This Week in LoL eSports: Summaries and highlights from NA and EU LCS Week 7 and LCK Week 8

If you’re behind on current LCS standings, don’t forget to read last week’s article summarizing NA and EU LCS Week 6 and LCK Week 7.

If you missed a match of the League of Legends Championship Series this week or didn’t have time to watch them all, check below for summaries and highlights from the NA and EU LCS’s Week 7 and the LCK’s Week 8.

LCK

Week 8 in the LCK started off early Monday with MVP vs. SKTelecom T1 and a clean sweep for SKT. Tuesday gave us another sweep with Samsung Galaxy taking the win against Jin Air Green Wings. The string of complete victories continued with the first set on Wednesday, when ROX Tigers vs. KT Rolster ended in ROX’s favor.

ESC Ever vs. Afreeca Freecs ended with a bit more tension — ESC took the beginning lead, but AFS came up to grab Game 2. Unfortunately for AFS, their momentum didn’t last, and ESC walked away with the 2-1 victory.

Longhzu Gaming came in for this week’s fourth LCK sweep by dominating CJ Entus. In the first Friday matchup, Jin Air Green Wings vs. KT Rolster started off with a victory for KT, but JAG came from behind to win Game 2. Once again, however, victory in the 2-1 set went to the early winner as KT walked away with the Game 3 win. The day’s second set saw MVP vs. Afreeca Freecs, and AFS added another sweep to the list.

LCK Week 8’s highlight comes from Day 5, with MVP vs. AFS Game 1.

MVP made a run for the enemy nexus in an attempt to claim victory. They took down an inhibitor and both nexus turrets and got the nexus itself down to 300 hp, but AFS swept in with an Ace and stole their chance. Follow this link or skip to 4:40:07 in the video below to catch this impressive play.

The week rounded off with two sets: Samsung Galaxy vs. ROX Tigers and Longzhu Gaming vs. ESC Ever. ROX walked away with a sweep, but ESC wouldn’t go down to LZ without a fight. LZ took the early lead with a Game 1 win, but ESC claimed Game 2. Ultimately, LZ reclaimed victory with a Game 3 win.

With the victories and losses added to the rankings, LCK’s Team Standings bracket is currently a close race.

First is claimed by ROX Tigers at 10W-3L, but SKTelecom 1 is just behind at 9W-3L for second. Right on their heels are both Samsung Galaxy with 9W-4L at third and KT Rolster in fourth with 8W-5L. The gap starts to widen in the bottom half of the rankings, starting with Afreeca Freecs in fifth holding an even 6W-6L. Sixth is currently held by MVP with 6W-7L, and seventh goes to Jin Air Green Wings with 5W-8L. Eight belongs to ESC Ever at 4W-8L, and Longzhu Gaming is just behind them at ninth with 4W-9L. CJ Entus remains in tenth with 2W and 10L.

EU LCS

Heading west, we catch up with the EU LCS in Week 7, which ran Thursday and Friday. Switching to the Best of Two and point scoring, we’ll start off with Unicorns of Love vs. Giants and a clean sweep for UOL. G2 Esports vs. Splyce, however, gives us our first tie of the week before Team Vitality claims a sweep against ROCCAT. The week’s second tie was between Origen and FC Schalke 04, while Fnatic swept H2K to finish off the day’s matches.

With the match claiming attentions as Week 7’s first tie, it might not come as a surprise that SPY vs. G2 gave us this week’s highlight.

Game 2 was steadily working in G2’s favor, but the big turn came during a vie for Infernal Dragon. G2 started to take on the dragon before finding SPY hiding in the bushes. G2 took matters in hand, with Expect getting a Quadra Kill and G2 claiming an Ace. Follow this link or skip to 39:41 in the video below to witness G2’s dominating play.

The next morning gave us Unicorns of Love vs. Team Vitality and Giants vs. Splyce. UOL and VIT walked away with a win each and thus another tie, while SPY swept GIA. The lunch hour saw G2 Esports sweep H2K, while FC Schalke 04 tied Fnatic. The last match of the week saw Origen sweep ROCCAT.

With the week’s points tallied, the rankings going into Week 8 are settled.

G2 Esports holds the lead with 28 points. Fnatic claims second with 25 pts, and Splyce is right behind them in third with 24 pts. H2K has fourth with a total of 18 pts, while Giants is just behind in fifth with 17 pts. Unicorns of Love also have 17 pts, but they are showing in sixth place with one less win than Giants. Seventh is held in a tie, as both Team Vitality and FC Schalke 04 have 16 pts and three wins. Origen holds ninth with 13 pts, and Roccat sits in tenth at single digits with 8 pts.

NA LCS

Across the pond and back into Best of Three, we join the NA LCS in Week 7. We started off Friday evening with Immortals vs. Counter Logic Gaming and Phoenix1 vs. NRG Esports. CLG took the first victory in Game 1, but IMT took the ultimate win with Games 2 and 3. P1 started off their set with a win before NRG took Game 2. P1 took back their victory in the tie-breaker, claiming Game 3 and thus the set.

Saturday morning brought us Echo Fox vs. TSM and NRG Esports vs. Team Envy, with TSM and NRG claiming clean sweeps. The second half of Saturday gave us Cloud9 vs. Apex and Phoenix1 vs. Liquid. APX took an early lead in their set by claiming Game 1, but C9 came from behind to snatch Games 2 and 3 and win the set. Meanwhile, TL swept P1.

Sunday started with Cloud9 vs. Counter Logic Gaming. CLG took the first win, but C9 refused to go down undefeated and claimed Game 2. Ultimately, CLG got back their momentum to secure Game 3 and the win.

This week’s highlight comes from C9 vs. CLG Game 2.

It takes place right as C9 is starting to gain momentum in the latter half of the game. The highlight is split between two lanes, but C9 has some very clean plays against CLG that push them further into the lead until they claim the game. Follow this link or skip to 19:40 in the video below to view.

In Immortals vs. Echo Fox, IMT took both Games 1 and 2 for a sweep. Sunday — and, thus, Week 7 — wound down with Liquid vs. TSM and Team Envy vs. Apex. TSM kept up the Sunday sweeps, but APX’s Game 1 victory was the only one NV allowed before snatching Games 2 and 3 for the win.

With the wins and losses for the week added to the bracket, the standings going into Week 8 have TSM still undefeated in first with 14W.

Immortals is just behind in second with 13W-1L. The gap widens to third, where Liquid and Cloud9 both hold 8W-6L. Fifth gives us another tie with Team Envy and Counter Logic Gaming both boasting an even 7W-7L, Seventh goes to Apex with 5W-9L, and NRG Esports holds eighth with 4W-10L. Phoenix1 is trying to work their way up from ninth with 3W-11L while Echo Fox still sits in tenth with 1W-13L.

The Week to Come

LCK Week 9 starts off with Longzhu Gaming vs. ROX Tigers on Monday. Tuesday gives us KT Rolster vs. MVP, and Wednesday we’ll see Samsung Galaxy face off with SKTelecom 1 before Afreeca Freecs challenge CJ Entus.

Thursday gives us one set when ROX Tigers vs. ESC Ever, but Friday and Saturday will once more both boast two. Friday starts off with Longzhu Gaming vs. Jin Air Green Wings; once their set concludes, Samsung Galaxy will take on CJ Entus. Rounding off Week 9, we’ll see Afreeca Freecs up against SKTelecom 1 and ESC Ever taking on MVP.

Week 8 for the EU LCS will once more run Thursday and Friday, starting off with Fnatic vs. Splyce and H2K vs. Team Vitality. Thursday’s lunch hour will bring Origen vs. Giants and G2 Esports vs. Unicorns of Love, while FC Shakle 04 will take on ROCCAT in the day’s last match.

Friday morning brings us Origen against Fnatic and H2K versus Splyce. G2 Esports will challenge FC Shalke 04 in the midday while Unicorns of Love goes against ROCCAT. The week will round off with Giants versus Team Vitality.

NA LCS Week 8 will start off Friday evening with Immortals vs. NRG Esports and Echo Fox vs. Apex Friday evening. Saturday afternoon will see Counter Logic Gaming take on Team Liquid while Team Envy challenges Cloud9. Shortly after, TSM will challenge Phoenix1 and Apex will go up against Immortals. Sunday gives us the last for sets of the week with NRG Esports vs Liquid, TSM vs. Team Envy, Cloud9 vs. Phoenix1, and Echo Fox vs. CLG.

Did any of this week’s great plays catch your interest? Are you rooting for a specific team in any of the three leagues? Did someone play your favorite champion? Let us know in the comments!