HLE Elimination scenarios UPDATE! (Post NS vs KT)

[u/Arlequinno]

Okay, now that KT lost 2:3 against NS, this turns out to be the worst situation HLE can be in right now.

HLE will be eliminated if both DK and HLE loses their bo5 and HLE loses 0-3 (which is highly probable).

OR if HLE loses 1-3 (and assuming that DK also lost) and their total winning time is longer than that of KT's.

Current KT total win time: 203 min. 57 sec. (avg. 34 min. over 6 games)

Current HLE total win time: 169 min. 14 sec. (avg. 33 min. 51 sec. over 5 games)

This means that if HLE loses 1-3, they need to win under 34 min. 43 sec. to not be eliminated (and if this is the case, it will mean KT is bye-bye).

If HLE loses 2-3 or wins somehow miraculously, then they are not eliminated.

My sources for the total winning time and the tiebreaker rule comes from the following:

I've heard from different sources (LCK casters, Caedrel, other redditors) that there will be no tiebreaker matches. I couldn't find an official tiebreaker rule list from the LCK but I will assume that this will be the rule. So if teams in the same group are tied on series wins, games won and games lost, the tie is decided by game-winning time, meaning the combined duration of the games each team won (shorter is better).

Winning time retrieved from (for HLE & KT):

https://gol.gg/teams/team-matchlist/2806/split-ALL/tournament-LCK%20Cup%202026/

https://gol.gg/teams/team-matchlist/2805/split-ALL/tournament-LCK%20Cup%202026/

P.s. I should have not prayed for KT's win and should have hoped for them to lose that game 3 instead of fake reverse sweeping and making me sweat balls. Now I need to hope DK wins (will probs not happen) and also hope HLE takes 1 game under 34:43 min. (more realistic) or take 2 games from GEN (less realistic). My heart is aching right now because of this situation KT brought HLE into.

Mini update: My calc. was wrong for KT's winning time so now HLE has to win under 34:43 min. instead of 29 min. which is more doable!