. 

Bracing for Relegations - Team Impulse, Dignitas and Renegades

The Aquisition of Seraph and Ninja has brought new life to the Renegades -- Riot Games

With the Challengers for the Regional Qualifier tournament determined, Team Impulse, Dignitas and Renegades will be clawing at each other for the eighth seed in the tournament. TIP would need a miracle win over Immortals to swipe the safe seventh seed from Echo Fox, but Echo Fox owns the head-to-head, in the case of a tiebreaker. 

With the additions of Seraph and Ninja, Renegades might have a shot at battling their way to the eighth seed. A win over TIP and Echo Fox would bring them to 5-13. There, they would own a tiebreaker with TIP. Dignitas will try to play spoiler against TL and CLG, but their season will likely end at 4-14.

The importance of the eighth seed cannot be overstated. The tenth seed will be forced into a Bo5 elimination series vs Team Dragon Knights. The winner of the series will to face the eighth seed and the loser is eliminated. The ninth seed will be forced to play Apex Gaming in their own Bo5. The losers of these BO5’s will fight for the final LCS slot in the Summer Split. The risk associated with the single-elimination bracket makes the tenth seed an unreliable way to qualify, whereas the ninth seed will have to get by a formidable foe in Apex. 

Every match-up in this week’s NA LCS will have major seeding implications going forward. Playoff hopes and LCS dreams will be at stake for every team not named Immortals. The playoff picture is certainly a jumbled one, but it will all be settled come Sunday night. 

If you enjoyed this piece, connect with the author at @ESHSmitty.