Two members of the Immortals LCS team have tested positive for COVID-19, the team informed the public in an announcement made the day before the start of Week 8 in the 2021 LCS Summer Split.
Although the organization didn’t specify the exact people within the LCS squad who contracted the virus, everyone has transitioned to quarantine while assisting league officials in their contact-tracing efforts.
An hour after Immortals’ announcement, LCS Commissioner Chris Greeley made a statement regarding the team’s upcoming Week 8 matches against Dignitas, Evil Geniuses, and 100 Thieves.
Not only will the team play their matches remotely, but their opponents are also given the option to play remotely as well. Furthermore, the league will institute a brief delay to ensure competitive integrity.
Other than that, Greeley “all other LCS matches and broadcast elements to proceed normally.”
Heading into the penultimate week of the LCS regular season, Immortals are seventh in the table with a 17-22 overall record (10-11). Looking into seeding, they are two games behind Dignitas for sixth and four games ahead of eighth-placed FlyQuest. For teams finishing from first to sixth, they begin playoffs in the upper bracket which gives them an extra opportunity to compete should they lose their first series and drop to the lower bracket. For teams finishing in seventh and eighth, they are placed in the lower bracket where one series loss means instant elimination.
Relative to Immortals’ situation, this isn’t the first time COVID-19 made its presence in the LCS during 2021. Ahead of the Lock-In tournament, players and staff members of both Dignitas and CLG tested positive for the virus. Elsewhere, MAD Lions reported one positive case in June, whereas Fnatic reported two cases in March with Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov and then-assistant coach Gary “Tolki” Mialaret being revealed as the affected pair.
The LCS recently announced that the finals of the upcoming LCS Championship playoffs, which is set to occur on August 28-29, will take place in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It will mark the first LCS event to feature a live audience since the 2019 summer playoffs finals.
