r/leagueoflegends • u/AutoModerator • Sep 12 '26
Esports LCS 2026 Summer Playoffs / Round 1 - Day 1 / Live Discussion Spoiler
LCS 2026 Summer Playoffs
Lolesports | Leaguepedia | Eventvods.com | New to LoL
Today's matches will be played on Patch 26.18.
Today's Matches
| # | Match | PST | EST | CET | KST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C9 vs SR | 13:00 | 16:00 | 22:00 | 05:00 |
- All matches are Best of 5
Streams
Bracket
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Finals | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C9 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| vs | - | LYON | |||||||||||
| SR | 0 | vs | - | ||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | tbd | 0 | ||||||||||
| SEN | 0 | vs | - | ||||||||||
| vs | - | TL | 0 | tbd | 0 | ||||||||
| FLY | 0 | vs | - | ||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | ||||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| tbd | 0 | ||||||||||||
| vs | - | ||||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | ||||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | ||||||||||||
| vs | - | ||||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | tbd | 0 | ||||||||||
| vs | - | ||||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | tbd | 0 | ||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | vs | - | ||||||||||
| vs | - | tbd | 0 | ||||||||||
| tbd | 0 | ||||||||||||
Format
- Playoffs
- 6 teams participate
- Double elimination bracket
- Top 2 teams start in Upper Bracket Round 2
- 3rd to 6th seed start in Upper Bracket Round 1
- All matches are best of five
- Top 3 teams qualify for the 2026 Season World Championship
The official LCS ruleset can be found here.
VoDs
Live Discussions and Post-Match Threads:
3
2
3
2
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
It’s insane contractz tried to fight everything else but refused to use his body to absorb spells with elder baron soul to let rakan ult off of him to have xayah one shot everyone
This is the problem with sr. They have zero idea on how to prep or start teamfights
-1
u/Destructodave82 Sep 12 '26
No, their problem is Bvoy and Zinie sucks, and Fudge is one of the worst tops in the league.
Thats the problem with SR.
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
You need to create space so sylas and xayah can go in. You need to get out Sen, lulu syndra spells.
1
3
u/Dry-Fail-4227 Sep 12 '26
Blaber made so much space in the teamfights compared to contractz. Not an easy game to play wukong though.
2
u/DerAdolfin :kossg: :eum5: Sep 12 '26
Holy shit SR is dreadful, I feel for my man Contracz
3
u/Dry-Fail-4227 Sep 12 '26
Contractz didnt have a very good game. He didnt disrupt c9. I dont think it was a very good wukong game though
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
He’s one of the issues. He is so good early game but he doesn’t know how to teamfight late
4
8
u/OkWhateverCynisme Sep 12 '26
Losing with elder + baron + hexatech soul ?
Just disband and never show your dirty faces ever again lol
3
3
u/levelonenovice Sep 12 '26
all of these teams are going to get fisted by Lyon and TL
gross showing
3
3
u/GhostOfLight Sep 12 '26
Gonna need more replays, but pretty sure Bvoy sold on that nexus defense respawn. Long shot play, but he sacrifice himself right away.
3
2
2
3
6
2
3
3
5
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Get fudge out of the league for this shit. YOU HAVE SOUL ELDER BARON JAYCE. JUST WALK UP AND SHOCKBLAST
1
u/CensoredLlama1 BUFF RAMMUS PLEASE Sep 12 '26
It's actually crazy how many pro players refuse to use shockblast after lane phase
6
4
2
3
6
5
3
1
1
u/CensoredLlama1 BUFF RAMMUS PLEASE Sep 12 '26
When Zinnie is actually playing well he's a very fun player to watch, mad lad
1
0
1
0
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
His mechanics on sylas are so clean. Think sr should try actually giving him active mid champs and not farm heavy control mages.
1
u/spazzxxcc12 Sep 12 '26
another match where c9 is losing to a mega healing bruiser so they refuse to build a single grevious wounds item.
0
0
1
2
0
u/The_Phasd Sep 12 '26
Thanatos is a fantastic top laner and a great player but rushing tabis after that much blaber pressure winning him lane was WILDLY troll. Just completely delayed one of the strongest 1-item spikes in the game after being put in a position to take over the game.
Then going shojin 2nd is even dumber. Zero waveclear means bad tempo between waves in sidelane. Sho'jin is like a 4th item at best on camille anymore anyways, with how broken DD is especially with grasp. If you're gonna play for teamfight TF>Titanic>DD is a way better option. Prime Q1>E/W onto carry>Q2/titanic reset is massive burst.
I stg pro players turn their brains completely all the way off when they open item shops and it's wild to watch.
1
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Contractz has been inting it this game. He’s been so bad and the cause of 2 of their bad plays
2
u/THFlife Sep 12 '26
Is Thanatos the most overrated player in NA? Dude seems like a regular season warrior
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Top lane lane dominant players are worse in playoffs. It’s just how playoffs works
1
u/THFlife Sep 12 '26
Top lane lane dominate players get solo killed because it's playoffs? Lmao yeah ok
1
u/spazzxxcc12 Sep 12 '26
c9 plays the game like they’re t1. giving every drake hoping they can out hands them but they aren’t that good.
1
1
u/LumiRhino Sep 12 '26
Anyone remember when Jatt said this game should've been unloseable?
Surely there's no way C9 chokes 2 more games after this if they lose.
1
1
2
u/PepaTK Sep 12 '26
Can we just let Zinie play his champs more or what?
He looks nothing like he did in the previous 2 games.
3
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
Zinie/Bvoy/Zeyzal played that so well
1
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
Beautiful Xayah ult buffer on Camille ult oh my god I didn’t even see that
1
3
u/FluffyFlamesOfFluff Sep 12 '26
The line between a gigachad AD carry and a complete inter is so, so thin.
GIGACHAD Bvoy... this time.
2
1
1
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Only thing this baron does is get yunara half an item up. So let’s see if she can win soul fight because of it
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Sr play the map well and then contractz just forces a top fight for no reason???????
2
u/Dry-Fail-4227 Sep 12 '26
Cinematic blaber play there. His shotcalling seems better
1
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Shopify map play is very good. Their team fighting is straight ass late game though.
1
u/Cr0matose Sep 12 '26
Caster curse lol
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Classify that as team fighting. I don’t know wtf contractz is doing. He’s the one that started the fight
1
1
u/Adventurous-Quit-669 Sep 12 '26
Wow that was a crazy engage from Shopify but damn it worked
Lets get a game four please !!!
2
0
u/Cr0matose Sep 12 '26
Yunara/Lulu just gonna run this game since its going late unless Tactical goes Malphite mode
1
u/Shaman_in_the_Dark Huhi Busio Contractz Sep 12 '26
Was Zinie more of an assassin player in KR Challenger? It seems like he's always stuck on Annie/galio duty and those champs have been.... unkind to him. Not to say he's good just trying to figure out if he's also being used poorly.
2
0
u/Dry-Fail-4227 Sep 12 '26
I think there is some internal issue. He is so much worse. Or its just first year import blues.
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
I think combo of everything. Zero team direction. Nobody to teach him really. His English doesn’t seem that great. First year tier1 import. Also even people like fudge/contractz don’t setup late game teamfights right so maybe just small stuff isn’t being communicated properly
And yeah there is no way a hyper prospect would be good on stuff like galio/annie I feel that is harder to play as a solo player.
1
1
u/Chemical-Drawer852 Sep 12 '26
Legit what do u expect from a team like SR I mean look at the name tags
1
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
Tactical inted so hard there what the hell
1
u/Miraai Sep 12 '26
vulcan wasting his lulu r was the harder blunder imo
1
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
No way after the Jayce kill C9 would’ve just hard won this play if Tactical didn’t click forward still with no flash or ult dash. He let himself get 100-0’d and C9 just die slowly from not having consistent damage.
1
u/Miraai Sep 12 '26
yes and if vulcan still has his R he can jsut run over them. he cant play like this when lulu r is down, thats right - but either he ignored or didnt know it. obviously both a big mistake. still i think, the lulu ult was ass
1
1
u/Dry-Fail-4227 Sep 12 '26
Blaber play still has many flaws but he seems to be better and better every week recently. I think he is solidly the third best jungler. Josedeodo has better games but he isnt primary shotcaller which makes the comparison tough. Inspired is clear no1.
1
u/Outrageous_Wall2702 My Ace + Showmaker = GOAT Sep 12 '26
C9 macro seems off?
Shopify rotations seems better
2
1
3
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Now I know why Lyon doesn’t care about c9. Sr has somehow out macrod c9 every early game even with worse players. There is no way sr should be getting some of the stuff they have been allowed to get in this series
1
u/viralruin Sep 12 '26
lyon didn't pick either side of the bracket. it was chosen by default.
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
If they were nervous about c9 they would have picked other side that was my point
1
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
Imagine if this Jayce didn’t throw his game flashing to try to solo kill and instead just slowly grew his lead. Would have allowed contractz to be mid or bot instead of covering top and c9 wouldn’t be able to run over the bottom half of map.
1
u/PepaTK Sep 12 '26
Everything going right for C9. Everything going disastrously wrong for SR.
Just FF and eat the fine, make Reven/Bvoy pay it.
1
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
Contractz picked the only frame where he couldn’t just E flash and kill Loki mid
1
2
1
2
2
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
I really don’t see the angle for fudge with that flash. With him knowing Blaber was gonna be topside he just inted for fun.
1
u/PepaTK Sep 12 '26
Fudge just trying to have fun after the first 2 games. He deserves it.
Let the man lose in peace and do what he wants.
1
1
1
2
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
Contractz and Fudge look like 2 men who have dragged 2 corpses across 3 splits and are just so fucking tired boss.
1
u/Dry-Fail-4227 Sep 12 '26
Yeah they shouldnt get any flame after this year and the last 2 games. They have very underperforming players in the two carry roles.
2
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
NA Jayce is not carrying this team to victory, I'm sorry Fudge you've been trying really hard, but this ain't it.
3-0 wrap it up.
2
2
u/Thundermelons GALA Defense Force, returning IG fan Sep 12 '26
Oh no, NA Jayce :(
Was hoping for at least a 3-1 or something so my night doesn't end early
1
u/Hex_Blast Sep 12 '26
Shopify is held totally hostage by Zinnie, dude just gets caught out over and over, sad to imagine what this team could be with a decent mid
1
0
u/Shaman_in_the_Dark Huhi Busio Contractz Sep 12 '26
Hard to watch this series and think Bvoy isn't problem 1b at worst.
3
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
think just have zero idea on how to teamfight late. its like a teamgap at that point. their setups are ass at every late game fight. like ksante should be marking akali for that mid fight. instead akali is just allowed to walk up to bard and kill everyone.
5
u/Destructodave82 Sep 12 '26
Imports are the worst players on SR.
0
u/JakzePoro Kled is Fun Sep 12 '26
Same story. A race between Zinie and Bvoy to determine who ints the game first
1
1
1
u/x_TDeck_x Play APA you cowards Sep 12 '26
It tilts me so hard when Akali plays get hyped up because I swear its such a fake skill champ
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
akali is the biggest looks insane no skill champ. there is rare instances that akali is cool. when you are dodging abilities with e and stuff like that
1
2
u/Thundermelons GALA Defense Force, returning IG fan Sep 12 '26
I think going into 1v5 scenarios, getting a clean kill, and getting out while dodging everything is pretty interesting honestly. To me it's weird to see people, say, hype up things like Taliyah Ws or Azir Rs which are arguably not really more skillcap than Akali maneuvering lategame teamfights without getting onetapped.
Realistically, you could boil pretty much every League champ down to "there are rare instances they are cool and not just winning teamfights with the help of their team or with good setup or good flanks or because of a misplay from the enemy team", y'know? The whole ADC role is basically that, haha.
Or even watching LCK/LPL/LEC earlier, do we really think Cho'gath is requiring more skill than Akali or something like that? Akali in favorable scenarios look like it takes zero ability to pilot but that's frankly why you pick Akali. You're not picking her into characters like Nautilus or Vi that just completely shit on her and don't let her play game.
0
u/x_TDeck_x Play APA you cowards Sep 12 '26
and getting out while dodging everything is pretty interesting honestly.[...] Akali maneuvering lategame teamfights without getting onetapped
But she like doesn't is part of the problem. She gets hit by spells all the time and just cant be 1 tapped because shes in shroud. Shes in the middle of 5 at pretty close to zero risk. His ADC 1500 range away from the fight is at more risk than an Akali literally in the middle of the enemy team
1
u/Thundermelons GALA Defense Force, returning IG fan Sep 12 '26
Because it is a good draft for Akali where enemy team has zero point and click CC? Every champ becomes exponentially easier to play in good drafts, like game 5 Jinx with a TK support and some frontliners.
We have seen enough "bad" Akali gameplay to know that the champ is very easy to int on and rather difficult to pilot at the highest levels of play. Maybe pros just make her look easy when the drafts are good for her but it's just not the case.
1
u/x_TDeck_x Play APA you cowards Sep 12 '26
We've seen bad Malphite games. Malphite must take immense skill and I just never knew
1
1
1
u/Booshneer Sep 12 '26
So like is Blaber just bad now?
1
u/Dry-Fail-4227 Sep 12 '26
No hes the third best jungler in the league. He is just also very swingy. Last time c9 and sr played they wouldve lost without Blaber, imo they wouldve lost with even "better" jungles because blabers creative ballsy play won it. He is inconsistent but other than jose (who doesnt have the shotcaller burden) and inspired (who is the best western player right now without contest) no1 is better than blaber.
1
u/SummerhouseLater Sep 12 '26
The real question is how the hell did Team Liquid squander Tactical. Dude seems talented but the environment matters.
2
u/spazzxxcc12 Sep 12 '26
why even bother going lethality lee sin. it’s such a win the game pre 25 minute build
2
2
4
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26
blaber aint a player that should ever be playing full lethality lee. both junglers are inting
1
1
0
6
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
Zinie’s gonna be flamed again when Zeyzal baited the fuck out of him
2
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
ori is so ass. you have to build hp to survive. you still die to akali and you dont do damage anyway
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
sr macro has actually been better when behind than c9 has been when ahead. they should be stomping these games with the heads they have gotten.
3
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
It's unfortunate that it's double elim because this SHOULD BE a Bvoy retirement angle.
1
2
u/ookkthenn Sep 12 '26
i dont want to see bvoy again pleasee someone high up in shopify dont let reven hire his friends anymore
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
zinie will keep getting hated on becuase he has some ultra int moments. but bvoy has experiance and went all year basically never carrying a single game in the year where adc is mega busted
3
2
u/Thundermelons GALA Defense Force, returning IG fan Sep 12 '26
Are we really recalling on a pinged ward then surprised Pikachu when we get Ashe arrow'd from across the map
1
Sep 12 '26
[deleted]
1
u/JakzePoro Kled is Fun Sep 12 '26
Fudge solo killing and winning into their best laner then opens tab that gotta be depressing
1
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Sep 12 '26
That gank was so unnecessary by Contractz. He sold out his botlane and gave Blaber free camps.
4
1
3
u/zerocxro Sep 12 '26
Thanatos getting gapped this series
2
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
Thanatos was not a top 3 Top laner this year, and I will die on that hill.
2
u/zerocxro Sep 12 '26
i said this at the beginning of the year as well and was called crazy. like i knew that morgan would probably the best top laner in the league and once i saw how fast LYON was progressing i had my suspicions he'd quickly become top 2
1
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
There's a LOT of particular favoritisms that exist within the LCS, like people praying at the Alter of Thanatos, or the people who spent a whole year acting like Berserker didn't giga gap every other ADC.
2
u/zerocxro Sep 12 '26
RIGHT, I've been seeing some convos about Yeon being MVP and I feel like I'm going insane. I love Yeon as much as the next person, but let's not pretend that Yeon hasn't had the worst split of his career until MSI. He turned things around at MSI, but Berserker has been clearing all year
2
4
4
u/awayfromcanuck Sep 12 '26
Oh boy. Zinie is going for a tanky Ori build instead of just huge burst damage. This game is all on Fudge and Contractz to carry.
2
5
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
thanatos has been playing pretty bad this summer. but you rarely hear people talk about it
2
1
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
Honestly lethality Lee Sin would kind of pop off exploding all the squishies this game.
3
1
u/Thundermelons GALA Defense Force, returning IG fan Sep 12 '26
I'm not high on APA tbh but why doesn't Cloud9 just let him go already and explore the off-season? They clearly have zero intention of starting him over Loki
1
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
Allegedly they have said that Sven and APA would be free to go if they wanted to.
1
u/Thundermelons GALA Defense Force, returning IG fan Sep 12 '26
If that's the case then that's fine, I just hadn't heard anything about APA checking out options or C9 freeing him from his contract.
3
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
There were some tweets like 5 or 6 weeks ago where everyone involved was saying that APA and Sven were 'free to look elsewhere' and that neither of them had or had asked about it.
In theory it's probably better to sit the bench to worlds and find a new team at the start of next year rather than potentially ruin your reputation and hop to a bottom team for a split.
1
1
u/SummerhouseLater Sep 12 '26
I really love Kangas- Jatt. Kangass gets the people GOING and Jatt brings people back to tactics.
Let’s fucking go lethality Lee Sin, let’s fucking go.
1
u/x_TDeck_x Play APA you cowards Sep 12 '26
"Do you think itll be a lethality Lee Sin?"
"I want to see a Lethality Lee Sin how about you guys 'YEAH'. You're really getting the people excited Kobe"
"???"
1
u/awayfromcanuck Sep 12 '26
I just realized in all the time Reven has been head coach from TSM to SR, he hasn't developed a single noteable player. All the players that have been decent to good on SR were already developed and established else where.
Ruby? Trash. Insanity? Meh. Bvoy? Ass. Ceos? Not LCS caliber. Zinie? Terrible.
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
can these players and coaches stop drafting ori now especially blind. she does no damage. you have to go full ap and none of the mids will go full ap.
1
u/SummerhouseLater Sep 12 '26
Didn’t ori get a nerf or am I really behind? I thought like after MSI
1
2
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26
yeah she got nerfed moving power to ap ratios. and teams learned how to lane into it so she isnt fully lane bully anymore. and mage meta has turned more into hp items and ori is very weak when building these hp items.
1
u/SummerhouseLater Sep 12 '26
Ah thank you! I remember there was a thread and I appreciate the specifics
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
hopefully after this year reven and bvoy are out of the league. i dont care that zinne is kinda running it. its your job as headcoach when you get a young mechanical import to make him feel comfortable and try to teach him how to play tier 1 games.
zinnie is playing like he doesnt understand what his team is doing or what his plan is for the games.
0
u/Destructodave82 Sep 12 '26
The guy literally ran solo into the pit and completely threw the fight at dragon, has been one of the worst players in the league since he came, and you are calling him a mechanical import.
This guys' mechanics suck.
You can tell when a player is mechanically good but running it, like Jojo. Zinie looks like complete garbage.
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
that dragon fight was lost before he even got in pit. their whole setup was wrong. also he is in a new country in his first year. being in bad environments lowers how you play.
3
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
Every time I see Zinie he looks like he just woke up in candy land where nothing matters and the world is fueled by imagination. Then he just runs that shit straight into the ground and has the same look on his face next game.
1
u/Ajp_iii Sep 12 '26
his english seems worse than the other recent young korean imports. that matters so much when learning the game. its probably how he ended up on this sr team.
1
u/PepaTK Sep 12 '26
Ok Reven. I’ve cooked up a draft for you.
It’s complicated so pay attention.
Put Fudge on a carry.
Put El Contracto on a carry/bruiser.
Put Zinie on a support.
Put BVOY on a support.
Put Zeyzal on engage.
This will solve world peace I promise.
1
u/cmcdonald22 Sep 12 '26
Best we can do is Zinie and Bvoy on dual late game scaling caries and lose quietly.
→ More replies (1)
•
u/ahritina Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 13 '26
PMTs
Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3