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League of Legends: LTA North 2025 Spring Playoffs Preview - All Matchups, Bracket, Schedule

Rui Yang Xu

Photo by Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games

After a mix of BO1s and BO3s the eight teams competing in North America for a chance to represent LTA North at the Mid-Season Invitational and the Esports World Cup have been dwindled to six. Despite some surprising results the LTA North playoffs are mostly shaping up as expected with the three teams in contention being what most fans expected in Flyquest, Cloud9, and Team Liquid. Now the question is, which team will come out on top and win it all? Let’s take a look at the first round of the LTA Split 2 Playoffs and find out. 

(1) Flyquest vs (4) Shopify Rebellion 

Season H2H:

  • FLY 2-0 Split 1 Regular Season
  • FLY 1-0 Split 2 Positioning Phase
  • FLY 2-1 Split 2 Group Phase

After some struggles and faltering in Split 1, Flyquest finds themselves back at the top of the LTA North standings. Led by jungler Inspired, who has had an MVP-caliber split, the team is once again looking like the team that took Gen.G to 5 games at Worlds 2024. 

The team’s only loss on their record so far this split was a BO1 loss to Cloud9 during the Positioning Phase, which has since been avenged during the Cross Group Battles. Otherwise the team has looked completely unstoppable and still has room to grow as Massu looks to still have room to improve in his sophomore season in tier 1 play. Even then, Massu has still looked like a clear top 3 player in his position, just like the rest of his team and together, looks like the clear favorite to win it all this split. 

Looking to cause the upset in the first round is a Shopify Rebellion team that already pulled off a surprise upset against 100 Thieves in the Group Phase to reach this stage. Leading Shopify to most of their success so far this season has been jungler Contractz, who has been a consistent bright spot on a team that has mostly struggled despite the recent success. Most of the team’s struggles have come from its solo laners in mid laner Palafox and top laner Fudge, who have performed better in recent weeks. 

There’s a chance that Shopify can make this a long series, considering they’re the only other team to hand Flyquest a game loss during this split. But realistically, Flyquest is the overwhelming favorite to win it all, and fans shouldn’t be too surprised if this ends up being a quick 3-0.

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(2) Cloud9 vs (3) Team Liquid

Season H2H:

  • TL 2-1 Split 1 Playoffs
  • C9 1-0 Split 2 Positioning Phase
  • C9 2-0 Split 2 Group Phase

Cloud9 and TL come into this matchup on polar opposite ends of the momentum scale. Despite finishing the Group Phase with a 3-0 record, Cloud9 has looked shaky, especially in their series against LYON, where the team was able to escape with the series win thanks to key misplays from LYON. Their struggles eventually led to a massive loss to Flyquest in the Cross Group Battles, leading to many question marks heading into the playoffs, with many focusing on the the performance of top laner Thanatos.

Meanwhile, TL went into the Cross Group Battles with a massive boost to the support staff, with head coach Spawn supporting the team in person, as well as a roster change by adding Yuuji, a jungler that many fans were waiting to see finally get his chance in tier 1 play, to share time with Umti. In his debut, Yuuji looked spectacular and showed that he belonged in tier 1 with a great game on Pantheon and an amazing game on Viego in game 2, where he went 10-1-8. Aside from Yuuji’s great debut, Impact also had a fantastic series after mostly struggling this split and if he can keep this up, it should lead to a far run in the playoffs for TL. 

With a new look TL coming into the playoffs, their recent match in the Group Phase won’t be the best indicator of what to expect from this series, especially with the recent struggles of Cloud9. That being said, the series will likely still go. Considering the state of the other teams in the playoffs, it’s likely that this won’t be the last we’ll see of this matchup, as a future rematch in the lower brackets or grand finals will likely await them as well. 

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Waiting in the Losers' Bracket

Waiting to play their first matches in the Loser’s Bracket are both teams from group B in Dignitas and 100 Thieves. 

Starting off with Dignitas, Despite the overall record so far this season, the team has had some bright spots in their young roster, such as top laner Srtty and jungler Sheiden, who both played big roles in their victory over LYON in the Cross Group Battles to qualify for playoffs. Unlike some Dignitas rosters of the past, it feels like this roster still has the potential to continue growing and improving. But for now, the team isn’t quite there and has likely made it as far as they can go, barring a huge upset. 

On the other side of the losers’ bracket is a more surprising appearance from 100 Thieves. While 100T wasn’t quite on the same level as Flyquest, TL, and C9, the team was still clearly the 4th best team in the league on paper. However, an upset loss to Shopify during the Group Phase caused 100T to finish 3rd in their group and at risk of missing playoffs altogether. Fortunately, in the Cross Group Battle against Disguised, 100T had an incredible showing, demolishing DSG in two sub-30-minute games.

Their win over DSG was a great showcase from the entire team, especially mid laner Quid and his deathless performances on Ahri (12-0-10) and Viktor (9-0-10). It showed fans that despite how the group stages went for them, the team is still a potential contender and is looking to make a deep run. The question for this team now is whether we’ll constantly see this 100T during the playoffs or if the same 100T that lost to Shopify will show up and end their playoff run early. 

How to watch the LTA North Playoffs

The LTA North Playoffs are set to begin on May 24 and the eventual grand finals will take place on June 15th. To find the schedule for specific matches and to find out when matches begin in your timezone check the lolesports website. Otherwise you can catch the matches on the LTA North’s official Twitch or Youtube.

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Rui Yang Xu
RUI YANG XU

Rui Yang began covering esports in 2014 with Team Dignitas. Since then he has written for the likes of The Game Haus, Akshon Esports, and Red Bull Gaming primarily covering League of Legends and the FGC. When he's not writing, Rui Yang can be found riding the KT roller coaster through all the highs and lows (mostly the lows).