Cloud9 Advances to Quarterfinals at League of Legends World Championship
During the second week of the League of Legends World Championship, none of the North American teams performed well. However, Cloud9 managed to secure a spot in the quarterfinals by defeating I May. Despite losing to SK Telecom T1 and Flash Wolves, Cloud9 finished the group stage with a 3-3 record.
If Flash Wolves had beaten SKT T1 in their final match, there would have been a tiebreaker against Cloud9. However, SKT T1, the two-time World Champions, won against Flash Wolves for the first time this season, eliminating the possibility of a tiebreaker.
The situation was tricky for Cloud9 because SKT T1 had already secured the top seed in Group B. Nevertheless, Cloud9 emerged as the only North American team to advance, as Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid finished their group stage with 3-3 records.
Even Cloud9’s lone victory in week two was hard-fought. Although they gained a huge 3k gold lead within the first eight minutes, it took 51 minutes of chaotic team fighting to secure the win against I May.
The second week of the tournament reaffirmed the dominance of Korean teams. Despite hopes of other regions narrowing the performance gap, all three Korean teams—SKT T1, ROX Tigers, and Samsung Galaxy—were dominant. In total, Korean teams finished with a 15-4 record during the group stage, the only region to have a positive record.
Cloud9 will face Samsung Galaxy in the first quarterfinals series on Thursday in Chicago. The other quarterfinals matchups include SKT T1 against China’s Royal Never Give Up, H2k against Albus NoX Luna, and ROX Tigers against EDward Gaming.
The pairings were determined through a draw after Sunday’s games. Unfortunately, there won’t be a rematch of last year’s final as ROX Tigers and SKT T1 ended up on the same side of the bracket.
Cloud9, League of Legends World Championship, quarterfinals, North American teams, SK Telecom T1, Flash Wolves, tiebreaker, Counter Logic Gaming, Team SoloMid, Korean teams, Samsung Galaxy, ROX Tigers, positive record, Royal Never Give Up, H2k, Albus NoX Luna, EDward Gaming