Cloud9 continues to roll through the LCS with relative ease. No major tests occurred in Week 5, only a few stumbles here and there.
Cloud9-0?
Counter Logic Gaming (CLG): 1-7
CLG entered the week struggling, and that is quite the understatement. They looked to rectify the situation by signing veteran midlane presence Eugene “Pobelter” Park. Although Pobelter performed well considering the circumstances, a star can only shine so bright in a Black Hole.
Right as the first Jungle camps spawned, Robert “Blaber” Huang and Eric “Licorice” Ritchie pushed CLG Jungler Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin off his Raptor camp. Simultaneously taking away experience points from Wiggily and forcing him to use his flash. But more importantly, interrupting his jungle pathing and creating a nightmare scenario for CLG without using Nocturne.
This small exchange set the tempo for the match as Cloud9 moved from objective to objective with ease. The only hiccup occurred when Cloud9 broke into CLG’s base. Blaber, exuding confidence, attempted his best InSec impression and kicked Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes into Cloud9. This would have spelled the end of the game, but Licorice decided to use Sett’s Ultimate to move Stixxay back to his original spot and allowed CLG to ace Cloud9. The ace marked the first and so far only time Cloud9 have been aced this split. But CLG did nothing with this advantage, allowed Cloud9 to respawn and then take the Cloud Dragon Soul which only expedited the end of the game. Cloud9-0 is now fact and no longer a dream.
Player of the Match: Nisqy, Cloud9
The Week 4 Player of the Week kept the dominating ball rolling with another outstanding performance on Rumble against CLG. His roams? On point. His Equalizers? Subtracted HP from CLG. His timings were perfect, continuing the nine-game streak of not losing his Tier 1 tower. If there is one critique of Nisqy for this game, it would be his choice of skin. There are currently four skins for Rumble (5 if one considers the default a skin), yet the only one ever selected is Super Galaxy Rumble. Why?
Immortals: 5-4
Immortals came into this game looking to avenge their Week 2 throttling by Cloud9 and hand Cloud9 their first loss of the season. This did not happen and Cloud9 ended Week 5 at 10-0.
When Cloud9 locked in Senna for Jesper “Zven” Svenningson, Immortals could be heard licking their lips and rubbing their hands together. This lasted all of a minute and a half when Phillipe “Vulcan” Laflamme started farming minions. How will Zven earn his gold and provide damage? Zven instead farmed champions. Riot “patched” Senna to try to prevent selecting her as a Carry and instead looked to force her into the support role. Cloud9 laughed and found a loophole. Senna has to harvest souls in order to earn stats (range and critical strike are the main stats) and the patch reduced the chance of souls dropping from minions. Instead, Senna earns souls through harassing and damaging enemy champions.
Just as in their first meeting, Nisqy outplayed Jeremy “Eika” Valdenaire. Nisqy’s roams were so effective he would disappear from vision for 5 seconds and send Immortals into a frenzy trying to find and predict his movements.
Player of the Match: Zven, Cloud9
At the 11 minute mark, Zven had the lowest CS score in the game, 11, but the most gold in the game. As stated earlier, he literally farmed champions the whole game. He finished the game with 8 kills, down 150 CS but almost a whole item ahead of Johnny “Altec” Ru, Immortals Bot Lane Carry.
Cloud9 Repeat Ganks The Rest of The League
FlyQuest: 7-3
FlyQuest enters this game looking to end Cloud9’s complete dominance of the LCS. Although FlyQuest are in second place entering Week 6, there is a huge gap between the two teams. FlyQuest are one of the only teams that has the pieces in play to challenge, and maybe even defeat, Cloud9. They started the season with amazing Top/Jungle synergy but that has shifted to Mid/Jungle synergy.
Along with leaving with the victory, midlaner Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage will try his hardest to be the first to destroy Cloud9’s middle tower. The battle in mid between PowerOfEvil and Nisqy is going to dictate the outcome of the game. Both players have emerged as very important pieces to their respective teams.
Player to Watch: Nisqy, Cloud9
PowerOfEvil won Player of the Week for Week 5, interrupting the streak of Cloud9 players winning the award. Although the award has no effect on play, expect Cloud9 and Nisqy specifically to flex their muscle on PowerOfEvil. This also serves as a benchmark for Nisqy as PowerOfEvil has been second best, and to some the best, midlaner in the LCS for the past few weeks.
Prediction – Cloud9
Dignitas: 5-5
Dignitas started super hot out of the gates but have significantly cooled down in recent weeks. After starting 3-1 after Week 2, they followed that up with a 2-4 record the last 3 weeks. They seem to be on the downswing, which is dangerous for Cloud9. In traditional sports, this is considered a trap game. Cloud9 lowers their guard and then Dignitas slaps them right across the face. This Dignitas team is capable of pulling out a win like this.
As long as Cloud9 sticks to their game, and adequately estimates Dignitas, this will be a recreation of their first meeting. They have advantages in every lane and they have a more effective jungle presence. Expect to see Henrik “Froggen” Hansen on a champion with insane wave clear, as that is the most effective way to punish Nisqy for his constant roams. Froggen attempted this last game with Orianna, but her wave clear was not strong enough to push to the tower and take it.
Player to Watch: Vulcan, Cloud9
The unsung hero of Cloud9’s 10-0 run, Vulcan is instrumental to Zven amassing his kills and minimizing his deaths. Last time they played, Dignitas handed Zven his first death of the season. Vulcan took offense and will not let that happen again. Yes, Zven cannot die for the first time again, Vulcan will keep Zven at 0 deaths, unless Zven starts to intentionally feed which his team jokingly accuses him of doing.
Prediction – Cloud9
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