LPL Summer 2020 Playoffs Preview

The Playoffs Stage of LPL Summer 2020 is scheduled to start on August 13^th. A total of 8 teams will take part in it, but the competitive format is different from that of LCS. In this article, I will take a brief look at the participants and how they got to this stage.

LPL Summer 2020 Group Stage Results

Here’s what happened during the Group Stage, so you can have a better idea of what’s coming next. For practical reasons, I will only cover the top 8 teams.

• 1^st place: Top Esports: 13 W – 3 L
• 2^nd place: JD Gaming: 13 W – 3 L
• 3^rd place: Invictus Gaming: 12 W – 4 L
• 4^th place: Suning: 12 W – 4 L
• 5^th place: Victory Five: 11 W – 5 L
• 6^th place: LGD Gaming: 10 W – 6 L
• 7^th place: Team WE: 9 W – 7 L
• 8^th place: FunPlus Phoenix: 9 W – 7 L

Interestingly enough, Invictus Gaming, which finished 3^rd – 4^th at World 2019, has managed to maintain its position at the top of LPL, while FunPlus Phoenix, which won the title at Worlds 2019, is now struggling to keep pace with the rest of the pack. Given that LPL Spring 2020 finished with them in 3^rd place and Mid-Season Cup had them in the Grand Final, I think it’s pretty obvious that these poor results from the Group Stage of LPL Summer 2020 are caused by a lack of motivation.

Playoffs Competitive Format

The competitive format of LPL Summer 2020 Playoffs is not as extreme as the one used in LCK but also not as inclusive as the one used in LCS. It’s somewhere in between. Which means this: the top two teams advance to the Semifinals, the 3^rd and 4^th place teams start in the Quarterfinals, while the remaining 4 teams compete in the first round. The competition uses the single-elimination format, so if you lose, you’re out. This puts a lot of stress on the teams, but the good part is the Bo5 format match format. So it’s not a best-of-one and not even a best-of-tree. The winner is decided by a long series, which guarantees that the best team will be the winner.

Favorites

Given the background of FunPlus Phoenix, I think we should absolutely assume that they have a good chance at playing much better than they did in the Group Stage and finish in the top 4. And for me at least, the big favorite of the tournament is Invictus Gaming. This team has the right mixture of great players, past results and current form to produce an exceptional result. Of course, Top Esports and JD Gaming will be their biggest rivals. We’ll have to see how far they can go, but if you look at the seeding, it’s quite clear that they will play against JD Gaming in the Semifinals. That’s going to be a tough match for them, given that they lost their last two matches against this team.

 

Photo credit: Riot Games