Despite the notion that North America has been a region that’s always been shaky in one way or another, Cloud9 has always been the one team to help keep North America in the fight. Time and time again, they’ve managed to come through one way or another.
In fact, out of all the North American prospects, I would say that Cloud9 is the best one to bet on every single year. They’ve proven it since their formation and to this day, they’re still outperforming their past year.
What do they do and how do they do it? Every year, they manage to one up the other North American teams no matter how bad they performed in the Summer Split. Because of this, Cloud9 is creating a new legacy for North America—one for the better
Cloud9 was originally started in Season Three after the fall of Quantic Gaming due to financial situations. The roster consisted of Hai, LemonNation, Meteos, and Balls and it was manned by former Team SoloMid manager, Jack Etienne.
In Season Three, Cloud9 began their dominance right away. They received their spot in the NA LCS after winning the Summer Promotion Qualifer 5-0, beating two teams in perfect games. They would then go on to have the longest win streak in North American history to this day, winning twenty five games in a row. They also capped this off by winning the entire Summer Split their first year. This led to them finishing the season 30-3 with a near ninety two percent win rate. Furthermore, this led to them getting a straight bye into the Season Three World Championship where they would lose to Fnatic first round.
Season Four was also a strong year for them as well. They won the entire Spring Split and did well at the All-Stars tournament where they lost in the Knockout Rounds to then Chinese powerhouse, OMG. Then, in the Summer Split tournament, they played even better. They finished yet again as the first place seed after the Regular Season but lost in a close five-setter to Team SoloMid in the finals of the tournament. Despite this, their points were high enough to let them advance to the World Championship and they weren’t required to go through with the Regional Tournament. Cloud9 would go 4-2 in their group and tie for first place with NaJin Shield, one of the best Korean teams at the time. Though they lost the tiebreaker, they were still able to make it to the Knockout Rounds where they lost to LCK powerhouse, Samsung Blue.
Season Five was their most testing year yet. They had their star mid laner retire for the first half of the summer season due to wrist injuries and changes in the meta. Afterwards, they proceeded to have their worst year yet. They were 3-7 before Cloud9’s old mid laner, Hai, finally decided to come back in and replace Meteos, who was underperforming. Afterwards, they managed to bring their record back to 6-12 by the end of the Summer Split. This led to them facing a tiebreaker versus Team 8 who they barely beat to avoid facing relegations. Though they missed out on playoffs, they managed to retain their playoff spot for the next year, the 2016 season.
Though they did miss playoffs, they were given a spot into the Regional Tournament. Here, they had their lost shot at making the World Championship and they didn’t take it lightly. First, they faced Gravity Gaming, a team that had really shaken the NA LCS that year.
Despite being down 0-2, Cloud9 managed to come back and reverse sweep the team. They did it yet again against Team Impulse in the semifinals before finally taking down Team Liquid in the finals 3-1. To this day, Cloud9’s season three run has been seen as a Cinderella Run over the world. No one expected them to make it to the 2015 World Championship yet they still somehow made it. They made it in style and they did something that no one expected them to do. They went from placing 7th at the end of the season to becoming a World Championship qualifier.
In Season 6, Cloud9 wasn’t looking to repeat the same nerve-wracking season as before and they didn’t. The team finished the spring and summer split both with a 12-6 record. They would go on to take down Team EnVy Us and Immortals before yet again falling to Team SoloMid in the finals. However, they pulled off a solid run at the Regional Tournament, defeating Team EnVy Us and Immortals yet again to win the berth and qualify for the fourth straight year. At the World Championship, they had one of the toughest runs in the World Championship.
Their star player, Impact, was struggling to make his presence known on the international stage as he had done in the NA LCS. However, at the end, they managed to barely grab the second place seed with a 3-3 finish, despite being placed in a Flash Wolves, I May, and South Korea Telecom. This led to them being the only North American team to advance to the Quarterfinals of the World Championship.
The 2017 season was one of the most defining seasons of Cloud9. After Meteos stepped down from his spot, Sneaky was left as the only original member of the first Cloud9 roster with the rest either retiring or moving down to the Challenger team. Despite this, they still had talents such as Impact—a former World Champion—Jensen, and Contractz. All three were extremely strong players who had proven their worth on the Rift. Their Summer Split began with inconsistent finishes.
Impact was vying for the top lane spot consistently with Ray, another Korean top laner, while Contractz was playing as strong as he had in the Spring Split. This would lead to them falling to sixth place. However, they managed to play a strong game and finish the season fourth place after winning sixth games straight.
In the playoffs, they fell to the veteran Team Dignitas due to a stellar performance by the bot laners Altec and Adrian. Despite this, Cloud9 had enough points to automatically get a bye to the final round of the Regional Tournament, meaning they only had to beat one team to advance and they did just that. They took down Counter-Logic Gaming in the finals, 3-1, and secured a World Championship slot for the fifth year. Yet again, Cloud9 was put in one of the toughest draws in the Worlds Groups Stage. They had to face South Korea Telecom yet again, Chinese champions Edward Gaming, and AHQ-Esports Club.
All of these teams were experienced World Championship contenders. South Korea Telecom was obviously known as the best team in the world at the time. Edward Gaming had won the MSI tournament two years ago and AHQ-Esports Club was coming off a historic Worlds run from two years ago. They were expected to fight for the second place spot with Edward Gaming but a strong performance from Cloud9 barely edged them past EDG and they were set to face Team WE from the LPL region. They went a close 5 games and at one point, Cloud9 was one game away. However, they failed to finish when it mattered the most.
Cloud9 had yet another strong Summer Split. They managed to take a second place finish, largely thanks to the works of Svenskeren whose aggressive jungler led to them taking crucial wins over teams such as 100 Thieves and Echo Fox.
During the playoffs, they faced a close five setter against Team SoloMid but fell to Team Liquid in the finals. However, it was not a bad loss. Team Liquid has one the strongest teams in the West and that day, Team Liquid played at a pace that could’ve matched Korean powerhouses. This led to Cloud9 moving into the Regional Tournament. Because they placed second to Team Liquid who ended up winning the entire thing, Cloud9 was automatically placed in the finals of the tournament, meaning they only had to beat one team yet again in order to advance.
This year, they took down Team SoloMid, making history. They were the first team to ever stop TSM from making the World Championship and they did it in style, taking them down yet again in a close 3-2 win. Because of this, they’ve kept the streak alive, making their sixth consecutive appearance to the tournament. Now, they’ve made history, becoming the first North American team to make it past the Quarterfinals of the World Championship.
First off, only two teams in the NA LCS have made more than three consecutive World Championship appearances and now, only one team has only made a World Championship every year since their origin. Before, it was Team SoloMid and Cloud9. Now, it’s only Cloud9. Since their birth in 2013, Cloud9 has made every single World Championship. Before the 2018 Regional Tournament, Team SoloMid was also another contender for this.
Since Season One, they had made every single World Championship and they were looking to be on track to keep the record alive. However, Cloud9 quickly ended that, making history as both the only team to make it to the World Championship every year and the only North American team to make it to the quarterfinals of a tournament consecutively.
Furthermore, they’re also the only North American team as of 2018 to make it past the quarterfinals. Team SoloMid had a chance in 2014 but they failed to close their matches. Therefore, only Cloud9 has had substantial results. This year, they completed everything. They’ve become the only team to make every World Championship since their creation. They’ve become the only team to three consecutive World Championship quarterfinal appearances and they’re the first North American team to make it past the quarterfinals of the World Championship. As you can see, Cloud9 has done a lot for North America in 2018.
The entire team of Cloud9 played extremely well. However, right now, there are two players we can thank specifically for Cloud9’s dream run. They’ve done so much for the team and if it weren’t for them, Cloud9 wouldn’t be here right now.
The former TSM jungler has been making major power moves throughout his time on Cloud9 and right now, I can bet that Team SoloMid really regret letting Svenskeren go to another team because he’s been the primary reason for Cloud9’s success.
Throughout the Groups Stage and quarterfinal matches, Svenskeren held the highest KDA at several points throughout the matches. His ability to initiate high-risk plays and pull them off almost flawlessly has given Cloud9 several leads that they normally wouldn’t be able to get.
Furthermore, his ability to transition between mages and duelists gives a broad variety that Cloud9’s coaches can work with to build the perfect team composition. This gives him the ultimate flexibility to play what he wants and play the carry junglers he likes to play to give his team the edge. When Cloud9 played versus Afreeca Freecs in the quarterfinal match, Svenskeren only took fourth deaths while accumulating nineteen kills and eighteen assists throughout the entire three games. If Svenskeren can get the ball rolling, not even the Koreans can stop it.
If you’re a diehard Cloud9 fan, you’ll instantly recognize the name Sneaky. He’s been around since Cloud9’s original upbringing and his results never disappoint. Even to this day, despite having played six seasons now, Sneaky is still a man that can produce results of a young talent.
His ability to easily play his staple champions can force Koreans and Chinese players to find another way around beating the bot lane and his positioning is what defines him from the rest of the players. It’s almost as if Sneaky has a sixth sense—one that tells him when to retreat and when to go in. He nearly never loses on Kai’sa and when he pulls out Jhin, you know that Sneaky means business. When they took on Afreeca Freecs, Sneaky pulled out a surprising Lucian pick but he showed that he wasn’t around to play.
He quickly took the bot lane of Afreeca Freecs to business and collected twelve kills and seventeen assists all while only taking five deaths to compensate. The reason it’s so hard to kill Sneaky is because he knows when to back off and he understands the Rift like it’s the back of his hand.
Sneaky knows just where to stand to attack people from a safe distance without being hurt and he knows where to move whenever his opponents are looking to collapse on him. This makes him the ultimate AD Carry and one that Cloud9 can depend on in team fights. After all, he’s been showing results for the past six years.
This year was a turning point and we can thank Cloud9 for that. They pushed the limits of what Korea and China thought North America was capable of and then went even farther past that. Because of this, Cloud9 is going to have a shot at really taking down the Korean and Chinese empire within the next few years.
2018 was their most historic year yet and many fans, including myself, can’t wait for what they have in store for the future. They have disappointed once and by the looks of it, their only trajectory is up from here.
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