The T1 team had a difficult opening day at the Last Chance Qualifiers. T1 let down the fans with a sluggish start after they arrived for the LCQ with high expectations. Despite having a tougher match on day two, T1 could be able to pick up some much-needed victories to guarantee an upper-bracket position.

The opening series of the day pitted T1 versus Virtus Pro. T1 got the game off to a strong start, maintaining their advantage for over 30 minutes. Due to a lack of crowd-controlling and stunning skills in their lineup, the team was struggling to win the game. With Nature’s Prophet, Primal Beast, Disruptor, and Slark at their disposal, T1 found it tough to contain VP’s Ember Spirit and Morphling, but the team was able to end the match at the 50-minute mark. The second match was also pretty tight, but after 30 minutes, T1 lost control and kept getting picked up by VP, which finally resulted in a defeat.

T1 faced up against Xtreme Gaming in the second set of the day. This group is seen as one of the favorites to go to TI11. Although XG was a different sort of beast than T1, which T1 shockingly understood how to cope with, T1 had just displayed its teeth in the VP match. With a score of 50 to 17 in the opening game, the SEA representative easily defeated XG. T1 held the advantage the whole game, which lasted 59 minutes. The same scenario held true for the second game, in which T1 could easily overcome XG thanks to Topson and Ana’s faultless play.

T1 looked to get enough confidence from XG to continue. Many supporters anticipated that the squad will defeat Wildcard Gaming once more. T1’s plans for the first match, however, were foiled as WG completely controlled the game thanks to Alone and Yamsun’s outstanding work against Shadow Fiend and Morphling. T1 recovered in the second game, tied WG on points, and beat Na’Vi to guarantee its place in the top bracket of the playoffs.

While NA participants, WG and nouns, had to settle for lower bracket spots, the two continued to cause upsets on the second day. Nouns defeated Vici Gaming in two long matches and caused VG to forfeit the number one seed in Group A to Na’Vi. On the other hand, WG took off a match from T1, which meant that the SEA team had to do with the number four seed instead of the third.

Here’s how the groups and the playoff brackets shaped up at the end of LCQ’s group stage.

Group A

  • First place — Na’Vi — Seven wins / three losses
  • Second place — Vici Gaming — Six wins / four losses
  • Third place — Team Secret — Six wins / four losses
  • Fourth place — Polaris Esports — Six wins / four losses
  • Fifth place — Nouns — Four wins / six losses
  • Sixth place — Tempest — One win / nine losses

Group B

  • First place — Team Liquid — Eight wins / two losses
  • Second place — Xtreme Gaming — Six wins / four losses
  • Third place — Virtus.pro — Five wins / five losses
  • Fourth place — T1 — Five wins / five losses
  • Fifth place — Infamous — Three wins / seven losses
  • Sixth place — Wildcard Gaming — Three wins / seven losses

LCQ Playoffs Brackets

  • Upper Bracket
    • Na’Vi vs. T1
    • Team Secret vs. Xtreme Gaming
    • Virtus.pro vs. Vici Gaming
    • Team Liquid vs. Polaris Esports
  • Lower Bracket
  • TBD vs. Tempest
  • TBD vs. Infamous
  • TBD vs. nouns
  • TBD vs. Wildcard Gaming