Results Needed For Your Favorite LCK Team To Make Worlds!

This is not a playoff preview article! This article is designed to look at the possible paths left to qualify for worlds for every team in LCK. Hopefully this gives fans a good understanding of what is necessary for their favorite team to make worlds. Shown below is the LCK Summer 2015 playoff bracket and down a bit more is a list of how seeds are determined in qualifying for worlds. Enjoy!

Ways to Qualify:

First Seed: Win the Champions Summer playoffs

Second Seed: Have the highest combined circuit points from Spring and Summer seasons.

Third Seed: Win the Korean Regional playoffs (Wildcard Tournament)

SK Telecom: Minimum Points:180: Qualified

They win Champions Summer Playoffs. (1st Seed)

or

Finish Second place in Champions Summer Playoffs. (2nd Seed)

As most people know STK have already locked in a spot at worlds this October; however, the seed they receive to represent Korea is still undecided. By finishing first place over the LCK Summer regular season SK Telecom have guaranteed a spot in the Summer playoff finals, which in terms of circuit points, gives them a very minimum of 90, so 180 in total adding their Spring points. No team can pass 180 circuit points in any scenario, thus giving SKT the reward of LCK’s second seed at worlds. It’s important to remember that the second seed is still far less desirable than a first seed because it leaves the potential of getting drawn into a group with the Chinese, European, or North American top team. SKT can however rather easily lock down the number one seed for Korea by winning the LCK Summer playoff finals at the end of August. Something most fans and critics still expect them to accomplish.

TL;DR: SKT fans should already be celebrating because they’ve made worlds. Aim to win Summer playoffs for additional hype!

CJ Entus: Minimum Points: 90

They win Champions Summer Playoffs. (1st Seed)

or

Finish Second place in Champions Summer Playoffs. (2nd Seed)

or

Finish Third Place in Champions Summer Playoffs, and SKT wins Champions Summer. (2nd Seed)

or

Finish fourth place in Champions Summer Playoffs, and win the Korean Regional Playoffs. (3rd Seed)

CJ Entus is surprisingly the next most likely group to punch their tickets to worlds based on their circuit points and gauntlet position. Having finished third in the Summer season, CJ is already in the semi playoffs. This alone is nice, but based on the fact that they have a massive circuit point lead on KT Rolster, and a gauntlet placement advantage on KOO Tigers, there are a lot of ways CJ can find themselves on the worlds stage so long as they win a single best of five in these playoffs. If they knock out the winner of the KOO Tigers vs NaJin e-mFire match, they’ll be clear of those teams for the rest of the season, and will clinch at the very minimum a spot in the finals for the Korean Regional playoffs later next month. At best they’ll beat KT Rolster and automatically qualify, but even if they lose the playoff semifinals, CJ will still be guaranteed a spot at the world finals unless KT Rolster can upset SK Telecom in the finals. Things can still take a turn for the worse if CJ fail to win their opening match against KOO or NaJin, as it would certainly guarantee them having to play multiple rounds in the Regional playoffs to even have a chance.

TL;DR: The semi playoffs are undoubtedly the key to a worlds run for CJ, and it’s a best of five that the tortured CJ fan base will have to wait for with optimism and anxiety, more so of the latter.  

KOO Tigers: Minimum Points: 90

They win Champions Summer Playoffs (1st Seed)

or

Finish Second place in Champions Summer Playoffs. (2nd Seed)

or

Finish Third Place in Champions Summer Playoffs, and SKT wins Champions Summer. (2nd Seed)

or

Finish Fourth Place or lower in Champions Summer Playoffs, and win the Korean Regional Playoffs. (3rd Seed)

KOO Tigers have a good amount of circuit points based on their second place finish in Spring; however, they’ll still need to make a good run in these playoffs for it to mean anything. If this team wants to have a shot at making worlds without playing in the Regional playoffs, they’ll need to win the upcoming best of three with NaJin and then take down CJ Entus in the semi playoffs. Those two results are a must, otherwise KOO will be forced to climb the much faster paced gauntlet next month. If they do make it to the semifinals, then they’ll have more than a decent chance of getting in, as they’ll have the second most circuit points guaranteed, meaning that unless KT Rolster beats SK Telecom in the final, KOO Tigers will be on a plane to Europe this fall. KOO will need to be winning straight off the bat in these playoffs to make that a reality, and if they fall in either of the first two rounds. Then a low seed in the Korean Regionals will be their fate, and that generally means a rough go.

TL;DR: For a KOO Tigers fan, winning against NaJin and CJ is an absolute must, because a low seed in Regionals likely spells trouble.

KT Rolster: Minimum Points: 80

They win Champions Summer Playoffs. (1st Seed)

or

Finish Second place in Champions Summer Playoffs, and CJ Entus finish Fourth, and KOO finish Fifth. (2nd Seed)

or

Finish Third Place in Champions Summer Playoffs, and win the Korean Regional Playoffs. (3rd Seed)

KT Rolster is actually in a somewhat awkward spot despite securing a guaranteed top three finish in playoffs. Because they only managed a measly 10 circuit points in the Spring season, it’s really unlikely they can secure the number two seed for having the most circuit points. Literally as long as KOO Tigers or CJ Entus advance even a single round, it will not be possible. So the only way for KT to secure the number two seed is if NaJin upset both KOO and CJ, and then fall to KT Rolster. Based on the unlikeliness of that scenario playing out, KT Rolster rather has their hand forced into trying to win in the Summer playoff finals against SK Telecom, because finishing runner up won’t be enough. This is a team that must set their eyes on getting to the final, and beating SKT if they want to qualify this month. The only good side to finishing runner up or third is that KT will almost certainly be the top seed at the Korean Regional playoffs, so while beating SK Telecom is the clearest path at the moment, they’ll at least have another good chance against a different team in September if they fail.

TL;DR: KT Rolster fans should have their eyes set on beating SKT in these playoffs, if they can’t pull it off, they will still be in a good spot to try and win the Regional playoffs.

NaJin e-mFire: Minimum Points:  30

They win Champions Summer Playoffs. (1st Seed)

or

Finish Second place in Champions Summer Playoffs. (2nd Seed)

or

Finish Third Place or lower in Champions Summer Playoffs, and win the Korean Regional Playoffs. (3rd Seed)

The road for NaJin is pretty daunting again. They still can secure an automatic berth in these playoffs, but it will take, simply put, an amazing run to pull it off. The easiest road is to knock out KOO Tigers, CJ Entus, and KT Rolster all back to back to back, to pass all three of those teams up in circuit points. If they make it that far then they can try for the big prize and perhaps pull an upset against SK Telecom. The thing is that NaJin have to make it to the playoff finals to secure anything at this point. It’s much more realistic to start looking ahead to the Regional playoffs to see if NaJin can replicate the magic from last year and slip into worlds from the backdoor. As things currently stand NaJin would be bottom of the Regional gauntlet as well, and that literally won’t change unless they finish second place in these playoffs, which as mentioned before, would actually just automatically qualify them for worlds. NaJin e-mFire is honestly going to need some kind of miracle run, the good news is that they have two chances to do it, and that this team actually has a history of pulling it off.

TL;DR: Fans should be hoping that NaJin can repeat history and make a winning run in either Summer playoffs or Regionals.  

Jin Air Green Wings: Finishing Points: 50

They win the Korean Regional Playoffs. (3rd Seed)

Well we’ve reached the bottom of the hope bucket and have made our way to Jin Air. In all honesty Jin Air is out of worlds this year and should be looking to improve for the upcoming year’s cycle. However, they still have a tiny chance so we should entertain it at the least. If you weren’t aware, Jin Air failed to make the Summer Playoffs after a sixth place finish in regular season play. This gives them 20 circuit points as a consolation prize and eliminates them from securing a first or second seed as a Korean representative at worlds. They still have enough (any) circuit points to be invited to the Korean Regional tournament, where they are already locked in to start from the very bottom of that gauntlet. Whereas at least NaJin gets two shots at a miracle, Jin Air gets just a single chance. That’s not to say it’s impossible for them, to cite last year’s Regionals again, we know all too well that if a team catches fire they can pull it off, but realistically speaking there’s not much hope for Jin Air.

TL;DR: Fans of Jin Air should either go buy a lottery ticket or start looking towards next year.

Samsung Galaxy, Rebels Anarchy, Longzhu IM, and SBENU Sonicboom: Finishing Points: 0

Better luck next year!

I hope this article helped emphasize the significance of every result in the upcoming LCK Summer playoffs. Each match has huge implications to how likely every teams chances are of getting into words. Most importantly, I wish the best of luck to whichever team you are rooting for!

Thanks for reading and please check out my twitter @ablindpuppy for more LCK related content!

Sources

esportspedia : General Information, Pictures

LOL Ongamenet: Pictures