The 2016 NA LCS season was the fourth year of the North American League of Legends Championship Series.[2] It was divided into spring and summer splits, each consisting of a regular season and playoff stage. Regular season games were played in the Riot Games Studios in Los Angeles, California.
| 2016 NA LCS season | |
|---|---|
| League | NA LCS |
| Sport | League of Legends |
| Duration |
|
| Number of teams | 10 |
| TV partner(s) | Twitch |
| Spring | |
| Champions | Counter Logic Gaming |
| Runners-up | Team SoloMid |
| Top seed | Immortals |
| Season MVP | Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin[1] (Immortals) |
| Summer | |
| Champions | Team SoloMid |
| Runners-up | Cloud9 |
| Top seed | Team SoloMid |
| Season MVP | Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg[1] (Team SoloMid) |
| Regional finals | |
| Winner | Cloud9 |
Format
editTeams compete in a double round robin tournament over the course of nine weeks during the regular season, with matches being best-of-three. The top six teams from the regular season advanced to the playoff stage, with the top two teams receiving a bye to the semifinals. The seventh place team qualifies for the next split of the LCS but does not participate in playoffs. The bottom three teams play in a promotion/relegation tournament against the top two NA Challenger Series teams. Playoffs were single-elimination and matches were best-of-five. The winner of the summer split automatically qualified for the 2016 World Championship, while the team with the most cumulative championship points from the spring and summer splits also qualified for World Championship. A final team, the winner of the regional finals, also qualified for the World Championship.
Offseason changes
editAs the team with the worst record in the 2015 NA LCS Summer regular season, Team Dragon Knights was automatically relegated to the NA Challenger Series. As the eighth and ninth team places respectively, Team 8 and Enemy eSports were obligated to play in a promotion tournament against the second and third place Challenger teams, who were Team Coast and Team Imagine respectively. Enemy was relegated after losing to Coast 3–0, but Team 8 beat Imagine 3–1 to remain in the LCS. The two teams that won the Promotion matches both sold their spots to other teams before the start of the spring split. The LA Renegades were automatically promoted by winning the NA Challenger Series.
A total of three teams, Team Coast, Team 8, and Gravity Gaming sold their NA LCS spots, all to new esports organizations that had been created for the sole purpose of being in the LCS. Team Coast sold their spot to NRG eSports,[3] Team 8 sold their spot to Immortals,[4] and Gravity's spot was sold to Echo Fox.[5] Team Impulse had announced their intentions to sell their spot,[6] but failed to do so prior to the original deadline.[7] However, after the Spring Split, Team Impulse managed to sel it's spot to Phoenix1 just before the start of the Summer Split.[8]
Spring
editRegular season
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Immortals | 18 | 17 | 1 | .944 | Advance to semifinals |
| 2 | Counter Logic Gaming | 18 | 13 | 5 | .722 | |
| 3 | Cloud9 | 18 | 12 | 6 | .667 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 4 | Team Liquid | 18 | 10 | 8 | .556 | |
| 5 | NRG Esports | 18 | 9 | 9 | .500 | |
| 6 | Team SoloMid | 18 | 9 | 9 | .500 | |
| 7 | Echo Fox | 18 | 6 | 12 | .333 | |
| 8 | LA Renegades | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | Promotion tournament |
| 9 | Team Impulse | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | |
| 10 | Dignitas | 18 | 4 | 14 | .222 | Relegated to NA CS |
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) head-to-head record; 3) tiebreaker match(es)
Playoffs
editThe 2016 NA LCS Spring finals saw a rematch of the previous split's finals between Team SoloMid and Counter Logic Gaming.[9] The finals were played in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.[10]
Bracket
edit| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
| 1 | Immortals | 0 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Cloud 9 | 1 | 6 | Team SoloMid | 3 | ||||||||
| 6 | Team SoloMid | 3 | 6 | Team SoloMid | 2 | ||||||||
| Top seed selects opponent | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Counter Logic Gaming | 3 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Counter Logic Gaming | 3 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Team Liquid | 3 | 4 | Team Liquid | 2 | Third place | |||||||
| 5 | NRG eSports | 0 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Team Liquid | 0 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Immortals | 3 | |||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports (Archived November 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine)
Promotion tournament
edit| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
| Winner to 2016 Summer | |||||||||||||
| A1 | Renegades | 3 | |||||||||||
| B2 | Team Dragon Knights | 3 | B2 | Team Dragon Knights | 0 | Winner to 2016 Summer | |||||||
| B3 | Team Dignitas | 0 | B2 | Team Dragon Knights | 0 | ||||||||
| Winner to 2016 Summer | B1 | Apex Gaming | 3 | ||||||||||
| A2 | Team Impulse | 3 | |||||||||||
| B1 | Apex Gaming | 0 | |||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports (Archived November 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine)
Summer
editRegular season
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team SoloMid | 18 | 17 | 1 | .944 | Advance to semifinals |
| 2 | Immortals | 18 | 16 | 2 | .889 | |
| 3 | Cloud9 | 18 | 12 | 6 | .667 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 4 | Counter Logic Gaming | 18 | 10 | 8 | .556 | |
| 5 | Team Liquid | 18 | 9 | 9 | .500 | |
| 6 | Team EnVyUs[a] | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | |
| 7 | Apex Gaming | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | |
| 8 | Phoenix1[b] | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | Promotion tournament |
| 9 | NRG Esports | 18 | 4 | 14 | .222 | |
| 10 | Echo Fox | 18 | 1 | 17 | .056 | Relegated to NA CS |
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) head-to-head record; 3) tiebreaker match(es)
Playoffs
edit
The summer finals were held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada, the first time an NA LCS match had been played outside of the United States.[11]
Bracket
edit| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
| 1 | Team SoloMid | 3 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Cloud9 | 3 | 4 | Counter Logic Gaming | 0 | ||||||||
| 6 | Team EnVyUs | 1 | 1 | Team SoloMid | 3 | ||||||||
| Top seed selects opponent | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Cloud9 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Immortals | 2 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Counter Logic Gaming | 3 | 3 | Cloud9 | 3 | Third place | |||||||
| 5 | Team Liquid | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Immortals | 3 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Counter Logic Gaming | 2 | |||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 18, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
Promotion tournament
edit| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
| Winner to 2017 Spring | |||||||||||||
| A1 | Phoenix1 | 3 | |||||||||||
| B2 | Echo Fox | 3 | B2 | Echo Fox | 0 | Winner to 2017 Spring | |||||||
| B3 | Team Liquid Academy | 2 | B2 | Echo Fox | 3 | ||||||||
| Winner to 2017 Spring | A2 | NRG Esports | 0 | ||||||||||
| A2 | NRG Esports | 0 | |||||||||||
| B1 | Cloud9 Challenger | 3 | |||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
Worlds qualification
editChampionship Points
edit| Pos | Team | Spr | Sum | Total | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team SoloMid | 70 | AQ | AQ | 2016 League of Legends World Championship |
| 2 | Counter Logic Gaming | 90 | 40 | 130 | |
| 3 | Immortals | 50 | 70 | 120 | Advance to regional qualifier |
| 4 | Cloud9 | 10 | 90 | 100 | |
| 5 | Team Liquid | 30 | 20 | 50 | |
| 6 | Team EnVyUs[a] | 0 | 20 | 20 | |
| 7 | Apex Gaming | N/A | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | Echo Fox | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | NRG Esports | 10[c] | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | Phoenix1[b] | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | Dignitas | 0 | N/A | 0 |
Rules for classification: 1) Championship points; 2) Summer Split points; 3) Summer Split regular season winning percentage; 4) Head-to-head record
Regional qualifier
edit| Round 1 | Round 2 | Finals | |||||||||||
| 3 | Immortals | 1 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Cloud9 | 3 | 4 | Cloud9 | 3 | ||||||||
| 5 | Team Liquid | 0 | 6 | Team EnVyUs | 0 | ||||||||
| 6 | Team EnVyUs | 3 | |||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 18, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Volk, Pete (April 25, 2017). "NA LCS MVP: Updated winners list". The Rift Herald. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- ^ Erzberger, Tyler (January 15, 2016). "NA LCS offseason report cards — CLG survives, NRG rises". ESPN.
- ^ "Sacramento Kings co-owners buy LCS spot, recruit GBM, Impact". Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
- ^ "Team 8 has sold its LCS spot". Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
- ^ "NBA legend Rick Fox buys pro League of Legends team". Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
- ^ LeJacq, Yannick. "League Of Legends Team Is Selling Its Spot In Next Year's Championship Series". Kotaku. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
- ^ "Tempo Storm came close to buying Team Impulse's LCS spot". Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
- ^ "Phoenix1 replaces Team Impulse, picks up Gate, Mash, Slooshi, and more". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
- ^ Wolf, Jacob (January 9, 2016). "Every North American LCS team, and how they should stack up this season". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
- ^ "NA LCS spring finals to be held in Vegas". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
- ^ Erzberger, Tyler (June 6, 2016). "The NA LCS summer finals head to Toronto". ESPN. Retrieved January 19, 2020.