Cloud9 wins LCS Summer over 100 Thieves
The Summer Split of the 2022 League Championship Series concluded with Cloud9 coming out as the winner after a 3-0 triumph over 100 Thieves on Sunday. Both teams and third-place Evil Geniuses are now qualified for Worlds.
Before dominating the playoffs, C9 wrapped up the group stage in the fifth position, winning 11 games and losing eight times. Despite that, the team took over the last leg of the tournament and won their first LCS trophy since last year’s LCS Spring.
Winning LCS Summer 2022
C9 had a seamless entry to the grand final following three consecutive wins in the playoffs, from 3-2 over Counter Logic Gaming, defeating both Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves with a margin-wide score of 3-1. C9’s consistent play kept them away from entering the lower bracket.
Meanwhile, 100 Thieves’ final defeat in the upper bracket sent them to the lower against EG. The matchup concluded with EG’s defeat, and 100 Thieves was awarded a rematch ticket against C9.
Sunday’s matchup kicked off with C9 realizing that their play and draft picks must be centered around South Korean pro-bot-laner Kim “Berserker” Min-Cheol, who picked ADC champion Zeri in the first game. The remaining team members adapted Berserker’s pick, with top-laner Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami playing Kennen and jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang with Nocturne.
100 Thieves were having difficulties countering C9’s ADC play, and their champion bans were barely doing them any favor. The result had Berserker, Fudge, and Blaber kept on pushing the cornered 100 Thieves.
Throughout all games on Sunday, where C9 led the kill count in Game 1 (13-3), Game 2 (22-6), and Game 3 (23-11), the trio contributed the most kills, with Berserker leading the killboard with a whopping 13 kills playing Sivir in the last game.
However, Game 3 wrapped in a slightly different fashion compared to the previous two. C9 had a more immediate offensive play with a direct push to 100 Thieves’ territory. Not only Berserker and co. had great timing, but they also took advantage of 100 Thieves’ several mistimed ultimates. The result propelled C9 to victory.
After the win, mid-laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, who had just returned after months of hiatus from the team, said via Dot Esports that he was glad C9 was keen to have him onboard.
“It felt like something I owed to C9. In a way, it’s very comforting knowing that everything actually turned out the way it did,” Jensen said.
“I’m glad that Jack [Etienne] wanted to take a chance on me again and everything worked out the way it did. It was definitely something I was longing for a long time.”
Roster change
C9 began this year with a decent performance in LCS Lock-In and LCS Spring, finishing fourth in both competitions. However, the team had to go through a massive roster overhaul and the firing of a well-known coach over “coaching style differences” earlier this year, which set a controversy between C9 and the League community.
Regardless, the team welcomed the return of a familiar face, Jensen, to the lineup. Aside from him, the team signed jungler/sub Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen and promoted academy support Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen to the main lineup.
The three ended up being paired with Fudge, who was moved to play top-laner, Blaber, and Berserker.
