Game of the Day: Cloud 9 versus Team SoloMid

By Helmight

            The titans have clashed once again, but this time you might be surprised by the ending. Cloud 9 has typically dominated Team SoloMid in their head-to-head matchups, but this time around it was TSM that took home the victory after a closely-fought game.  

            Of course, a matchup between the two NA giants wouldn’t be complete without some sort of crazy ending. After taking two of Cloud 9’s inhibitors, TSM rotated down to the bottom lane to pressure the third. Somehow, LemonNation managed to land a godly Death Sentence onto WildTurtle and annihilate TSM’s lategame carry, forcing TSM into a full retreat. Cloud 9 chased TSM all the way to their own exposed bot inhibitor, took it, and then made the risky call to try and end the game. They managed to take one Nexus tower down, but Turtle’s respawn and the massive number of minions knocking on their own Nexus turrets forced Cloud 9 back. As Cloud 9’s members tried to recall to defend the base, they were each hunted down in turn by the pursuing TSM members, killed in ones and twos while Balls tried desperately to hold off the super minions. With their base in shambles, Cloud 9 could do nothing to keep Team SoloMid from ending the game.

            TSM’s comp was very similar to the one they played against CLG early this week, except this time it worked. Dyrus’s Explosive Casks were on point throughout the match, keeping Cloud 9 from grouping up and allowing him to easily peel for WildTurtle. Dyrus also had the near-constant assistance of Amazing during the early game. The two of them repeatedly dove Balls under his tower, killing him three times before the ten-minute mark. With all of the gold he’d received from the dives, plus his Drunken Rage, Dyrus was practically unkillable. Meanwhile, WildTurtle went wild in this game, picking up a quadra kill in the lategame and finishing the match with more than half of TSM’s kills.

            Cloud 9 meanwhile looked a bit out of sorts. From minute one, things were off – Balls died during an early invasion after facechecking a bush, and Cloud 9’s shotcalling was off throughout the game. Sure, they did a much better job at securing dragons than Team SoloMid in the early game, but their teamfighting and midgame decision-making was questionable at best. Balls getting shut down didn’t help matters at all. Cloud 9 relies heavily on their toplaner doing well, making his choice of Dr. Mundo for the top lane all the more curious.

TSM had to fight tooth and nail to gain their lategame advantage though. Cloud 9’s play was shaky, but they were only 1k back from Team SoloMid through most of the midgame. It was a single teamfight that changed things. As they teams skirmished around the midlane, Amazing managed to land a miraculous Sonic Wave onto Sneaky. At the last second, TSM’s jungler leapt onto Sneaky and ulted him back at his team, giving TSM a phenomenal initiation to the fight. Though Cloud 9’s AD carry would somehow survive, three of his teammates would fall in the ensuing battle. With Cloud 9’s solo laners and jungler down, Team SoloMid was able to grab their first Baron and dragon of the game, giving them the advantage they needed to pressure down the inhibitors.

Cloud 9 (L)				Team SoloMid (W)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
5	6	62.6k		16	10			70.8k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	Balls	Dr. Mundo	0/6/1	Top	Dyrus				Gragas	1/0/9
Jungle	Meteos	Elise	3/3/1	Jungle	Amazing				Lee Sin	2/1/9
Mid	Hai	Yasuo	0/3/4	Mid	Bjergsen				Syndra	3/1/7
ADC	Sneaky	Lucian	2/3/1	ADC	WildTurtle				Tristana	10/1/2
Support	LemonNation	Thresh	0/1/2	Support	Gleeb				Morgana	0/2/9
Bans
Kog’Maw	Braum	Twisted Fate		Kassadin			Lulu	Rengar

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