Cloud9 has yet again made a miracle run out of the Worlds groups, this time in dominating fashion. This is the third time they’ve done so and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for other teams to compete with them.
Cloud9 made yet another miracle run out of Worlds groups. They were able to get through the group stage, but fell short in the quarterfinals.
Cloud9 (C9) seized control of their fate with a little assistance from EU, winning three times on the day to secure a spot in the knockout stage of the 2021 League of Legends (LoL) World Championship. The team had to fully reverse the cards from their terrible start to the Worlds main event, finishing with a 3-4 group record.
When the World Championship group rounds began earlier this week, things quickly went south for NA’s third seed. The reigning champions Damwon Gaming KIA, Chinese powerhouse FunPlus Phoenix (FPX), and Rogue, who topped the LEC’s summer split regular season rankings, were all in Group A, dubbed the “group of death” by many.
The first round of C9 was a flop.
C9 struggled right away against Europe’s representatives. Steven “Hans Sama” Liv’s Lucian and Kacper “Inspired” Soma’s Qiyana were defeated in 32 minutes. They combined for 11 of the team’s 16 kills, with Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus’ Nami accounting for 87.5 percent of the kills (KP).
Although the first defeat was not very devastating, NA supporters began to get concerned. However, given that they were yet to play Damwon, the second game versus FPX seemed like a death blow. It was a crazy, heartbreaking game. On Ryze, Luka “Perkz” Perkovi’s amazing early game gave C9 a big advantage, only for it to crumble in the late game. LPL’s representatives clawed their way back thanks to their terrible decision-making, despite finishing the game with a gold disadvantage.
C9 was under pressure to win an upset against LCK’s top seed after a 0-2 start. Their “plot armor” hadn’t yet activated, of course. The representatives from North America performed poorly in this game, capturing just one turret. On Twisted Fate and Graves, Heo “ShowMaker” Su and Kim “Khan” Dong-ha delivered on outstanding performances. Damwon eventually proved to be too powerful for almost everyone, finishing unbeaten in the group stage.
Cloud9’s prospects of making it to the knockout stage of the Worlds were close to none. Damwon had a 3-0 lead at the conclusion of the first round robin, while FPX was in second place with a 2-1 record. The winless C9 were at the bottom of the standings. However, the 0-3 record became their comfort zone as a result of the memes and criticism.
a little faith
Everyone on the squad stepped up for the second round robin, resulting in a fantastic run that started with a smashing of Rogue. C9 only let the European team to capture one turret in their 25-minute win. Robert “Blaber” Huang completed a 360 on his poor first-round performances with an 88 percent KP on Lillia, while Perkz went 5-1-10 on Irelia.
NA’s representatives kept their knockout chances alive by outscoring FPX 18-4 in another game that lasted less than 30 minutes. On Jayce and Twisted Fate, respectively, Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami and Perkz went deathless. Along with Blaber’s 6-1-9 Xin Zhao and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme’s Rakan with an almost 90% KP, the latter also provided 14 assists, making plays all over the map.
Rogue, however, delivered FPX another another defeat—thank you, EU—tying their records at 2-4. Everything was falling into place, and you couldn’t have written a more thrilling story. You simply had to trust Cloud9 would make it out of their Worlds group at that moment.
The North American team was in charge of their fate, and they had a chance to advance to the knockout round by beating Korea’s champions. Despite putting up a much stronger fight this time against Damwon, the LCK powerhouse nevertheless won because to a baron theft and late-game teamfights. Despite the defeat, C9 had shown their might and were unfazed.
Tiebreakers and NA
It came down to a classic NA vs EU battle after Rogue defeated FPX for the second time. The contest between the two teams was nothing short of a spectacular back-and-forth battle. Around 30 minutes into the game, the gold was almost even: C9 had a small turret edge, while Rogue had two dragons and slightly more kills. The LEC representatives tied the turrets at 5-5 with two more kills, but a brave baron call turned the tide in C9’s advantage.
They immediately discovered the battle they were searching for. Blaber on Lee Sin kicked Hans Sama’s Jhin into a spinning Wukong led by Fudge, thus shutting off Rogue’s AD Carry and allowing the battle to begin. Despite capturing three Infernal drakes and establishing a gold advantage with the Baron push, the NA team was unable to reach the nexus. After another ten minutes, Rogue put up a fantastic battle of their own, resulting in the capture of a baron.
Perkz’s LeBlanc picked off Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu’s Jayce at the 47-minute mark, putting the game out of reach. With the game’s lengthy death durations, C9 seized the Infernal soul and the baron in order to claim Rogue’s inhibitors. A great engage from Vulcan’s Alistar and PerkZ avoiding death in a teamfight near the dragon pit earned Cloud9 an ace, allowing them to march straight into Rogue’s base in the longest match so far at Worlds 2021. After 54 minutes, NA’s representatives empathically survived the group of death, securing the region’s first tiebreaker victory at Worlds.
C9 has a history of falling behind and eventually making it across the finish line. Maybe they simply like to spice things up a little. Cloud9, on the other hand, has a penchant for breaking out of groups, having done so six of the eight times they’ve competed at Worlds. Fans will now anticipate the team’s return to the knockout stage, but it is unclear who they will play, since the remainder of the groups have still to be determined.
