Game of the Day: compLexity versus Cloud 9

By Helmight

            Cloud 9 is usually looked at as the Superman of the NA LCS – the best hope for NA to win worlds, and one of its strongest teams. However, the North American champions may have just found their kryptonite in the form of compLexity. Despite being a new team to the league and having one of the worst records, COL has proven to be quite effective against Cloud 9. Their first match during Super Week resulted in a surprising win for compLexity, and though much has changed since then this matchup hasn’t in the slightest. In a chaotic game full of sprawling, scattered teamfights, compLexity managed to take down Cloud 9 in an immensely surprising upset.

            I’ll be honest – I didn’t watch this game live because I figured it was going to be a one-sided stomp. NA shoutcaster Jatt said himself that compLexity was “at the mercy of Cloud 9”, and the fan vote swung heavily in C9’s favor. However, COL approached this game with determination and poise, drafting a strong teamfight composition that relied heavily on pr0lly’s Yasuo. C9 meanwhile went for early game dominance, planning on shutting down compLexity early with lane bullies likes Caitlyn and Renekton and then using their usually flawless rotations to keep COL out of the game. It was a sound strategy – every time compLexity has fallen behind early, they’ve usually lost the game.

            The early game made it appear as though C9’s plan was working to perfection. COL was pressured hard in every lane, with pr0lly dying to a stealthy Meteos gank for first blood. Westrice then tried to engage on Balls’ Renekton with his ult, but was immediately forced to Flash away from the fight after realizing that he couldn’t beat the crocodile in a straight-up fight. The first tower of the game was C9’s as well – business as usual against a last-place team.

            But compLexity somehow managed to stay relevant. Instead of panicking and throwing themselves further behind, COL executed a lane swap. Pr0lly was able to comfortably farm against Sneaky despite not having a tower, while Bubbadub and RobertxLee were able to pressure Hai. It was a strategy that might not have worked if C9 had immediately switched their own lanes to counter it, but for whatever reason the NA champions waited for a few minutes before making the swap. It didn’t matter an awful lot for compLexity in the end – but it did keep them in the game a bit longer and kept C9’s gold lead down to 1k.

            Once teamfights started, they proved to be a chaotic affair. Nothing seemed to go right for either team – RobertxLee’s ballsy Rocket Jump initiation onto Sneaky didn’t go as planned, but C9 seemed out of sorts in fights, constantly shifting their position without simply standing and fighting against a team that hadn’t outscaled them yet. Though neither team won the first fight, it was a bad omen for Cloud 9. The next two teamfights went much the same way, but after forcing Hai to back with low health at the end of the third skirmish, COL made the call to start Baron. With a Tristana and an Elise on their team, compLexity was able to swiftly burn down the objective before Cloud 9 could respond, gaining their first lead of the game.

            C9 knew they were in trouble now – their bullies were effective in the early game, but not nearly as good as compLexity’s lineup in the late game. For this reason, they opted to play passively, trying to use Caitlyn and Ziggs’ waveclear to keep COL at bay. Normally, this would have been a smart move – if you were playing against someone not named Westrice. compLexity’s toplaner had been using his ult almost suicidally to set up teamfights, and as 3 members of C9 grouped around their mid inner tower, he went in. A Flash over the wall into Dragon’s Descent set up a three-man Last Breath from pr0lly, annihilating LemonNation and Sneaky in an instant. The kills were enough for COL to break into C9’s base and take the first inhibitor of the game.     At that point, it was no secret as to where the game was going. Ten minutes and three more inhibitors later, compLexity took down Cloud 9’s Nexus for the stunning victory.

COL bans: Rengar, Lulu, Lee Sin

C9 bans: Kassadin, Braum, Kayle

Player	Champion	K/D/A	Minions Killed
compLexity
Westrice	Shyvana	1/1/8	310
Kez	Elise	2/1/6	120
pr0lly	Yasuo	1/4/8	264
ROBERTxLEE	Tristana	5/2/4	345
Bubbadub	Sona	1/1/9	25
Cloud 9
Balls	Renekton	2/0/5	306
Meteos	Evelynn	4/1/3	136
Hai	Ziggs	0/2/6	331
Sneaky	Caitlyn	3/2/3	295
LemonNation	Morgana	0/5/4	22

 Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

Game of the Day: Cloud 9 versus LMQ

By Helmight

            With both CLG and Dignitas losing to bottom-of-the-table teams in today’s matches, first place was guaranteed to end up in a three-way tie. The only question was who would join the leaders – newcomers LMQ, or the ever-dominant Cloud 9. Though the fan vote was heavily in favor of C9, the American upstarts from last year would fall to LMQ in a thirty-minute, 14-8 game.

            Cloud 9 showed their innovative spirit during the pick/ban phase when Meteos picked up Rengar for his second stint in the LCS, and when Sneaky opted for a Kog’Maw pick after Lucian and Twitch were both banned out. Meanwhile, LMQ stuck with mostly tried and true champions, but did select Graves for their bottom lane instead of the suddenly-popular Jinx. The unusual picks left both teams feeling around for weaknesses in their opponent’s comp early on, leading NoName to gank early for first blood onto LemonNation. That would be it for most of the laning phase though - despite Meteos and NoName’s best attempts, no further ganks succeeded and both teams fell to farming for the first ten minutes of the game.

            Once the passive play ceased, it was on for both teams. LMQ grabbed the first dragon of the game after forcing Sneaky back to base, and then proceeded to dive Cloud 9’s bottom lane twice in quick succession. Though LemonNation died a handful of times in these attempts, smart roams by Hai’s Kassadin and Meteos managed to equalize or better the kill counts in the immediate aftermath of the dives. Cloud 9 answered the aggression with the first tower kill of the game, only to watch as Vasili answered back on the other side of the map. And so it went – LMQ and Cloud 9 constantly at each other’s throats, trading back and forth to create an even and bloody game.

            Despite the solid start, Cloud 9’s normally immaculate rotations were somewhat lacking as midgame started. Though they managed to show up to contest LMQ’s second dragon attempt, LemonNation was on the wrong side of the pit, preventing Cloud 9 from making a play on the LMQ squad and then getting chased down and killed by LMQ. Though Cloud 9 caught out Vasili and Mor in the bottom lane, they were unable to take a kill on either of them thanks to Braum’s powerful defensive abilities. With Cloud 9 always on the back foot, LMQ had a field day on their competitor’s towers, pushing down the outer and inner mid towers and rotating top.

            It was here that LMQ broke down. Despite killing Balls under the tower, LMQ was forced to retreat from the rest of Cloud 9 – a message that NoName might not have gotten. The LMQ jungler turned on Cloud 9 alone, forcing his team into an awkward fight that not everyone was prepared to be involved in. Hai went wild, cleaning house on the disorganized LMQ and taking home the quadra kill, with only XiaoWeiXiao managing to limp home. After securing Baron, it seemed as though the tables had turned completely in Cloud 9’s favor.

            Although they had won a major battle, Cloud 9 was destined to lose the war. Immediately after the Baron attempt, Cloud 9 forced a fight near dragon. Thanks to a great Command: Shockwave and Cataclysm from XiaoWeiXiao and NoName, LMQ won the fight handily, taking four kills and an inhibitor off of their success. The fight would prove to be prophetic – though Cloud 9 continued trying to execute dives onto LMQ’s carries, XiaoWeiXiao’s Shockwaves were too much and the NA LCS veterans would fall ten minutes later. 

C9 bans: LeBlanc, Lucian, Elise

LMQ bans: Corki, Twitch, Lee Sin

Player	Champion	K/D/A
Cloud 9
Balls	Renekton	0/3/3
Meteos	Rengar	0/1/5
Hai	Kassadin	5/2/1
Sneaky	Kog’Maw	2/2/5
LemonNation	Thresh	1/6/6
LMQ
ackerman	Lulu	3/1/6
NoName	Jarvan IV	2/2/9
XiaoWeiXiao	Orianna	4/0/6
Vasili	Graves	5/3/8
Mor	Braum	0/2/13

  

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