LCK: The last person to advance has not yet been decided. Neither Liiv Sandbox nor Nongshim RedForce have made it through a well-played series

The riddle of the last team that will complete the already promoted five is not yet solved. The unravelling of the relegation drama will come at the weekend.

After BRION’s unfortunate fall, the field of playoff contenders has been reduced to the trio of Liiv Sandbox, DRX and Nongshim RedForce. The former have been showing a performance upswing from the long-term grey in recent series and definitely wanted to think about advancing.

Liiv Sandbox, however, had the toughest possible schedule against the competition before the series with T1. Faker returned to the helm and his teammates destroyed the harmless Kwandong Freecs. So after today’s series with T1, Sandbox still had a battle to finish with KT Rolster, who are currently the best in Korea.

Still, Teddy’s improved performance and good form gave Sandbox a chance to give a lot of trouble to the slowly healing T1. This was also the case in the first game when Sandbox troubled T1 very purposefully. However, slight hesitations and inaccuracies took the game away from Sandbox and they had to change their plans for the second game.

Sandbox handled that one much better and, more importantly, more confidently. Although the Korean titan bit a lot and Sandbox had to pound the T1 defense for over forty minutes, the group around Teddy forced a third – decisive game.

In this one we could see the return of Faker to Xerath and the old traditional matchup at midu – Xerath vs. Azir. Only moments later, memories of MSI 2015 came back to us.

However, it was this outwardly smaller step into the unknown that made T1 worthwhile. Oner and his Lee Sin helped accelerate his team very quickly, and T1 was able to get the second point.

Thus, Liiv Sandbox must continue to wait for the results of their competition after losing 1-2. It is highly likely that the win/loss ratio will ultimately be the deciding factor rather than the score.

Favourites KT Rolster have unexpectedly run into trouble with Nongshim, they end up in front of the playoff gate

The second series of the day was also crucial to the playoff battle. Nongshim RedForce, like Liiv Sandbox, were playing for the last spot. Against the favored KT Rolster, the team had one last chance to make a potential fight even more dramatic.

Unfortunately for Nongshim, their final surge and emergence of form came too late. The team did manage to be one of the few in the summer split, taking a game from the favourite in the series. But their efforts did not lead to the final success. Or even the theoretical hope of a possible tiebreaker.

The final 1-2 result from Nongshim’s perspective was the team’s swan song this season. KT, on the other hand, do not yet have a certain right of choice as the winner of the regular season. This will be decided next weekend, when their rivals – GenG will challenge the already eliminated BRION. KT will welcome Liiv Sandbox in their last match, for whom it will be a match for everything.

What is the current situation in the battle for sixth place?

Similar to Liiv Sandbox, the penultimate match between DRX and Kwandong Freecs promises to be a battle for blood. Moreover, both teams will be rooting hard for KT Rolster to win against Liiv Sandbox by a clean sheet (2-0).

Should this result occur – i.e. Sandbox lose to KT 0-2, DRX and Kwandong will have their fate in their own hands as their series follows this one. The following scenarios are in play.

Any Sandbox win should be enough to advance. Should a stunt happen and KT lose 0-2, Sandbox will advance regardless of the DRX/KDF series.

If Sandbox take KT Rolster game in the series (1-2 result), Kwandong are eliminated and DRX must win 2-0 over Kwandong to make it a tiebreaker.

If Sandbox lose 0-2 cleanly, DRX just needs a 1-2 loss to Kwandong to play the tiebreaker or a 2-0 win moves them into the playoffs.

Kwandong Freecs have the only chance to claim a tiebreaker with Liiv Sandbox as they have the worst win/loss ratio. A 2-0 win over DRX and a Sandbox loss to KT by the same ratio.

Source: LCK Global, Leaguepedia