Cloud9, Contractz dominate in TSM sweep

Cloud9’s 2017 Spring NA LCS season started in near-perfect form Friday, sweeping defending champions Team SoloMid in a rematch of last split’s title match. Cloud9 was led by the performance of new jungler Contractz, the only new member of the roster. The 17-year-old rookie built an early lead for his team with Kha’Zix in the first game before a dominating performance on Lee Sin to carry his team to the sweep.

The first game was a close one, as Jensen’s Fizz and Bjergsen’s Syndra squared off in an entertaining mid lane battle. Cloud9 took an early lead from Contractz’s lane pressure, but TSM’s strong objective control (led by WildTurtle’s Kalista) and team fighting kept the game very close.

At 21 minutes, TSM rushed an early Baron, but Cloud9 arrived in time to pick up a triple kill for Jensen’s Fizz, who finished the game 5/0/8. TSM was able to siege with the remaining buff, but wasn’t able to do significant damage to C9’s base.

At 35 minutes, a fight started very favorably for Cloud9 behind Baron, as Smoothie picked up two kills with Miss Fortune’s ultimate.

Contractz dominated the early game in the second game, starting 5/0/0 with some flashy Lee Sin plays. He would finish the game 8/2/10.

Cloud9 used that advantage to take the game’s first tower, and led by 5k gold at 25 minutes. At 28 minutes, a wrench was thrown into C9’s plans: Svenskeren stole Baron. But C9 picked up three kills on the back end and broke open TSM’s base by taking the middle inhibitor.

At 33 minutes, TSM threw another wrench in Cloud9’s assured victory, winning a 4-2 fight thanks to uninterrupted damage output from WildTurtle’s Ashe. But three minutes later, C9 earned a clean ace at a fight near Baron, picking up three kills for Jensen’s Syndra and winning the series. The second game finish 24-10 in 36 minutes.