Cloud9 take down Fnatic and get their first win of Rift Rivals 2017

Cloud9 take down Fnatic for their first win of the 2017 Rift Rivals tournament. This brings the competition to 3-2 in advantage of North America so far.

Cloud9 placed their faith in midlaner Nicolaj Jensen, giving him Leblanc and sending Juan “Contractz” Garcia to camp his lane to help him get ahead of Rasmus “Caps” Winther’s Orianna. Thankfully for the NA side this plan worked perfectly, leading to a huge lead for Jensen in the early game, which he used throughout the match ending 9/1/5.

With a solid early game lead, Cloud9 leveraged the strength of Andy “Smoothie” Ta’s Blitzcrank hooks to build on their lead, consistently taking Fnatic’s most important objectives. While Fnatic had a brief moment where a comeback seemed possible — thanks to Cloud9 overextending after taking an inhibitor — Cloud9 countered the Fnatic engage and managed to build an ever bigger lead off of the play.

While Fnatic and Cloud9 haven’t played each other on the international stage recently, the two teams have more history than any NA and EU teams starting back in 2013 when the European team eliminated Cloud9 from their first ever trip to the World Championship.

Cloud9 vs Fnatic 30:44

Riot Games