Cloud9 completed a miracle run this past weekend. With wins against 100 Thieves and FlyQuest, C9 secured the second place spot and a playoff bye.
After starting the season 2-6, they’ve gone 9-1 and are sitting on an eight-game winning streak. The’ve been easily the best team in the second half of the split and the quality of their wins reflect that.
The only team C9 has lost to since week four is Optic Gaming, who didn’t even make the playoffs. Since then, Cloud9 has beat everyone they’ve faced, including 100T, FlyQuest and Team Liquid in the past two weeks. And unlike a team like FlyQuest who’s taken several games in dramatic fashion, C9 has largely dominated their opponents.
The C9 miracle run culminated with their win against Flyquest
They have newcomers Blabber and Zeyzal to thank for a great deal of their wins, but they’ve been playing almost flawlessly as a team as well. Even when Svenskeren and Goldenglue had been subbed in, the team still managed to look like one of the best squads in NA all year.
With their bye, C9 will be heading straight to Oakland waiting to take on the highest seed advancing from the quarterfinals. Right now, that looks to be either 100 Thieves or Echo Fox. While they’ve beaten both teams, they might want to avoid Echo Fox if possible.
Despite the team dropping three of their last four matches in the regular season, they still gave C9 a run for their money back in week six. On top of that, Echo Fox has former C9 support Smoothie anchoring their bot lane. The opportunity to knock his former team out of the playoffs would be a motivating factor for one of the best supports in the league.
Catch Cloud9 in action vs Echo Fox, TSM or 100 Thieves on Saturday, September 1 during the NA semifinals in Oakland.