Karmine Corp Went Nine and Zero and Europe Still Has Three Worlds Places to Hand Out

The LEC summer playoffs are being played across three cities. The upper bracket semi-finals and final were in Madrid on 5 and 6 September, the lower bracket splits between Berlin on 11 and 12 September and Nice on 18 and 19 September, and the season final is on 20 September at the Palais Nikaia in Nice.

Six teams qualify, in a double-elimination bracket of best-of-fives. The top four seeds start in the upper bracket, fifth and sixth begin in the lower.

Only the top three go to the World Championship, so half the field plays itself out of the season.

The standings at the end of the regular split on 30 August had Karmine Corp unbeaten at 9-0, Team Vitality at 7-2, G2 Esports at 6-3, then GIANTX and Natus Vincere both at 5-4 and Movistar KOI at 4-5.

An undefeated split is rare in the LEC and it does not guarantee anything. The bracket is best-of-five from the first round, and a single bad series in the lower bracket ends a season regardless of regular-split record.

Europe's three qualifiers join four each from the LCK and LPL, three each from the LCS and LCP and two from the CBLOL.