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With several big qualifying tournaments all over the globe, the 2017 season promises to be one of the biggest Summer Splits ever. Places at the forthcoming 2017 World Championships are up for grabs, and everything will be on the line for the top League of Legends teams.
In this special preview, we will look at four of the major qualifiers in North America, Europe, China, and South Korea. Let’s begin by taking a look at how the North American Summer Split is shaping up.
2017 NA LCS Summer Split
Ten teams will contest the LCS Summer Split from June 2 through early August, and the winner automatically earns a spot in the World Championship. Teams compete over nine rounds across nine weeks in a single group. They will play each opponent twice.
The top six teams in the table at the end of the round-robin stage qualify for the LCS Summer Split Playoffs. The top two teams in the table will secure first-round byes. The seventh and eighth place teams in the table do not enter the playoffs but hold on to their LCS status for the next split event. However, the teams finishing ninth and tenth will battle it out against the top two teams from the Challenger series to retain their rights to play in the next Split event.
The teams competing in the NA LCS Summer Split are outlined below (along with their outright odds on winning the event).
- Team SoloMid (7/4)
- Cloud9 (10/3)
- Counter Logic Gaming (7/2)
- Phoenix1 (6/1)
- Team Dignitas (12/1)
- Team Liquid (25/1)
- Immortals (25/1)
- FlyQuest (40/1)
- Echo Fox (100/1)
- Team EnVyUs (200/1)
Team SoloMid are the favorites with bookmakers after their victory over Cloud9 in the Spring Playoffs. A similar result here would be enough to propel them into the World Championships in the autumn.
2017 EU LCS Summer Split
The qualifying process for the 10 teams in the European LCS Summer Split is slightly different. In Europe, the 10 teams are split into two groups of five.
The teams play each opponent in their group twice over Weeks 1-3 and 8-10 of the qualifying tournament. In the fourth-through-seventh weeks, they will play a single game against each of the five teams in the other group. All matches are best-of-three contests.
Following the 10 weeks of games, which run from June 1 through early August, the final group standings will be calculated.
The top team in each group earns a first-round bye in the Summer Playoffs. The second- and third-place teams also qualify for the playoffs. The team finishing fourth in each group does not qualify for the playoffs but will hold LCS status next season. The two teams finishing fifth will have to contest a Promotion Playoff with two teams from the second-tier league.
Here are the European teams and odds:
- G2 Esports (4/5)
- H2K (6/1)
- Unicorns of Love (8/1)
- Fnatic (10/1)
- Splyce (11/1)
- Misfits (12/1)
- Team Vitality (12/1)
- Ninjas in Pyjamas (33/1)
- Mysterious Monkeys (40/1)
- Team ROCCAT (50/1)
2017 LPL Chinese Summer Split
The Chinese Summer Split tournament has yet another different structure. There are 12 teams, six each in two groups. The teams will play each other team in their group twice during 10 weeks of action. It should be noted that the LPL event kicks off a few weeks later than other tournaments.
The winners of each group qualify for the playoffs at the semifinal stage, and the second-place team earns a quarterfinal spot. The third- and fourth-place teams play against each other for the final quarterfinal spot. (The third-place team receives a one-win advantage in that match.)
The teams finishing fifth and sixth in the each table will then face teams from the lower tier of qualifiers to retain their rights to play in the LPL next split.
Here’s the latest Outright Winner betting on the 12 teams:
- Team World Elite (9/2)
- Royal Never Give Up (5/1)
- Edward Gaming (6/1)
- Invictus Gaming (13/2)
- OMG (8/1)
- JD Gaming (9/1)
- Newbee (10/1)
- IMay (12/1)
- Snake (12/1)
- LGD Gaming (14/1)
- SN Gaming (16/1)
- DAN Gaming (25/1)
2017 LCK Korean Summer Split
Korean teams have dominated the World Championships in recent years. Reigning and three-time champions SK Telecom T1 are the favourites to defend their crown.
The qualification system for Korean teams is very similar to North America’s. All 10 teams in one group play each of their opponents twice in best-of-three matches. The top five teams in the groups qualify for the playoffs, and the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-place teams retain their LCK rights for the next split.
The two bottom teams in the league play off against Challenger teams for the right to play in the next LCK Split event.
The league section, prior to the playoffs, is played out over nine weeks from May 30 through Aug. 6.
Here are the 10 Korean contestants and their odds to win:
- SK Telecom T1 (4/6)
- KT Rolster (10/3)
- Samsung Galaxy (6/1)
- Afreeca Freecs (12/1)
- MVP (14/1)
- ROX Tigers (14/1)
- Longzhu Gaming (14/1)
- Jin Air Green Wings (17/1)
- BBQ Olivers (40/1)
- Ever8 Winners (40/1)
Although the four qualifiers unpacked above are the four main events, there are a huge number of other qualifying events. These take place across the globe in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (LMS Summer Split), Brazil (CbLoL 2017), Turkey (TCL Summer Split), and many more.
Bet365 esport is offering odds on many of these qualifying events. Have a look.
