Cloud9 qualifies for Worlds quarterfinals

North America will have a team in the knockout stages of the 2016 League of Legends World Championship. Cloud9 will advance out of Group B with a 3-3 record, after a win vs. I May and SK Telecom’s win against Flash Wolves to close out the day.

C9 defeated I May 25-18 in a rollicking 51 minute game. With the result, I May and Flash Wolves are eliminated from Worlds. C9 will face Group D winner Samsung Galaxy in the quarterfinals, while SKT will face Royal Never Give Up.

I May curiously locked in Kennen support for this game, opting to use Maokai in the top lane instead. The bot lane was the target of C9’s early pressure, getting Sneaky’s Jhin three kills by 15 minutes, including First Blood.

By 20 minutes, Cloud9 had a 5k gold lead, with Jensen 4/0/3 on Ryze and Sneaky 3/1/6 on Jhin. Four minutes later, C9 took Baron, winning the ensuing fight 4-1 as Jensen’s Ryze continued to dominate.

I May continued to claw back with their late-game scaling composition, doing more and more damage with Viktor and Sivir.

But C9 picked off Athena and Road before the next Baron fight, securing the objective uncontested. After taking an inhibitor, C9 peeled off for Elder Dragon at 40 minutes, but surprisingly lost the fight to I May in I May’s base 3-1.

Two Barons later, Cloud9 was finally able to come out on top, utilizing Sneaky’s absurd Jhin damage to end the game. He finished 9/2/14 on the game, while Jensen was 10/3/11 on Ryze.

SKT exacted revenge on Flash Wolves in the last game of the night, ending a three-game losing streak to the LMS squad with a 20-7, 39-minute win.

With Cloud9’s win, all three North American teams went 2-1 in the first week of Worlds and 1-2 in the second week. While that was not enough for Counter Logic Gaming or Team SoloMid to move on, it was enough for Cloud9.