Cloud9 enters Week 8 sitting at 13-1 with the one loss occurring last week against TSM. They rebounded with a win over Golden Guardians and secured a playoff berth with the win. The team then took to Twitter and asked their fans who they should play for the remaining of the season. If they will take the suggestions seriously or not remains to be seen. If they do let fans pick the champions, their remaining games may become coin flips. However, Cloud9 playing “troll comps” may cement their status of the best by leaps and bounds if they win with such team compositions.
Previewing Week 8
100 Thieves: 7-7
The first meeting in Week 2 resulted in a Cloud9 victory. That game was Cloud9’s first real test, as their first 3 games were not anywhere near as competitive as this one. Competitive is not the best way to describe this game, but it was closer than Cloud9’s first 3 games. After a teamfight around the 18 minute mark Cloud9 took off and didn’t look back. One key to this victory was Eric “Licorice” Ritchie shutting Kim “Ssumday” Chan-Ho down, preventing one of 100 Thieves’ best players from having an impact.
For 100 Thieves this, and the rest of their schedule, is a must win game in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. 100Thieves is currently tied for 4th place with two other teams, Evil Geniuses and Immortals. Cloud9 could play spoiler for Team Liquid as two of the teams, 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses ahead of them in the standings Cloud9 plays. If Cloud9 was to lose both games, Team Liquid may not have enough wins to sneak into the playoffs. Which would make an interesting story-line for the 4-time reigning LCS Champions.
100 Thieves stands a chance if Cloud9 has another questionable draft like they did against TSM. Banning Sett would be a good start and not picking a champion like Shen who has utility, but is easily shut down in the early game is more important. In the midlane, Yasin “Nisqy” Dincer can seemingly do no wrong, as shown in the first game with 100Thieves and the Morgana midlane pick. He wrecked havoc on midlaner Tommy “Ryoma” Le and 100Thieves and will look to repeat the results. Recently Sun “Cody Sun” Li-Yu has played a significant amount of Miss Fortune with success. With that said Cloud9 should look to either ban her or put Zven on a more mobile ADC such as Ezreal or maybe Kalista. Vulcan and Licorice are the wildcards in this game. They could play normal champions or draft something spicy, such as a Rengar top or Vel’Koz support.
Player to Watch: Zven, Cloud9
During Week 7 Zven died 4 times. Most players would consider this a great week and be okay with the result. Not Zven, he literally doubled his number of deaths for the whole split in one weekend. Expect his rage meter to be full and unleash his wrath on poor Cody Sun. If Vulcan locks in his Tahm Kench, Zven will look to Aphelios or maybe an early pick Miss Fortune as Tahm Kench’s Devour serves as an escape for the otherwise immobile champions.
Prediction – Cloud9 win
Counter Logic Gaming 3-11
Their first game ended with a Cloud9 victory. Like many of the games Cloud9 plays, it was never really close. This one in particular as it was Eugene “Pobelter” Park’s first game with Counter Logic Gaming (CLG). Although Pobelter played well, it became apparent the issue wasn’t with Lee “Crown” Min-Ho, who Pobelter replaced, but with the rest of the team.
This meeting should be no different. Pobelter has more experience with this team now, but Cloud9 is just too good in the other positions. In an ideal scenario for CLG, Cloud9 executes an entirely off meta composition. Does it horribly, gets behind and allows CLG to get every objective. Of course the odds of this happening are extremely low, but Cloud9 could come in overconfident again and be caught off guard. With that being said, Cloud9 wins in the other one million scenarios.
Player to Watch: Blaber, Cloud9
Blaber has the clear advantage over Wiggily. In their first game, Blaber put Wiggily significantly behind by forcing Wiggily off his Blue Sentinel. Effectively taking him out of the game before the 5 minute mark. Blaber will look to be even more aggressive this time around knowing that he can push Wiggily around the jungle. Maybe Cloud9 tries a funnel type strategy where Nisqy and Blaber take turns clearing the midlane wave and permanently roam. Maybe River Shen is finally played in the LCS. A fan can only hope.
Prediction – Cloud9 win
Featured photo via @Cloud9 on Twitter
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