2018 NA LCS season

The 2018 NA LCS season was the first year under partnership and sixth overall of the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS), a professional esports league for the MOBA PC game League of Legends. It was divided into spring and summer splits, each consisting of a regular season and playoff stage. The top six teams from the regular season advanced to the playoff stage, with the top two teams receiving a bye to the semifinals.

2018 NA LCS season
LeagueNA LCS
SportLeague of Legends
DurationJanuary 20 – April 8 (Spring)
June 16 – September 9 (Summer)
September 8–10 (Regional finals)
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)Twitch, YouTube
Spring
ChampionsTeam Liquid
Runners-up100 Thieves
Top seed100 Thieves
Season MVPZaqueri "Aphromoo" Black[1]
(100 Thieves)
Summer
ChampionsTeam Liquid
  Runners-upCloud9
Top seedTeam Liquid
Season MVPYiliang "Doublelift" Peng[2]
(Team Liquid)
Regional finals
WinnerCloud9

Format

Starting in 2018, the North American LCS began franchising. There are various reasons for this. First, it changed the overall structure of the league, encouraging long-term investments from owners. This allowed the league to implement revenue sharing, leading to a better foundation for both the teams and professional players. Lastly, the professional players were given a larger voice and more protection within the league.

The buy-in price for the league was $10 million for existing League of Legends teams, who had previously participated in the League Championship Series or Challenger Series. New teams would be subject to an additional $3 million (a total $13 million), which was distributed to the teams that were replaced in the league. Interested parties were given applications in June, due on July 28, 2017. Over 100 existing esports organizations, traditional sports teams, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs reportedly applied.[3] Those applications were then narrowed down to a shortlist, nicknamed "phase two", which saw participants travel to Riot Games' Los Angeles office to interview and review their applications.[4] Riot Games and the North American League Championship Series players' association also decided that league would not expand and instead remain at 10 teams.

Buyers for the league were decided in mid-October. Several existing teams from the league — including Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, Echo Fox, FlyQuest, Team Liquid and Team SoloMid — were reportedly accepted back into the league.[5][6][7] Other existing teams, such as Immortals, Phoenix1, Team Dignitas and Team EnvyUs, were declined from entry into the restructured league.[8][9] The team welcomed four new teams — one endemic esports team and three NBA franchises or affiliates. Longtime esports organization OpTic Gaming was reportedly awarded a spot in the league after receiving investment from Texas Rangers co-owner Neil Leibman.[10] The other three new spots went to Golden State Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob and his son Kirk as the Golden Guardians, the Cleveland Cavaliers and affiliated venture capital firms as 100 Thieves, and the Houston Rockets as Clutch Gaming.[11][12][13][14]

Spring

Teams and rosters

Team Players
ID Name Position

100 Thieves

Ssumday
Meteos
Ryu
Cody Sun
Aphromoo
pr0lly

Kim Chan-ho
William Hartmank
Yoo Sang-wook
Cody Sun
Zaqueri Black
Neil Hammad

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Cloud9

Licorice
Svenskeren
Jensen
Sneaky
Smoothie
Reapered

Eric Ritchie
Dennis Johnsen
Nicolaj Jensen
Zachary Scuderi
Andy Ta
Bok Han-gyu

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Clutch Gaming

Solo
LirA
Febiven
Apollo
Hakuho
Dlim

Colin Earnest
Nam Tae-yoo
Fabian Diepstraten
Apollo Price
Nickolas Surgent
David Lim

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Counter Logic Gaming

Darshan
Reignover
Huhi
Stixxay
Biofrost
Ziks

Darshan Upadhyaya
Kim Yeu-jin
Jaehyun Choi
Trever Hayes
Vincent Wang
Tony Gray

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Echo Fox

Huni
Dardoch
Fenix
Altec
Adrian
Inero

Heo Seung-hoon
Joshua Hartnett
Kim Jae-hun
Johnny Ru
Adrian Ma
Nick Smith

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

FlyQuest

Flame
AnDa
Fly
WildTurtle
Stunt
RobertYip

Lee Ho-jong
Andy Hoang
Song Yong-jun
Jason Tran
William Chen
Robert Yip

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Golden Guardians

Lourlo
Contractz
Hai
Deftly
Matt
Akiri

Samson Jackson
Juan Garcia
Hai Lam
Matthew Chen
Matthew Elento
Tyler Perron

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Team Liquid

Impact
Xmithie
Pobelter
Doublelift
Olleh
Cain

Jung Eon-yeong
Jake Puchero
Eugene Park
Yiliang Peng
Kim Joo-sung
Jang Nu-ri

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

OpTic Gaming

Zig
Akaadian
PowerOfEvil
Arrow
LemonNation
Zabountine

Derek Shao
Matthew Higginbotham
Tristan Schrage
Noh Dong-hyeonr
Daerek Hart
Thomas Si Hassan

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Team SoloMid

Hauntzer
MikeYeung
Bjergsen
Zven
mithy
SSONG

Kevin Yarnell
Mike Yeung
Sǿren Bjerg
Jesper Svenningsen
Alfonso Aguirre Rodríguez
Kim Sang-soo

Top
Jungle
Mid
Bottom (ADC)
Bottom (Support)
Coach

Regular season standings

Pos Team W–L Points Qualification
1. 100 Thieves 12–6 +6 Advance to semifinals
2. Echo Fox 12–6 +6
3. Team SoloMid 11–7 +4 Advance to quarterfinals
4. Team Liquid 11–7 +4
5. Cloud9 11–7 +4
6. Clutch Gaming 11–7 +4
7. Counter Logic Gaming 7–11 -4 No qualification for Playoffs
8. FlyQuest 6–12 -6
9. OpTic Gaming 5–13 -7
10. Golden Guardians 4–14 -10

Prize pool and championship points

Pos Prize Pool Qualification Points Team
$100,000 90 Team Liquid
$50,000 70 100 Thieves
$30,000 50 Echo Fox
4th $20,000 30 Clutch Gaming
5th/6th - 10 Cloud9
Team SoloMid
7th - - Counter Logic Gaming
8th - - FlyQuest
9th - - OpTic Gaming
10th - - Golden Guardians

Awards

AwardPlayerTeam
MVP Zaqueri Aphromoo Black100 Thieves
Rookie of the Split Eric Licorice RitchieCloud9
Coach of the Split Neil pr0lly Hammad100 Thieves
1st Team All-Pro Heo Huni Seung-hoonEcho Fox
Joshua Dardoch HartnettEcho Fox
Sǿren Bjergsen BjergTeam SoloMid
Cody Cody Sun Sun100 Thieves
Zaqueri Aphromoo Black100 Thieves
First place
1st Place Tiebreaker
100 Thieves 1
Echo Fox 0
Third through sixth place
  First Round     Third Place Tiebreaker
             
  Team Liquid 1  
  Cloud9 0    
      Team Liquid 0
      Team SoloMid 1
  Team SoloMid 1    
  Clutch Gaming 0   Fifth Place Tiebreaker
 
Cloud9 1
  Clutch Gaming 0

Playoff bracket

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
                           
  3 Team SoloMid 1 1 100 Thieves 3  
  6 Clutch Gaming 3 6 Clutch Gaming 2    
      1 100 Thieves 0
      4 Team Liquid 3
  4 Team Liquid 3 2 Echo Fox 1    
  5 Cloud9 0 4 Team Liquid 3   Third Place
 
2 Echo Fox 3
6 Clutch Gaming 0

References

  1. Goslin, Austen (7 April 2018). "Aphromoo named NA LCS 2018 Spring Split MVP". The Rift Herald. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  2. Chang, Brian (8 September 2018). "Doublelift takes home the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split MVP". Dot Esports. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  3. "Overwatch League, North American LCS head in different directions". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  4. Greeley, Chris (2017-09-22). "Mid-Flight Update on Our Selection Process for NA LCS 2018". LoL Esports.
  5. "Sources: Team SoloMid, Cloud9, Team Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming to rejoin NA LCS". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  6. "Immortals out, Echo Fox in for the NA LCS, sources say". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  7. "FlyQuest accepted as NA LCS franchise". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  8. "Sources: Dignitas' League of Legends Championship Series franchising application declined". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  9. "Sources: Phoenix1 and Team Envy declined entry into newly-franchised LCS". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  10. "Sources: OpTic Gaming to join North American League Championship Series". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  11. "Sources: Warriors co-owner lands League of Legends franchise spot". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  12. "Sources: NA LCS team roster finalized with Rockets". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  13. "Cavs added as League of Legends franchise". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  14. "NA LCS Team Announcement". Riot Games. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.