This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　The teams that finish in the top 3 in the upcoming NA LCS regional playoffs will qualify for this year's World Championship. Six teams were seeded into the bracket based on the standings at the end of the split. After being in the top 3 in the summer split standings for the first seven weeks, Team Dignitas fell into a tie for fourth place by the end of the regular season and managed to secure only the #6 seed.

　　In winning 5 of its first 6 games, Dignitas got off to a strong start after acquiring top laner ZionSpartan and mid laner Shiphtur in the offseason. Yet the team failed to maintain its early momentum and lost 10 of its last 14 games, in what can be coined the typical Dignitas “Second Half Nose-Dive” based on similar collapses in previous splits. One standout stat is that, including Summer 2014, Dignitas won more games in the first 14 games than it did in the last 14 games in every LCS split. The graphic below shows Dignitas’ wins above 0.500 as the team progressed through each split. As you can see, there is a stark difference between Dignitas’ first half and second half performance.

　　Dignitas’ second half slump this season could have been caused by a variety of reasons such as fatigue, failure to adapt to new patches quickly, or being out-improved by other teams. Regardless of the causes, Dignitas once again limps into the playoffs, which is bad enough by itself, but bodes especially poorly for Dignitas given the team’s lackluster historical LCS playoff record. In the three previous LCS playoffs Dignitas earned only a 38% win rate, never finished in the top 3, and actually moved down in the standings twice. ZionSpartan and Shiphtur were obviously not a part of those Dignitas teams though.

　　Compounding on Dignitas’ poor LCS playoff record is the fact that a team seeded #4-6 did not finish in the top 3 in the last two playoffs in either the NA or EU LCS. A #6 seed finished in the top 3 only once in LCS history, when Good Game University finished 2nd in the inaugural Spring 2013 split in NA. The graphic below shows the percentage of times each seed finished in the top 3. As you can see, the bottom seeds are most likely to finish outside the top 3. The percentages include data from the first three splits from both leagues.

　　History suggests that Dignitas will fail to qualify for the World Championship. However, luckily for Dignitas, the last week of the regular season concluded last week and the regional playoffs don’t start until August 23rd. The two week break gives the team a much needed opportunity to recharge and improve before it faces TSM. Dignitas will need to take advantage of this opportunity if it wants to buck the historical trends and qualify for worlds.

　　Data collected with help by the onGamers Stats team: Derek 'Kathix' Adams, Jesse 'JALbert' Albert, Steven 'whedgehead' Falgout, Kent 'Traepoint' Frasure, Christoph "geilerHarry" Lansmann, Jake Morales, James 'PelkaSupaFresh' Pelkey, and José 'Vodkita' Ribeiro. Design by Ben 'Sarcasmappreciated' Li.