UPDATE 8/1: As a result of the last game of the 2021 League Championship Series Summer Split, Golden Guardians has become the eighth and final team to qualify for the LCS Championship.

GG came into the final week of the Summer Split one game behind 8th place FlyQuest and kept its post-season hopes alive by beating FLY in its first matchup. GG went 2-1 on the weekend, and needed FlyQuest to be handed a second loss after losing to Immortals in its last match of the split against Counter Logic Gaming.

CLG was able to deliver on GG's behalf, and a tied record of 14-31 with FLY alongside the Golden State Warriors affiliate's  3-2 head-to-head record against FLY secured the 8th seed for GG. As a result, FLY's season ended right alongside CLG's season.

UPDATE 7/23: As a result of Counter Logic Gaming's win over Golden Guardians on day 1 of week 8 of the 2021 LCS Summer Split, Immortals became the seventh team to qualify for the post-season. 

The loss was GG's 28th of the season, and Immortals' worst-case scenario is finishing the season 17-28. Because of IMT's superior record to the 11-29 Counter Logic Gaming and its positive head-to-head record against GG, Immortals is guaranteed a spot in the 2021 LCS Championship. 

UPDATE 7/16: Dignitas has become the sixth team to qualify for the 2021 League of Legends Championship Series Championship. DIG upset 100 Thieves in its first match of week 7 of the LCS Summer Split to secure its 19th win. Following DIG's win, Counter Logic Gaming lost to Team Liquid, bringing their best possible record to 18-27 and guaranteeing they will finish below Dignitas.

At 10-26, Golden Guardians can tie DIG at 19-26 if it wins its last nine games, but DIG's 3-1 head-to-head will put it above GG. Even if GG wins its last match against DIG, the head-to-head record would still be free to in favor of 3-2. As a result, Dignitas has mathematically secured at least 8th place in the LCS standings, and by extension, punched its ticket to the post-season. 

UPDATE 7/10: Two more teams have joined 100 Thieves, TSM and Cloud9 in qualifying for the 2021 LCS Championship. Team Liquid qualified on Friday, July 9 after a barnburner of a win against Dignitas, and on Saturday, July 10, Evil Geniuses extended its winstreak to 7 against 100 Thieves and punched its own ticket to the post-season. 

Both of these wins were the respective 21st wins of the season for EG and TL, and after TL's Saturday win against Immortals, the worst possible record it can finish the season with is 22-23. The best possible end-of-season records for Counter Logic Gaming and FlyQuest are 21-24, and Golden Guardians' best-case scenario is a record of 19-26.

At 21-14, Evil Geniuses could finish 21-24 and tie CLG and FLY, but its positive head-to-head records against both squads guarantee a post-season spot.

UPDATE 7/6: 100 Thieves and TSM weren't the only teams to lock in a post-season spot in week 5 of the 2021 LCS Summer Split. Cloud9 lost its final match of the week to TSM, but because FlyQuest lost its match to Team Liquid, C9 mathematically locked in a top 8 spot. Golden Guardians would only finish with 20 wins if it won its last 12 games, and after FLY's loss, both it and Counter Logic Gaming max out at 21 potential wins. The 21-12 C9 has winning head-to-head records against CLG and FLY.

Original story:

In congruence with the 2021 League of Legends Championship Series combining teams' results from the Spring Split and the Summer Split, the LCS Spring Playoffs was changed to the LCS Mid-Season Showdown, in which the top 6 North American teams in Spring compete to see who will represent the region at the Mid-Season Invitational. 

The LCS Summer Playoffs have been renamed to the LCS Championship for the 2021 season due to the format change. What remains the same from the 2020 season is that the top 8 teams in summer qualify for the post-season and the teams that finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd represent North America at the World Championship as the region's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seeds, respectively. 

In week 5 of the 2021 LCS Summer Split, 100 Thieves and TSM became the first two teams to qualify for the LCS Championship.

100 and TSM, who finished 4th and 3rd in the Mid-Season Showdown, respectively, have soared above Cloud9 and Team Liquid after the latter pair of team's recent roster-go-rounds. 100 Thieves is currently in sole possession of 1st place at 24-9, and after TSM's victory over Cloud9 to close out week 5, it sits in 2nd place with a record of 23-10. 

Through 5 weeks of the 2021 LCS Summer Split, C9 is only one game behind TSM at 21-12 in 3rd and TL is one back from them in 4th at 20-13. There is a bit more distance between the middle of the pack teams with 19-14 Evil Geniuses in 5th, 17-16 Dignitas in 6th, and 15-18 Immortals in 7th. There is a sheer dropoff to the last three spots in the standings with Counter Logic Gaming and FlyQuest tied for 8th at 9-24, followed by Golden Guardians in sole possession of last place at 8-25. 

Source: Tina Jo/Riot Games via ESPAT