Cloud9 looks to bounce back against Evil Geniuses and FlyQuest, two promising teams who have struggled as of late. After a thrilling win over TSM, Cloud9 faced 100 Thieves. And 100 Thieves accomplished the seemingly impossible, successfully destroying Cloud9’s Nexus. The game was not really close at any point, with 100 Thieves successfully punishing Cloud9’s mistakes. They enter Week 6 of the LCS with the always meme-able record of (Cloud)9-1.
Previewing Week 2
Evil Geniuses (EG): 5-5 Through Week 5
After their dominating 3-1 start, EG have only managed 2 wins in their last 6 matches. This comes as surprise as EG were slated as one of the teams to down Cloud9 early in the split. With losses to Golden Guardians and Counter Logic Gaming, their stake as being a top 3 team in the LCS has been questioned. In order to help shore up their chances, EG signed free agent Greyson “Goldenglue” Glimmer.
The Swole Bros are back this weekend 💪
Welcome to the EG family @Goldenglue. #LIVEEVIL pic.twitter.com/rv8FXaSUiL
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) July 16, 2020
Jiizuke Out, Huni In
This serves two very important purposes. The first is to give star midlaner Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro a well-deserved break. Also to free up one of the two import slots allotted to each team. Both are in use currently by Jiizuke and botlane carry Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, this allows off-season signing Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon to make his LCS debut for EG. Huni will use the import slot used by Jiizuke as Goldenglue is a domestic talent.
This gives the team a brand new look and new win conditions. Previously the win condition was to get Jiizuke as fed as possible and let him reign terror on their opponents from the midlane. Now it will be to divert those resources to the top lane to aid in unleashing Huni. This also shores up one of the main weaknesses for EG and that is the top lane. With Huni taking over the starting top lane spot, Colin “Kumo” Zhao will be playing with EG Academy this weekend.
Something to keep in mind: Bang has the least amount of different champions played this split. Outside of the one and done players, Bang has only played two different champions, Ezreal and Aphelios. Although he has achieved an 80% win rate with Aphelios, he has only managed to win one out of five Ezreal games.
Player to Watch: Huni, Evil Geniuses
One of the most dominant top laners in recent memory, Huni’s play has regressed in recent years. With the backsliding comes the questions about his motivation and ability to play. Questions he hopes to end with his first LCS game since leaving Dignitas after the Spring Split.
After seeing 100 Thieves dismantle Cloud9 with a strong top laner, EG will look to repeat those results with Huni if he returns to his pre-2018 form. Which may be a larger ask than most people realize, as Huni’s play in Spring was not consistent with his past play. Long story short; if Fnatic/Immortals/SKT T1 Huni shows up, banger of a game. But if Clutch/Digntas Huni appears, easy win for Cloud9.
Prediction – Cloud9
FlyQuest: 5-5 Through Week 5.
FlyQuest is another struggling team that has the pleasure of facing the most dominant force the LCS has seen in years. Unfortunately they don’t have a wildcard up their sleeves as EG does with Huni. But they still have a very strong team. Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage finished 3rd Team All-LCS for the Spring Split, but the team has changed their focus from PowerOfEvil to sharing resources with Brandon “Mash” Phan in the bot lane.
The first meeting of these two was also the first game for each team. As predicted, Cloud9 walked away with the win, a decisive win at that. FlyQuest will look to avenge the loss but with Team Liquid right on the heels of Cloud9, FlyQuest will have quite the feat in front of them.
Player to Watch: Yasin “Nisqy” Dincer, Cloud9
The linchpin of this lineup will be just as important in ensuring a Cloud9 victory. Just as in the Spring Split Finals, Nisqy v PowerOfEvil will again headline this match. During the Spring Finals, Nisqy handled the matchup without sacrificing any of his gusto and took the highly touted contest and made it no contest at all.
Nisqy’s role, as it has been for the past few games, will be to support Robert “Blaber” Huang at all costs. Best way to support Blaber? High mobility is the game and we may get another amazing Twisted Fate, if the cards fall the right way. Cloud9 Head Coach Bok “Repeared” Han-gyu can always run it back and have Nisqy run amok with LeBlanc just as he did in their first meeting this split.
Prediction – Cloud9
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