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
LeagueNA LCS
SportLeague of Legends
Duration
  • January 16 – April 17 (Spring)
  • June 3 – August 28 (Summer)
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)Twitch
Spring
ChampionsCounter Logic Gaming
  Runners-upTeam SoloMid
Top seedImmortals
Season MVPKim "Reignover" Yeu-jin[1]
(Immortals)
Summer
ChampionsTeam SoloMid
  Runners-upCloud9
Top seedTeam SoloMid
Season MVPSøren "Bjergsen" Bjerg[1]
(Team SoloMid)
Regional finals
WinnerCloud9
NA LCS seasons

Format

edit

Teams 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

edit

As 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

edit

Regular 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
Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) head-to-head record; 3) tiebreaker match(es)

Playoffs

edit

The 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
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
1Immortals0
3Cloud 916Team SoloMid3
6Team SoloMid36Team SoloMid2
Top seed selects opponent
2Counter Logic Gaming3
2Counter Logic Gaming3
4Team Liquid34Team Liquid2Third place
5NRG eSports0
4Team Liquid0
3Immortals3

Source: LoL Esports (Archived November 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine)

Promotion tournament

edit
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
Winner to 2016 Summer
A1Renegades3
B2Team Dragon Knights3B2Team Dragon Knights0Winner to 2016 Summer
B3Team Dignitas0B2Team Dragon Knights0
Winner to 2016 SummerB1Apex Gaming3
A2Team Impulse3
B1Apex Gaming0

Source: LoL Esports (Archived November 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine)

Summer

edit

Regular 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
Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 18, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) head-to-head record; 3) tiebreaker match(es)

Playoffs

edit
 
The playoff stage for the third place match between Immortals and Counter Logic Gaming.

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
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
1Team SoloMid3
3Cloud934Counter Logic Gaming0
6Team EnVyUs11Team SoloMid3
Top seed selects opponent
3Cloud91
2Immortals2
4Counter Logic Gaming33Cloud93Third place
5Team Liquid1
3Immortals3
4Counter Logic Gaming2

Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 18, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)

Promotion tournament

edit
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
Winner to 2017 Spring
A1Phoenix13
B2Echo Fox3B2Echo Fox0Winner to 2017 Spring
B3Team Liquid Academy2B2Echo Fox3
Winner to 2017 SpringA2NRG Esports0
A2NRG Esports0
B1Cloud9 Challenger3

Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)

Worlds qualification

edit

Championship 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
Source: 2016 NA LCS Rulebook
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 1Round 2Finals
3Immortals1
4Cloud934Cloud93
5Team Liquid06Team EnVyUs0
6Team EnVyUs3

Source: LoL Esports (Archived January 18, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)

Notes

edit
  1. ^ a b Team EnVyUs acquired Renegade's LCS seed
  2. ^ a b Phoenix1 acquired Team Impulse's LCS seed
  3. ^ NRG lost Spring Split points due to placing in a relegation position during the Summer Split

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Volk, Pete (April 25, 2017). "NA LCS MVP: Updated winners list". The Rift Herald. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (January 15, 2016). "NA LCS offseason report cards — CLG survives, NRG rises". ESPN.
  3. ^ "Sacramento Kings co-owners buy LCS spot, recruit GBM, Impact". Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  4. ^ "Team 8 has sold its LCS spot". Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  5. ^ "NBA legend Rick Fox buys pro League of Legends team". Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  6. ^ LeJacq, Yannick. "League Of Legends Team Is Selling Its Spot In Next Year's Championship Series". Kotaku. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  7. ^ "Tempo Storm came close to buying Team Impulse's LCS spot". Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  8. ^ "Phoenix1 replaces Team Impulse, picks up Gate, Mash, Slooshi, and more". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "NA LCS spring finals to be held in Vegas". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  11. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (June 6, 2016). "The NA LCS summer finals head to Toronto". ESPN. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
edit