2021 World Championship Team Break Down
Cloud9
League Championship Series (LCS)
28-17 (4th Overall, 3rd in Summer Playoffs)
Cloud9 fans and organization alike had to breathe a collective sigh of relief when Cloud9 beat NA rival Team Solomid in the Summer Playoff Loser’s Bracket quarter final. After losing out on going to World’s in 2020 and looking shaky in all of 2021, most NA fans thought there was a real chance for the NA titan to miss the big dance for the second year in a row for the first time in their history. In the 2021 offseason owner Jack Etienne backed up a Brinks truck to pull in the most decorated Western player in Perkz to help bring this team to a World Championship caliber. With glimmers of what they could be periodically shining through, Cloud9 has struggled to meet the overwhelming expectations placed on them. Even with winning the Spring Split of the LCS and being a representative at the Mid-Season Invitational, many doubt and criticize where the ceiling actually is for this team.
TOP: Fudge: It has been a roller coaster ride for the former Oceanic top laner in his first year starting for C9. In the breakout tournament and beginning of the Spring Split, Fudge was a complete and total liability to the success of Cloud9. He would constantly get bullied out of lane and rarely had the agency to actually win his lane. Sometime during MSI and into Summer, Fudge became more of a rock on consistency for the NA team and even averaged a 4.2 KDA in the regular season. I think in terms of this tournament though, we will see why he could have such a good KDA and a lot of it is because he will just sit in lane and refuse to take risks. In that same split he had a sub 60% team kill participation which is not only unheard of but also terrible. The meta for this tournament has top laners being one of the focal points for teams and if Fudge cannot hang around with the heavy hitters, Cloud9 will quickly bow out of this tournament.
JUNGLE: Blaber: The script is out on Blaber and on the international stage, it doesn’t seem to have a pretty ending. The raw talent that Blaber has cannot be questioned but I think in a combination of circumstances has led us to the point where we may need to question whether or not he is a problem for his team. He excels when he gets to play early game/fight focused junglers and his laners play for him. At this point, neither the meta nor his team seem to fit his playstyle. During their playoff run, he averaged a gold deficit (-130) at 10 min nd in the regular season he averaged a slight lead in the same area (+97). In the early stages of the tournament, Blaber should be ok and avoid getting exposed. I think when it comes to facing the better junglers like Tarzan and Elyoya, Blaber is going to be in trouble.
MID: Perkz: Perkz was brought in specifically for his ability to perform on the World’s stage. If Cloud9 make a deep run in this tournament, it will be because the “King of the West” has stepped up and carried C9 there. His aggressive style and ability to take over a game on his own really should set him apart from basically every mid laner in the Play-In Stage outside of HLE’s Chovy. After an embarrassing series to open the playoffs against TL, Perkz turned things around and ended the playoffs 67 kills (over 3 per game) and a 27.7% team kill share rate. Cloud9 will need to make sure they draft him into good situations where he can succeed but my expectation is we will see the European mid laner reach new heights in this tournament.
ADC: Zven: The former king of Europe has had his struggles since coming to NA, most of which was his lengthy drought from international appearances. With that off of his back it is time for Zven to prove not only to himself, btu the world, that he is still an elite ADC. He has had some of the best performances, especially on champs like Ezreal and Kai’Sa, but also had some pretty tough lows. This tournament is not overly ADC focused, so paying for Zven at a premium doesn’t make sense but I will note he did have the highest team kill participation rates among ADCs in playoffs with a 70%. Sneak him into your lineups later on in the tournament and I don’t expect him and Vulcan to get rolled very often. With his limited production in some games, I would caution against unloading a lot of capital to secure him on a day in and day out basis.
SUPPORT: Vulcan: This may be one of the best supports to pick up early in this tournament. He was the king of assists in NA this Summer and his ability to be in the right place at the right time is second to none. I look at when Cloud9 leans into his play making abilities by allowing him to roam the map and find opportunities to help Fudge and Perkz get ahead. I love his Rakan play and looking at some of the more questionable bot lanes in this play-in stage, we could see a Rakan with big play making potential.
North America should expect a high performance out of Cloud9 in the Play-In stage. With competition like Unicorns of Love, Galatary Esports, Detonation FM, and Beyond Gaming; there are little to no excuses on why Cloud9 shouldn’t run the gambit on these lower teams. That being said, with the occasional inconsistent play, it is hard not to expect them to drop ga3mes they shouldn’t early. The real danger here is if they don’t perform well enough and they have to play either HLE or LNG in the best of 5 to get into group stages which is a scary thought for this Western team. If they come to play, expectations should be that they move on and look to try their hand against the World’s best in the group stage.
Cann’s Final Prediction: Play-In Stage Winner, Group Stage Participant