With the regular season for both NA and EU and the Promotion Tournament finished in NA, the next big event to look at is playoffs. The Quarterfinal matches will be taking place Saturday, August 19th, with Cloud9 taking on Team Dignitas and Sunday, August 20th, with Counter Logic Gaming playing Team Envy. Team Solo Mid and Immortals both received first round byes by placing first and second respectively. TSM will play the lowest-seeded team out of the quarter-finalist winners and IMT will play the highest-seeded team. (I.E. IMT cannot play NV in the semifinals and TSM cannot play CLG)

1. Team Solo Mid

TSM had an impressive Summer Split sporting a 14-4 match record. TSM's 4 match loses came from IMT win Week 1 (2-0), DIG in Week 2 (2-1), Cloud9 in Week 5 (2-1), and DIG again in Week 7 (2-0). TSM can only play NV, DIG, or C9 in the semifinals, and IMT or CLG in the finals. TSM's strengths are in their strong laners and macro play. Mid laner Bjergsen has been the focal point for this team for almost four years now and is always in talks about being Most Valuable Player of the Split. AD Carry Doublelift, after taking a split off to evaluate his future and save Team Liquid in the Relegation Tournament, hasn't missed a beat this summer. The biggest weakness, in, my opinion, has been the over aggression from jungler Svenskeren and lack of proximity to top laner Hauntzer. With talent like Ssumday, Impact/Ray, Flame, Seraph, and Darshan looking back in form, Hauntzer will have a much harder time against his lane opponents and will need help from Sven to get TSM to a point where they can just out-rotate and out-teamfight teams to victory.

2. Immortals

Immortals held first place for a majority of the split until TSM took it in the last two weeks of the split. Also having a 14-4 match record, IMT lost to NV in Week 2 (2-0), TSM in Week 5 (2-0), P1 in Week 5 (2-1), and DIG in Week 8 (2-1). IMT can only play C9, DIG, or CLG in the semifinals, and TSM or NV in the finals. IMT's summer split was announced with the addition of CLG jungler Xmithie and the team meshed well into their successful split. IMT's strengths come from their play-making support Olleh, and their carry Top Laner Flame. Olleh has shown up on a variety of play-makers like Thresh, Blitzcrank, and Bard, but being reliant on Olleh can lead to over aggression and a disadvantageous fight which can put IMT clawing back for a lead. Also mid laner Pobelter will have difficult competition against other mids like Jensen, Nisqy, and Bjergsen. Immortals have lost in the semifinals twice before sporting a very different roster, and we will have to see if 3rd time is the charm.

3. Counter Logic Gaming

Counter Logic Gaming has possession of first place for part of the summer split, until a few losses at the end dropped them behind IMT and TSM. At a record of 12-6, CLG's losses came from TSM twice, once in Week 2 (2-1) and again in Week 9 (2-0), IMT twice, once in Week 4 (2-0), and again in Week 7 (2-1), P1 once in Week 8 (2-1), and DIG in Week 9 (2-0). CLG can only play IMT in the semifinals and either TSM, C9, or DIG in the finals. AD carry and Support duo Stixxay and Aphromoo have been playing strong with Aphromoo shotcalling for the team. Top laner Darshan has been looking back in form despite the losses at the end of the split. The biggest question is whether or not rookie jungler OmarGod can play with the talent he'll be up against. OmaGod replaced Dardoch in Week 7 against IMT before taking over completely when CLG traded Dardoch back to Team Liquid. OmarGod will be up firstly against NV's jungler Lira, who has had an amazing summer split. Assuming CLG beats NV, Omar will have to face the likes of Xmithie, the player that preceded Dardoch and a team that CLG have yet to beat this split. Other strong junglers like rookie of the spring split, C9 Contractz and Svenskeren will be difficult to take on and we will have to see if CLG are up to making it back to Worlds.

4. Cloud9

Cloud9 is one of only three teams to win a split. AD Carry Sneaky has been with the team since the beginning and still is in the top tier of AD Carries this split. C9 has a record of 12-6, with losses to CLG twice, once in Week 1 (2-1) and again in Week 5 (2-1) , TSM in Week 1 (2-0), IMT twice, once in Week 3 (2-1) and again in Week 6 (2-1), and NV in Week 6 (2-0). Cloud9's strengths come in the form of mid laner Jensen. Jensen boasted some of the best individual stats this split including most solo kills and the least amount of deaths. The duo of Impact and Ray has come to the teams advantage as both tanks, which Impact can play to high success, and bruiser/carry top laners, like Ray's pocket Jarvan IV top, which is currently meta in both the top lane and in jungle. Cloud9 is one of two teams, the other being TSM, to have excellent chances to make World's, either it being from winning the finals, or having the most championship points and securing the second seed from NA.

5. Team Dignitas

Team Dignitas made their return to the NALCS this past spring after being relegated in Spring 2016. The lineup from the Apex lineup, plus the addition of Korean powerhouse top laner Ssumday led the team to where they are now. Mid-season changes and additions including AD Carry Altec, formerly of FlyQuest, and Support Adrian, from Phoenix1, created a duo lane that the team could rely on alongside mid laner Keane and his interesting champion pool. Dignitas had a record of 11-7 in the regular season with losses to Team Liquid, IMT, C9 twice, FlyQuest, Team Envy, and CLG. Having been the only team to defeat TSM twice in the regular season is quite the feat, but Dignitas has to get through the only team they have not beaten, Cloud9. Support Adrian has been criticized for his lack of champion pool, and against amazing supports like TSM's Biofrost, C9's Smoothie, CLG's Aphromoo, and IMT's Olleh, not being able to pull the same weight could spell disaster for this team.

6. Team Envy

At the number 6 seed, Team Envy has an uphill battle ahead of them. Envy ended the regular season with a record of 8-10, and are the only team in playoffs without a winning record. Playing CLG in the quarterfinals and only being able to play TSM in the semifinals sounds rough already, but these are the two playoff teams that NV have not been able to beat this season. NV's strength comes from star jungler Lira. Lira played phenomenally in the Spring Promotion Tournament in order to keep Envy from being relegated and carried it to the summer split. Envy also added a new mid laner to the scene with Nisqy, previously of Fnatic Academy came into the NALCS in Week 6 against Cloud9. Nisqy has played very well against some of the best midlaners in North America. AD Carry Apollo has stepped up during the regular season, but will need to take it to another level going against AD Carries like TSM's Doublelift, C9's Sneaky, CLG's Stixxay, and IMT's Cody Sun. Team Envy are going to have pull out all the stops in order to make it to World's this year.