This Week in LoL eSports: Summaries and Highlights from NA and EU LCS Week 8 and LCK Week 9

If you’re behind on current LCS standings, don’t forget to read last week’s article summarizing NA and EU LCS Week 7 and LCK Week 8.

It was a week of surprises for LCS fans– from the pattern of sweeps in the LCK to the decisive victories in the EU LCS and the underdog win of the NA LCS season. 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 8 and the LCK’s Week 9.

LCK

Week 9 began with three straight sweeps. With Longzhu Gaming vs. ROX Tigers, KT Rolster vs. MVP, and Samsung Galaxy vs.  SKTelecom 1, each set saw a clear-cut victory. Monday’s matches went to ROX, Tuesday’s to KT, and the first of Wednesday’s to SKT.

LCK Week 9’s highlight comes from ROX vs LZ. In a mighty display of the prowess they showed to claim the sweep, ROX kept  LZ from using a two-man advantage to claim Baron. Follow this link to watch the play, or skip to 52:19 in the video below.

Afreeca Freecs against CJ Entus broke the pattern when CJ took Game 1 only to fall in both Games 2 and 3 to give AFS the 2-1 set victory. Thursday saw ROX Tigers take on ESC Ever, and ROX kept up their undefeated streak for the Week. Friday and Saturday boasted two sets each, starting off with Longzhu Gaming vs. Jin Air Green Wings; this set led to the Week’s first back and forth, with LZ taking Game 1 but losing Game 2 to JAG. LZ came back in Game 3, claiming the set victory. The next two sets continued to give us sweeps, with Samsung Galaxy overpowering CJ Entus and Afreeca Freecs taking down SKTelecom 1. For the last set of Week 9, MVP took an early lead with the Game 1 victory, but ESC Ever took Games 2 and 3 for the overall win.

With Week 9’s Wins and Losses added into the count, the standings sit with ROX Tigers in the lead at 12W-3L. Bringing up second is SKTelecom 1 with 10W-4L, and just behind in third is Samsung Galaxy with 10W-5L. KT Rolster holds fourth at 9W-5L, while Afreeca Freecs has fifth with 8W-6L. MVP sits in sixth place with 6W-9L while seventh is a tie between Jin Air Green Wings and ESC Ever both sitting at 5W-9L. Ninth goes to 5W-10L Longzhu Gaming, while CJ Entus remains in tenth with 2W-12L.

EU LCS

In a surprising twist Week 8 for the EU LCS only boasted one tie. The Best of Two format typically wields several draws while adding to the point-based standings, but this week saw definitive sets starting with Splyce’s victory over Fnatic. H2K bested Team Vitality, Giants took the set against Origen. G2 Esports vs. Unicorns of Love ended in G2’s favor while FC Shalke 04 lost to ROCCAT  in the day’s last match.

Friday morning started off with another win to SPY against H2K while GIA bested VIT. The lunch hour saw G2 defeat SO4 and UOL best ROC.

This week’s EU highlight comes from Game 1 between UOL and ROC. A solid flank from UOL Vizicsacsi’s Irelia during a team fight led to a clean Ace and a Baron. Follow this link to watch the play, or skip to 35:59 in the video below.

Week 8 ended with its only tie between OG and FNC.

With the points tallied, the bracket shows G2 Esports in the lead with 34 points while Splyce sits in second with 30. Fnatic holds third with 26 points, and Giants defend fourth with 23. Fifth currently belongs to H2K with 21 points, but Unicorns are just behind in sixth with 20. Seventh is a tie between Team Vitality and FC Shalke 04 since both hold 16 points. Origen holds ninth place with 14 points, and ROCCAT brings out the bottom of the bracket in tenth with 11 points.

NA LCS

NA LCS Week 8 launched Friday evening with Immortals vs. NRG Esports and Echo Fox vs. Apex. While IMT swept NRG, FOX took an early lead with Game 1 only to lose Games 2 and 3 to APX. Saturday afternoon saw Counter Logic Gaming go against Team Liquid while Team Envy battled Cloud9. TL took Game 1, but CLG came back for Games 2 and 3 for the ultimate win.  Meanwhile, C9 swept NV. The big upset this week came when the undefeated TSM lost to underdog Phoenix1. TSM took the Game 1 win, but P1 refused to give up and managed to steal the set; this brings us to our highlight for the week.

P1’s Game 2 upset was full of exciting plays from the underdog’s, but none so much as this game-ending play by P1 Inori’s Rengar. While most of the players faced off in-lane, Rengar took advantage of the situation to go after TSM’s base on his own. Follow this link to watch the play, or skip to 36:39 in the video below.

Apex against Immortals saw IMT claim a sweep to finish off Saturday’s sets. Sunday began with NRG Esports vs Liquid, with a sweep for TL. TSM went up against Team Envy; TSM recovered well from their unexpected loss to P1, sweeping the set against NV. Cloud9 then swept Phoenix1, and Echo Fox vs. Counter Logic Gaming ended the Week with a sweep for CLG.

With their first loss of the season, TSM find themselves in a fight for first against Immortals at 15W-1L. Cloud9 holds third with 10W-6L. Fourth is another tie, this time between Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming at 9W-7L. Team Envy currently sits in sixth with 7W-9L while Apex holds seventh with 6W-10L. Phoenix1’s unexpected victory brings them into a tie for eighth against NRG Esports at W-12L. Tenth place Echo Fox brings up the end of the bracket with 1W-15L.

The Week to Come

Week 10 for the LCK will start off Monday with CJ Entus vs. SKTelecom 1. Tuesday gives us Afreeca Freecs vs. Jin Air Green Wings. Wednesday has two sets, the first pitting KT Rolster against Longzhu Gaming and the second ESC Ever against SKTelecom 1. Back to one set, Thursday is set for MVP against Jin Air Green Wings. Friday and Saturday will once again have two sets a piece, with Longhzu Gaming vs. Afreeca Freecs, KT Rolster vs. ESC Ever, MVP vs. Samsung Galaxy, and CJ Entus vs. ROX Tigers.

While the LCK will still have Week 11, next week sees the end of this season in the EU and NA LCS. In addition, the schedule for EU LCS will deviate from its typical schedule.

The EU LCS’s Week 9 starts bright and early Saturday morning, though all times are currently listed as approximate. The first simulcast set will be G2 Esports vs. Team Vitality and Fnatic vs. ROCCAT. Next will be Origen against Splyce, and FC Schalke 04 will take on Giants. The Saturday games will finish with Unicorns of Love against H2K. Sunday follows a similar pattern of scheduling, once more starting in the wee hours of the morning. The first set pair goes to Giants vs. ROCCAT and FC Shalke 04 vs. Team Vitality. Next, Unicorns of Love will challenge Splyce while Origen goes up against H2K. The last set of the season will go to G2 Esports and Fnatic.

Week 9 for the NA LCS will follow the standard schedule starting Friday evening. Immortals will be up against TSM while Phoenix1 challenges Team Envy. Saturday brings Counter Logic Gaming vs. NRG Esports while Apex battles Liquid. Cloud9 will take on Echo Fox, and Phoenix1 will go up against Immortals for the last match of the day. Sunday brings us TSM vs. NRG Esports and Counter Logic Gaming vs. Apex. The season will end with Liquid vs. Cloud9 and Team Envy vs. Echo Fox.