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This week, the world’s best League of Legends matches center around the leagues with the two closest playoff races: the LCK and the NA LCS. With a few surprise upsets over the last three weeks, both leagues have become incredibly close, with a few teams hitting their stride at exactly the right time.
Here are the five matchups you should make sure to watch this week.
kt Rolster vs. MVP
When: Wednesday, March 22 at 4 a.m. Eastern
How: LCK1
Why: While it may seem like the LCK is run by three teams, the secret is that there are other competitors hot on their heels. Chief among those: MVP. MVP have had a fantastic split so far and are sitting in fourth place, just one win behind the current second and third place of Samsung Galaxy and kt Rolster. With kt coming off a loss last week to Samsung, this could be the perfect moment for MVP to make a move into the league’s elite.
Samsung Galaxy vs. SK Telecom T1
When: Saturday, March 25 at 4 a.m. Eastern
How: LCK1
Why: After knocking kt out of the top two last week, Samsung now faces an even greater challenge, take down the league’s first place juggernaut SK Telecom T1. While this may seem like a tall task, Samsung are a team that is fantastic at rising to challenges and very well could catch SKT off-guard. If Samsung manages to pull out a fresh pick in the draft — one of the team’s favorite tactics — phase its chance of winning gets even better. SKT has played a number of instant classic series so far this LCK spring split, and this could be one to add to the list.
Cloud9 vs. Phoenix1
When: Saturday, March 25 at 3 p.m. Eastern
How: NALCS1
Why: What might have seemed, in the middle of the split, like a match between a clear number one and a number four has now taken on severely different implications. The once unbeatable Cloud9 has fallen more than a few times in the last three weeks and now face Phoenix1 in a match that will likely decide the NA LCS second seed going into playoffs. All the while, P1 have been riding a hot-streak since the addition of veteran jungler William “Meteos” Hartman to the starting roster.
Team Dignitas vs. Immortals
When: Sunday, March 26 at 3 p.m. Eastern
How: NALCS2
Why: This very well could be the series that decides which of these teams goes to playoffs, and which is left behind in the limbo between playoffs and relegation. Both teams have spent the last three weeks looking better and better with every match. With both teams reaching their apex at exactly the right moment, this series should be the perfect place to prove which is deserves to have its season continue.
FlyQuest vs. Team Liquid
When: Sunday, March 26 at 6 p.m. Eastern
How: NALCS1
Why: It’s always better to close the season strong than open it strong. Just ask FlyQuest. After going 6-2 over the first four weeks of the season the back half has been hard. Now FlyQuest sit at 7-9 barely grasping at their playoffs hopes. Meanwhile the Doubelift experiment hasn’t quite landed Team Liquid where they hoped. After losing both series last week, they are still ninth in the league and have an uphill battle ahead — including this must win match against FlyQuest — to avoid relegation.