NA LCS fans definitely had a reason to be happy with Cloud9’s performance in Group B. The North American team has achieved something that almost every other NA team seems to keep a distance from. The North American team has made it past the Worlds Group stage.
Day 5 of the Worlds Group Stage saw all the teams play 3 matches each. This means that every team played every other team in the Group. The double round robin format is essential to ensuring the best teams move forward from the Group stage.
First Blood: @Jensen solo kills Crown in mid lane! #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/Tkb99YmfgY
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 14, 2018
Cloud9 managed to secure wins over Royal Never Give up, Team Vitality, as well as Gen.G on the last day of Group B, play. The team had a similar playstyle throughout the day and it seemed to work wonders for the North American organisation. They enabled their mid-laner Nicolaj Jensen as he was able to rampage through the opponents.
Their match against Gen.G saw Cloud9 place a lot of emphasis on the Gen.G mid-laner. Lee “Crown” Min-Ho had multiple deaths before the end of the laning phase and never really fully recovered from the early shock. Ultimately, Gen.G was able to win some late game team fights, but Cloud9 still had a sizeable lead in the game.
The Win against Royal Never Give Up, the Tournament favourites.
The North American’s decision-making process was clearly evident in the Group Stage at the Worlds. While their performance against Gen.G clearly showed their focus on the mid-lane player, Crown the draft against RNG had a clear goal. RNG’s strength lies in their ADC Uzi. One of the most talented players at the Worlds, Uzi’s performance is crucial to RNG’s success.
Cloud9 picked a Global draft which thoroughly challenged Uzi and caused him a lot of trouble. The player had a very poor laning phase and an extremely slow start to the game. Cloud9 never eased the pressure taking objectives and winning every team fight. They advanced their progress in the match with every minute, ultimately resulting in victory at the 33-minute mark.
Cloud9 top Group B after defeating Team Vitality.
After causing two upsets in the Group, Cloud9 looked all set to advance to their final match of the Group Stage. A win here would guarantee Cloud9 the top position in the Group and qualification out of the Group stage.
For their match against Team Vitality, Cloud9 had a dive composition, once again streamlining their focus on the Team Vitality’s ADC, Amadeu ‘Attila’ Carvalho. Coupled with Jensen’s extraordinary performance during this match, This match was probably the easiest of the day for Cloud9, but definitely one of the more important ones for the team. With this victory, Cloud9 secured their position out of the Groups at the Worlds 2018.
On the way to victory, Cluod9 ensured that Gen.G was eliminated from the tournament in the Group stage itself. This is a rare instance when the previous years Champions are eliminated in the Group Stage itself. Gen.G has had trouble in understanding and maintaining the pace of the game. They have been extremely slow in their approach and essentially allowed themselves to be overrun by their opponents.
Royal Never Give Up advance to the Knockout Stage
Royal Never Give up lost their first two matches of the day. Their loss to Cloud9 and Team Vitality definitely called into question their ability to move past the Group stage. However, as they faced off against 2017 Worlds Champions Gen.G.
This was definitely a mismatch as the ferocious RNG looked ready to decimate Gen.G. The 2017 World Champions did not look prepared for this match against RNG. They did draft a composition to the favour of their ADC, however, they did not have a reply to RNG’s early game aggression. RNG’s decision to bring in MLXG for this match spoke of their confidence in their playstyle against Gen.G. RNG’s early game transitioned into a mid-game which saw extremely powerful team fights by the team. They had excellent crowd control abilities which ensured an advantage for the team.
The final Group B standings #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/jbmnoIvNYE
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 14, 2018
Despite RNG winning just one match in the day, they were still able to qualify for the Knockout phase. Their perfect 3-0 record till today in the Group stage helped them advance to the next phase alongside Cloud9.
The action resumes tomorrow as we will see the final placements for Group A.
