The regular season of LPL Split 3 concluded this Thursday, August 28, after a shorter four-day week that didn’t shake up the standings much but mainly served to determine playoff and Play-In seeding. We now know the matchups for the eight Play-In teams, as well as the order in which the top four teams from the Ascend Group will be able to choose their opponents. A total of eight Best-of-3s were played over these last four days, including the two series between Weibo Gaming and JD Gaming, as well as Invictus Gaming and Bilibili Gaming, which had been rescheduled due to weather conditions in Beijing and Shanghai.

The first day of the week featured a matchup between BLG and FunPlus Phoenix. After eight straight losses, the 2019 World Champions needed to show a better face with the arrival of Zhao "Jiejie" Lijie, who joined from IG after being replaced there by Yan "Wei" Yang-Wei—himself previously benched from BLG. This game of musical chairs in the LPL seems to be paying off for FPX, as while they did lose to BLG, the level and performance displayed by this roster since Jiejie’s arrival has completely shifted, giving fans hope despite the defeat.

The following day, FPX faced the league's leaders, Top Esports, and even managed to take a game, though they ultimately dropped the series, extending their losing streak to ten and finishing the split with a 1–13 record. That same day, IG defeated Team WE in their penultimate match.

A split of gala for IG

On Wednesday, Weibo Gaming dominated JDG, before the two sides met again the next day, when the 2023 MSI champions took the upper hand. To close out the LPL regular season, IG and BLG delivered a hard-fought battle across both games of their series, which turned out to be an entertaining showdown. Chen "GALA" Wei’s form this split has been nothing short of phenomenal—the Chinese AD carry is among the very best in the world right now, once again carrying IG to victory and securing them second place in the Ascend Group.

With the group stage now concluded, the Play-In phase is set to begin on Saturday, August 30. The opening series will feature FPX against Ninjas in Pyjamas, the top seed from the Nirvana Group. On Sunday, Team WE will face EDward Gaming in a best-of-five that looks heavily stacked against them. The tide should then shift in favor of the Ascend Group, with Weibo Gaming meeting Ultra Prime on Monday, followed by JDG taking on LGD Gaming on Tuesday. These four knockout best-of-fives will decide which teams advance to the bracket stage, where Top Esports, Invictus Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, and Anyone’s Legend await. In order, those four teams will each choose their opponent for the first round of playoffs.

Only the winner of Split 3 will qualify directly for Worlds 2025, which will take place in China from October 14 to November 9. All other contenders will have to go through the Regional Finals to secure their place. That stage will determine the two additional Main Stage participants, along with the fourth seed who will face the LCK’s fourth representative in the lone BO of the new Worlds Play-In format.