Flash Wolves keep Worlds hope alive with win vs. C9

Flash Wolves have rebounded from a poor start to the 2016 League of Legends World Championship, beating Cloud9 14-2 in 39 minutes in a crucial match Sunday. A loss for Flash Wolves would have eliminated them from the tournament.

If SK Telecom beats I May in the next match, as expected, there will be three 2-3 teams heading into the final two games of scheduled action. Cloud9’s hopes to redeem North America’s poor Worlds by becoming the only team from the region to qualify for quarterfinals will hinge on its final game of the day, against I May.

The game started off very positively for Cloud9, as creative early pathing from Metoes’s Nidalee and an outplay in the top lane helped net First Blood.

But after catching Meteos in the river and giving Maple’s Ryze and early lead, Flash Wolves was able to take control with a clinical 1-3-1 formation. Even with a big lead for Impact in the top lane, Maple proved too much to handle.

Maple finished the game 7/0/4 and earned Player of the Game honors.

This time, Flash Wolves managed to hold on and not throw their lead, like we’ve seen many times already at this tournament. Up 10k at 39 minutes, Flash Wolves set up for Elder Drake, stopping Meteos’s steal attempt and killing him in the pit. The team followed that up with a clean ace of Cloud9, closing out the game.

Now their attentions turn towards SKT for the final scheduled game of the day, with a win needed to force a tiebreaker for a quarterfinals spot.