5 Reasons Why You Should Watch The LCS Lock-In Playoffs

The LCS Lock-In 2026 playoffs kicked off on Saturday, February 14, featuring six remaining teams after a grueling group stage. Shopify Rebellion was eliminated with a 0-3 record despite sky-high expectations boosted by the signing of Korean top prospect Yoo “Zinie” Baek-jin, while Dignitas bowed out in a tense tiebreaker loss to Team Liquid.

Cloud9 during the LCS Lock-In 2026

Cloud9, FlyQuest, Sentinels, Disguised, LYON, and Team Liquid will now clash in the playoffs, running until the grand final on March 1. The champion earns a spot at the second edition of First Stand in São Paulo from March 16-22, while the runner-up and third-place finisher advance to the Americas Cup. In this article, you’ll find five great reasons to follow the LCS playoffs.

1. All BO5 Double Elimination Bracket in LCS Lock-In

While leagues like the LEC and CBLOL have kicked off their playoffs with Best-of-3s, the rest of Riot’s circuit opted straight for BO5s, ramping up the stakes for these matchups. Teams will face off with just one BO5 per day, giving us a front-row seat to North America’s top players pushing their meta to the absolute limit, unleashing spicy picks, potential reverse sweeps, and—fingers crossed—plenty of those glorious silver scraps.

2. Cloud9’s Undefeated Rampage

If there’s one team ruling the LCS food chain, it’s Cloud9. Undefeated across their three group stage BO3s to finish 6-1, C9 looks poised for a triumphant return to the spotlight. Retaining nearly the same roster from last year with the addition of fiery midlaner Eain “APA” Stearns, Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen is on fire this split, while Robert “Blaber” Huang and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme form the league’s best jungle-support duo. After taking three wins in the Swiss stage and dominating FlyQuest in the opening round of playoffs, this is the team to watch in the LCS.

3. Revenge and Rivalries

With FlyQuest going into the lower bracket, there will be a major storyline between FLY and LYON. After parting ways during the offseason, Polish jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma went on to join LYON as the leading player for a top-of-the-line team featuring former 100T player Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, and former Cloud9 ADC Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol. Has FLY made the right choice by going for a new young team or is Inspired still one of the best players in NA? This matchup will give us the answer.

4. Big teams in the lower bracket

Speaking of the lower bracket, this year’s Lock-In playoffs are stacked. Aside from LYON and FLY, the lower bracket also has Team Liquid with big names such as Lord Park “Morgan” Ru-han, Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung, and Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in. While TL has been struggling, it’s unquestionable that this team’s potential is supposed to be with the top teams, especially considering that, according to TL Co-CEO Steve Arhancet, the team is doing well in scrims.

I’m sorry we are working really hard on it. Something is obviously working really well because are dominating scrims; which means we need to figure out why it’s not translating to stage. If we can figure this out, we’ve unlocked this teams potential which is really really high.

— Team Liquid Steve (@LiQuiD112) February 9, 2026

5. Several rookies to watch

The LCS is packed with young talents making their North American debuts and now fighting it out in playoffs. While Zinie is out with SR, plenty of other players are still in the mix. İbrahim “Gakgos” Samet Bulut, Michael “Cryogen” Luu and Johnson “Gryffinn” Le are finding their feet with FlyQuest, while Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin is off to a solid start this split with Sentinels.

FlyQuest Gryffinn during the LCS Lock-In 2026 — Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

Sajed “sajed” Ziade and Oh “Callme” Ji-hoon are also performing strongly for Disguised, joined on Day 3 of the Group Stage by Canadian jungler Christian “KryRa” Rahaian—who missed the early matches and has only played one BO all year so far, a win against LYON.

5 Reasons Why You Should Watch the LCS Lock-In Playoffs

1. All BO5 Double Elimination Bracket in LCS Lock-In

2. Cloud9’s Undefeated Rampage

3. Revenge and Rivalries

4. Big teams in the lower bracket

5. Several rookies to watch

Article Tags

Tournaments

Ilyas Marchoude

League of Legends Writer

League of Legends

5 Reasons Why You Should Watch the LCS Lock-In Playoffs

1. All BO5 Double Elimination Bracket in LCS Lock-In

2. Cloud9’s Undefeated Rampage

3. Revenge and Rivalries

4. Big teams in the lower bracket

5. Several rookies to watch

Article Tags

Tournaments

Ilyas Marchoude

League of Legends Writer

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League of Legends

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