Cloud9 closed out the weekend with a victory over rivals Team Liquid. Here is how the MSS champions got their first win of the summer split.
In what was a must-win game for both Cloud9 and TL, it was the spring split champions who prevailed. C9 has looked visibly shaky upon their return from competing at MSI. The North American side could not have gotten off to a worse start. Cloud9 threw away an easy victory against Golden Guardians and was convincingly beat by 100 Thieves.
Team Liquid has also gotten off to a rough start with the four-time champions looking shaky in their first two games. Following their defeat to TSM, Team Liquid shocked the community as they announced Jenkins would be subbing in for superstar top laner Alphari for the remainder of week one.
Jenkins teleport gifts C9 first blood
The game started out with Cloud9 opting into a lane swap to give Fudge the easier match-up against Lee Sin rather than laning against Lulu. Cloud9 was able to shove in multiple lanes so they could attempt a dive onto Jenkins who was put to 200 hp.
Jenkins was able to get away before the dive came through, or that is what he was meant to do. Jenkins teleported back into the lane with four Cloud9 members in the area, CoreJJ foresaw this happening and was the sacrificial lamb for his teammate's mistake.
Cloud9's team fighting was too much for TL to handle
This was not the conventional Cloud9 game fans were accustomed to. This game showcased C9 has grown as a side since the Mid-Season Invitational. Cloud9 gave up early dragon control in order to make plays across the map. This was often showcased by the best teams in the world at MSI.
Cloud9 would gradually build up their gold lead as they moved around the map picking up objectives. The game would go back and forward for the next few minutes with both sides trading blows. Despite the trades, Cloud9 still had around a 2k gold lead come to the 20-minute mark.
The game was broken wide open around the 22-minute mark. Team Liquid attempted to contest what would be C9's third dragon of the game. Cloud9 was not only able to pick up the dragon, but also take down multiple members on the side of Team Liquid.
The game was all but over from that point with Cloud9 able to secure Baron off of that team fight. While Team Liquid was able to stall the game by a few minutes, it only delayed the C9 victory.
With the victory, Cloud9 was able to remain one game behind TSM at the top of the standings. Meanwhile, Team Liquid is now starting to fall behind, sitting at a 13-8 record.
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