Field tightens as LCS Summer Split winds down

With the battle for the top two seeds down to the three teams, the rest of the field is in a dogfight to advance to the League Championship Series Summer Split playoffs. And at no point was that more evident in the event thus far than Saturday's pair of group matches.

Beginning the day within one game of one another, the quartet of Dignitas, 100 Thieves, NRG and Immortals paired off and, once play was over, were even more bunched up in the standings.

Dignitas and 100 Thieves were the big winners, with Dignitas sweeping NRG 2-0 and 100 Thieves doing the same to the Immortals. The results left Dignitas, 100 Thieves and NRG all tied for fourth place at 2-4, with Immortals a game back at 1-5.

Eight teams are fighting for six spots in the League of Legends Summer Split's double-elimination playoff bracket. The top two seeds will head to the upper-bracket semifinals, with the other four seeds duking it out in the upper-bracket quarterfinals.

All group-play matches are best-of-three, while the playoff matches are best-of-five. The winner of the tournament will take home $100,000 of the $200,000 prize pool, with the top three teams qualifying for the World Championship.

In the day's first game, Dignitas took care of NRG in 28 and 33 minutes, both times on red.

100 Thieves then took both of their matches on blue, beating Immortals in 47 and 27 minutes.

The four teams will have one more chance to improve their standings next weekend, the final weekend of group play.

On Sunday, the biggest match of the event thus far takes place when Team Liquid and Cloud9, both unbeaten through five weeks, face off.

Sunday's LCS Summer Split matches

--Team Liquid vs. Cloud9

--FlyQuest vs. Shopify Rebellion

LCS Summer Split group stage standings (overall record, individual game win-loss record):

1. Cloud9, 5-0, 10-1

2. Team Liquid, 5-0, 10-2

3. FlyQuest, 4-1, 9-4

4. Dignitas, 2-4, 6-8

t5. 100 Thieves, 2-4, 5-8

t5. NRG, 2-4, 5-8

7. Shopify Rebellion, 1-4, 2-8

8. Immortals, 1-5, 2-10

LCS Summer Split prize pool:

1. $100,000, qualification to Worlds

2. $50,000, qualification to Worlds

3. $30,000, qualification to Worlds

4. $20,000

5-6. No prize money

7-8. No prize money

--Field Level Media