Coming into this split it was impossible to ignore the fact that Cloud9 and FlyQuest shared a lot of the same DNA. After all, three of the FlyQuest starters were founding members of Cloud9. However, over the course of the first five weeks they have proven themselves to be legitimate contenders in the NA LCS. Now, with the two teams meeting for the second, and final, time this split it will give FlyQuest the chance to step out of Cloud9’s shadow.

The first time these two faced each other this split, in week four, FlyQuest dominated early for two of the three games. While, in this meta, that often means they would win the game however, FlyQuest narrowly lost the final game and the series. This lead directly into a difficult week five that saw FlyQuest drop both of their series.

The context for the match up this week hasn’t really changed much since then. Both teams struggled in week five, but still sit fairly high in the North America standings. Cloud9 comes in as a team designed around taking advantages of missteps, but are vulnerable to decisive teams that can take control of games early. In North America one of the best teams at that style is FlyQuest.

The series was given an interesting new strategic wrinkle on Saturday with FlyQuest bringing out, and succeeding with, the strangest bottom lane combination we have seen all year: Mordekaiser and Blitzcrank. FlyQuest have already shown themselves to be pick ban pioneers this split, playing champions like Zed far before anyone else in the world noticed how strong he was. So, while it remains to be seen whether or not this will be a legitimate strategy for FlyQuest that they will try to use against the league’s best teams, it is certainly something Cloud9 will have to keep in the back of their mind going into Sunday’s series.

How to Watch

When: Sunday, March 5 at 6 p.m., Eastern

How: NALCS1 on Twitch or on lolesports.com