The Golden Guardians snagged the final playoff berth on the last day of the group stage at the League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split on Sunday.
The Guardians began the day tied with the Immortals for eighth place, with Dignitas another game behind. The Immortals (4-14) lost to Counter Logic Gaming (11-7) in the first match of the day, giving the Guardians their opening.
The Guardians (5-13) took advantage, defeating Dignitas (3-15) to lock up their slot in the playoffs, which begin Aug. 20.
Seventh-place TSM (6-12) and the Guardians will begin the playoffs in the lower bracket of the double-elimination tournament, meaning they’re out with just one loss.
The top two teams, Evil Geniuses (15-3) and 100 Thieves (14-4), get byes in the first round of the playoffs and will start in the upper-bracket semifinals.
On Sunday, the Geniuses knocked off Cloud9, and the Thieves defeated Team Liquid (12-6). FlyQuest won the day’s other match over TSM (6-12) to add more drama to the final day of qualifying.
With Cloud9 and FlyQuest tied for fifth at 10-8, they played a tiebreaker, and Cloud9 prevailed. As a result, FlyQuest must take on Liquid to open the playoffs, while Cloud9 draws Counter Logic Gaming.
The Guardians were playing on red and defeated Dignitas in 39 minutes. Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes of the U.S. led the win with a kills/deaths/assists ratio of 8/3/4. Ersin “Blue” Goren of Belgium posted a 7/2/4 for Dignitas.
Counter Logic Gaming played on blue and defeated the Immortals in 34 minutes. Cristian “Palafox” Palafox of the U.S. and Fatih “Luger” Guven of Turkey each had five kills for CLG, while no player had more than two kills for the Immortals.
Kacper “Inspired” Sloma of Poland posted a KDA of 10/1/8 in the Geniuses’ win in 45 minutes on blue. Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami of Australia registered a 4/4/7 for Cloud9.
Playing on red, the Thieves won their match in 39 minutes. Victor “FBI” Huang of Australia led the way with a 6/2/15, while Steven “Hans sama” Liv of France led all players at 8/3/3 for Liquid.
Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen of Canada had a strong 13/4/4 as FlyQuest, playing on red, defeated TSM in 36 minutes. Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang of Taiwan posted a 7/3/5 for TSM.
LCS 2022 Summer Standings:
1. Evil Geniuses, 15-3
2. 100 Thieves, 14-4
3. Team Liquid, 12-6
4. Counter Logic Gaming, 11-7
5. Cloud9, 11-8*
6. FlyQuest, 10-9*
7. TSM, 6-12
8. Golden Guardians, 5-13
9. Immortals, 4-14
10. Dignitas, 3-15
*Cloud9 won playoff
–Field Level Media
