The League of Legends Season Two playoffs are here! Twelve of the world’s best professional LoL squads have made their way to Los Angeles to spend three days fighting for a chance to win the $1 million grand prize. The playoffs start at 5 PM UK / 12 PM Eastern with Korea’s Azubu Frost v. Invictus Gaming, and will stream on Twitch.
Unusually for a major tournament, competition runs from today through Saturday, proving that Riot care nothing for this “school” and “work” of which you speak! It’s always a holiday Summoner’s Rift!
So start finding ways to circumvent your IT department’s blacklist so you can catch some of today’s round-robin play. The last game is supposed to start at 4 AM UK / 11 Eastern, although one should never be surprised to see a tournament fall behind schedule. If you can’t catch all of the day’s action, be sure to catch our recap after the day’s competition.Don’t forget that Riot have provided us withIP boost codes to celebrate the playoffs that we’re just dying to give away to readers!
By the end of the round robin, four teams will fall out of contention while the rest will move on to the quarterfinal round on Friday and Saturday. The quarterfinals begin tomorrow at 8 PM UK / 3 PM Eastern. The semifinals take place on Saturday night, 10 PM UK / 5 PM Eastern, and will set the stage for the World Finals next Saturday, October 13. The full schedule is available here.
Fighting for their chance to make it to the championship bracket are Korea’s Azubu Frost, Counter Logic Gaming’s Europe and Prime teams, Team Dignitas, Invictus Gaming, NaJin Sword, Saigon Jokers, and SK Gaming.
Moscow Five, Taipei Assassins, Team SoloMid, and World Elite will not be competing today since, as they won group-stage byes and have already been seeded into the championship bracket.
To call the action throughout the tournament, Riot have on hand Leigh “Deman” Smith, David “Phreak” Turley, Joshua “Jatt” Leesman, and Rivington “RivingtonThe3rd” Bisland. Rounding out the casting crew, wandering eSports commentator Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham just announced that he will be hosting the event. You can catch his preview of the event on yesterday’s edition of Graham’s weekly eSports show, Live on Three. It’s a long show, but they open with a good discussion of the LoL playoffs.
If you want to get to know the teams, you should take an hour or so to read ggChronicle’s detailed analysis of the competition.