Suning and Invictus Gaming both picked up their eighth wins on Thursday in League of Legends Pro League action in Shanghai.
Suning (8-3) beat Royal Never Give Up (5-5) 2-1 for their sixth straight victory and IG (8-3) swept LNG Esports (2-9) for their third consecutive win. Suning and IG are now tied for fourth place.
Huan-Feng "huanfeng" Tang earned MVP honors for Suning on the first and third maps, with RNG's Yuan-Hao "Xiaohu" Li posting an MVP effort on the middle map.
The MVPs for Invictus Gaming were Zhen-Ning "Ning" Gao and Seung-lok "TheShy" Kang.
The nine-week, 17-team LPL season runs through Aug. 9. Following a single round robin of best-of-three matches, the top eight sides will advance to the Summer Split playoffs. All matches in the single-elimination postseason bracket will be best-of-five. Dates are to be determined.
The top two teams receive double byes into the semifinals, and the third- and fourth-place teams will get byes in the quarterfinals. The fifth- through eighth-place teams will compete in the opening round. The tiebreaker order for playoff positioning is game differential followed by head-to-head result.
The playoff winner will earn a spot in the League of Legends World Championship, scheduled to be played later this year at a date and site to be announced. The champion will claim more than $280,000 of the nearly $600,000 prize pool.
Week 7 continues with two matches Friday. Rogue Warriors face FunPlus Phoenix and LGD Gaming play EDward Gaming.
LPL Summer Split standings through Thursday (record, map differential):
1. Top Esports, 8-1, 13
2. Victory Five, 8-2, 11
3. JD Gaming, 8-2, 9
T4. Invictus Gaming, 8-3, 6
T4. Suning, 8-3, 6
6. Team WE, 7-3, 7
7. FunPlus Phoenix, 5-4, 2
T8. Vici Gaming, 5-4, -1
T8. LGD Gaming, 5-4, -1
10. Royal Never Give Up, 5-5, 1
11. EDward Gaming, 3-6, -4
12. Bilibili Gaming, 3-6, -5
13. Oh My God, 3-7, -4
14. eStar Gaming, 3-8, -5
15. Rogue Warriors, 2-8, -10
16. LNG Esports, 2-9, -13
17. Dominus Esports, 1-9, -12
--Field Level Media