NA LCS Summer Playoffs 2016: Schedule, bracket and how to watch

Can CLG beat the odds and win a third straight title?

By Pete Volk@Pete_Volk Aug 10, 2016, 11:27am EDT

After the conclusion of North America’s first-ever best-of-three split, it’s time to head to the playoffs. Six teams remain, with three looking to become the first team ever to win three NA titles (TSM, C9 and CLG) and three looking to bring home their first title ever (Immortals, TL, Envy).

There is one overwhelming favorite for this tournament: TSM, who ran through the regular season with a 17-1 record, beating second-place Immortals both times they faced them and generally looking like the class of the region. But don’t look past Immortals: the talented team is still on top of their game, and with more experience in series play under their belt, don’t expect a complete collapse like in last playoffs.

Both of those teams get a bye to the semifinal round, and we’ll find out this weekend who they’ll play. Cloud9 used a late season surge to gain the coveted third seed, where they’ll face Team Envy, unquestionably the weakest by far of any of the playoff teams. Sunday’s match will be a highly anticipated one, pitting rivals Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid against each other. Both series between the two teams in the regular season went to three games, and last season’s semifinal clash went the full five.

The winner of this tournament will gain the region’s No. 1 seed at Worlds. For more on how Worlds qualifying works and the current standings, click here.

All series are best-of-five. All games can be watched on the NALCS1 Twitch stream.

Quarterfinals

Saturday, August 13

3 p.m. ET No. 3 Cloud9 vs. No. 6 Team Envy

Sunday, August 14

3 p.m. ET No. 4 Counter Logic Gaming vs. No. 5 Team Liquid

Semifinals

Saturday, August 20

3 p.m. ET No. 2 Immortals vs. highest-ranking quarterfinal winner

Sunday, August 21

3 p.m. ET No. 1 Team SoloMid vs. lowest-ranking quarterfinal winner

Third-place

Saturday, August 27

3 p.m. ET Semifinal loser vs. semifinal loser

Finals

Sunday, August 28

3 p.m. ET Semifinal winner vs. semifinal winner