Cloud9 master Stormpoint as they defend their Carnage Cup title

Cloud9 successfully defended their Knights Arena Carnage Cup title, as they won the 3rd iteration of the tournament.

The addition of Stormpoint did not hinder C9, and they head into next weekends ALGS Pro League opening weekend in good form. Almost all of next weekends 40 NA teams took part in this weekends action, with Semi Finals taking place on Saturday.

Cloud9's victory in the last Carnage Cup gave them a big boost in the following weekends ALGS action, and they will be hoping history repeats itself. Elsewhere, it was a strong showing from Esports Arena who took 2nd place.

Cloud9 excelled on both maps, and are dealing with learning Storm Point with ease. Deploying Horizon on both maps seems to be playing into their ultra aggressive edge style.

Cloud9 have sometimes struggled with what legends suits their team best. They will be hoping that this set-up can carry them into the ALGS Split 2 playoffs and beyond.

Dropping an average of 5.8 kills per game, Cloud9 were red hot. On their day, they can be unstoppable. Cloud9 have struggled with consistency, but today they brought their A Game.

While Stormpoint's addition to ALGS has received a negative reaction from most Pros, the map might suit C9 perfectly. The outstanding loot, and large open spaces gives them room to execute their game plan to perfection.

Their best performance of the weekend came on Storm Point, as they cleaned up the final zone. They dropped a massive 11 kills on their way to victory.

While it was a fantastic team performance from Cloud9, StayNaughty was particually on fire. He put down the clutch of the entire weekend in Game 3, 1v3ing G2.

The controller player is at his best on Valkyrie, and armed with a Wingman and a CAR SMG he is almost unstoppable. Surviving on literally 1HP, this was potentially a really crucial moment on their way to victory.

If Naughty can replicate the level of performance he showed this weekend in ALGS, Cloud9 will be a force to be reckoned with.

It was also a strong weekend for team Esports Arena. They took 2nd place in the finals, despite being contested by Pro League Champs Sentinels on Stormpoint.

The trio of Dooplex, Knoqd and Skittlecakes are determined to secure their dropspot on Stormpoint. Their strong showing, winning 2 of the 3 contests, will go a long way to staking their claim to their preferred POI. Will Sentinels take the risk of contesting them in ALGS?

ESA also played an incredibly aggressive game, dropping a huge 13 kill game on Worlds Edge. They also had an outside chance at securing the victory, keeping Cloud9 sweating. They dropped 10 kills in the final game, but could not secure the victory they needed to steal the title.

The top 5:

The full leaderboard:

Game by game results and semi finals scores available on Liquipedia.

While CLG only took 11th in finals, they are heading into Pro League split 2 with renewed confidence and energy.

CLG struggled in the first Pro League, and had to defend their spot in the Challenger Circuit playoffs. However, they refreshed their roster and their gameplan. They performed very strongly in the semi-finals, finishing above teams such as NRG, 100Thieves and Furia.

Can they carry this renewed form into Pro League and avoid being at the bottom of the leaderboard? The CLG trio certainly think so.

With a new map coming to competitive, it is sure to be an interesting 2nd split of the ALGS. So as always, for coverage of ALGS Pro League Split 2 and much more, stay tuned to esports.gg!