LCS Recap: Cloud9 vs Counter Logic Gaming

For the final day of LCS before Rift Rivals, Cloud9 faced off against CLG. Cloud9 are looking to shore up their draft mistakes that have been plaguing them recently. While CLG are putting a stamp on their season, Cloud9 are trying to finish off this week much more cleanly than they started it on Saturday.

draft recap

Cloud9 picked Sejuani first while CLG responded with Trundle and Tahm Kench. To end the first phase of the draft, Cloud9 picked Irelia and Braum while CLG chose Ezreal. CLG ended up picking themselves one of the safer bot lanes of the LCS while Cloud9 had a better draft compared to yesterday, although very attack damage reliant.

To finish out the draft, Cloud9 picked Akali and Kai’Sa while CLG picked Gangplank, one of the stronger Top picks on the patch.

game recap

5 minutes into the game, CLG’s Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin Ganked bot and helped get CLG on the board with first blood, although that kill went onto Vincent “Biofrost” Wang. However, Cloud9 responded with two kills of their own around Mid Lane onto Trundle and Tahm Kench. Another visit to the Mid Lane for Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen  was able to get another kill onto Wiggly, giving himself a good lead in the Jungle.

Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi’s bait ended up getting his support killed against Gangplank at the bot lane. However, a solo kill for Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer onto Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage’s Orianna added onto Cloud9’s lead. Sneaky finally got on the kill board with a kill trade against Kim “Ruin” Hyeong-min’s Gangplank around the Bot Lane.

Around the mid-game, not much happened as both teams were looking to create map advantages with Cloud9 having a 2-1 tower advantage. Around 23 minutes, another fight broke out with Cloud9 taking two kills of their own with Svenskeren also falling. Cloud9 were in the driver’s seat as Eric “Licorice” Ritchie was able to get a solo kill onto Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes’s Ezreal. Cloud9 were able to secure the Baron with most of CLG somewhat scattered around the area. With the Baron, Cloud9 picked up a few towers and an Ocean Dragon. Cloud9 picked up another Baron and the team were able crack into CLG’s base and finished off the game with a dominant win.

summary

Cloud9 today looked A LOT better than yesterday. The draft was improved, as was just about everything in game. They showed up with better team fighting, better coordination and better objective taking. Despite some small mistakes, they were able to keep their momentum. CLG did not have an good initiator at all, which allowed Cloud9 to start a lot of the fights in this game. CLG’s strength of draft did not show up today.

Svenskeren did really well in this game. He was part of the reason for Nisqy being unlocked in the Mid Lane and was basically the damage sponge as per usual for team, allowing Cloud9 to execute their plays. It will be interesting to see how he performs against the EU teams when they arrive in NA for Rift Rivals.

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