The
LPL Split 3 regular season concluded this Thursday, Aug 28, after a shorter four-day week that didn’t shake up the standings much; the matches mainly served to determine playoff and Play-In seeding. Fans now know the first-round 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.
Invictus Gaming and Bilibili Gaming had to be 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 they'd improved 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 jungle musical chairs in the LPL seems to be paying off for FPX — though they lost to BLG in the end, the level and performance displayed by this roster since Jiejie’s arrival has been an undeniable improvement. FPX fans built some 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. FPX added another their losing streak — taking them to ten total — and finished 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 and met them again the next day, when the 2023 MSI champions managed to take 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 back-to-back MSI champion ADC, now a veritable veteran, is among the very best in the world once again. He carried IG to victory and secured 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 opponents 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 spots. That tournament will determine the two additional Main Stage participants, along with the fourth seed who will face the LCK’s fourth representative in the single series Worlds Play-In stage.
Header Photo Credit: LPL/Riot Games
