Last week’s loss to Team Liquid looks to be very much in the past as Cloud9 came out swinging in Week 4. Golden Guardians really can’t catch a break, as they were the first stop on Cloud9’s warpath. Even the win against GG was slow and methodical, the following matches against Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves provided much more entertainment for those watching. New comps, new champs, and a whole lot of great plays made for a great weekend for C9 fans.
[Related: Cloud9 Cooldown: Takeaways From the First Half of the Spring Season]
Cloud9 Showing Off Their Range
One of the most exciting things to happen in Week 4 was Cloud9 displaying their flexibility across multiple roles. Blaber, Fudge, and Perkz all played a new champion in each match. Thanks to some craft drafts, Fudge was placed back onto top laners not named Gragas in their matches against EG and 100T. Perkz got the green light from the team to bring out the Yasuo and LeBlanc instead of defaulting to one of the many control mages left up. Luckily Cloud9 didn’t need the 0-10 power spike for Perkz’s Yasuo to make a difference in their win against EG.
Then of course there’s Blaber in the jungle with his massive champion pool. Though no opponent opted to ban five junglers this time around, Blaber still went for new picks in each match to complement the team composition. Most notably against EG, Blaber took the Gragas away from Fudge in order to bait the opposition into thinking it was heading into the top lane. This allowed for a late Malphite pick for C9 and eventually created a massive compositional advantage in their favor.
Bot lane on the other hand was a bit more pigeonholed this weekend. Zven and Vulcan were one match away from locking in Kai’sa and Rell three games in a row. Though who can really blame them? Picking two of the strongest bot lane champions in the game typically leads to success. To close out the week however, Zven locked in the Seraphine and Vulcan debuted his Rakan. The bot lane finally were able to display their own flexibility.
Olaf One-Trick Checking In
Just a heads up to the rest of the league: Olaf is still pretty strong. Olaf is even more oppressive when in the hands of Cloud9’s resident “one-trick”. The joke is old for sure, but Blaber is just an absolute monster on the jungling viking. Cloud9 and 100 Thieves worked the draft in such a way that both teams would receive a top-priority jungle option. Though Blaber’s Udyr in the previous matches was equally terrifying, 100 Thieves made the fatal mistake of leaving the Olaf for C9.
The reason why Blaber is just so good on Olaf is how the champion fits with his playstyle. Blaber is an aggressive jungler that looks to make plays as soon as possible. Olaf allows Blaber to take control of important objectives because of his strong early damage and gank potential. But Blaber is smart and very capable of adapting his play to match the pace of the game. Even when the meta favors farm-heavy champions, Blaber is more than happy to sit in the jungle a farm up towards a Goredrinker.
Then of course the Olaf teamfight was devastating against the 100T champion selection. The moment Olaf pops his ultimate the countless crowd-control for 100 Thieves becomes useless. Senna just crumbles at that point as Olaf is supported by both Rakan and Seraphine shields. Overall it was just a beautifully constructed draft and game plan for Cloud9 that allowed Blaber to get at least one game of Olaf in this split.
This is the Perkz Fans Wanted to Watch
Heading into this past weekend, Perkz’s play as a whole was steadily improving. Not to say that he was playing poorly, but Perkz had looked a little out of sync with the rest of the Cloud9 squad. His laning phases were a bit rough but overall he had played solid. In fact, after the past few matches, his Tristana has been almost perma-banned against Cloud9. Perkz is slowly displaying his ability to carry these matches, but this weekend showed exactly why Cloud9 went above and beyond to bring him to NA.
When Perkz locked in the LeBlanc during the Lock In tournament, his performance was a bit underwhelming. As he locked in LeBlanc this time around there was no doubt it wouldn’t be a repeat experience. Matching up against Damonte on Azir, Perkz already knew he was in the driver’s seat as the teams loaded into the rift. A quick solo kill in the mid-lane set the tone for the rest of the match. Perkz was dominant on LeBlanc, constantly applying pressure to vulnerable targets to make sure 100 Thieves couldn’t get their footing. The more Perkz is handed carries, expect more and more of that all-star talent to make flashy plays.
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