Cloud9 advance to the NA LCS Spring Split finals after dominating Phoenix1 in the semifinals 3-0. Cloud9 will play the winner of the second semifinal series on Sunday, which will be either Team SoloMid or FlyQuest, while Phoenix1 will advance to the third place match to face the loser of that same series. Both series will take place in Vancouver next weekend.

The semifinal series as a whole for Cloud9 was quick and clean as they dominated Phoenix1 on almost all fronts. Game 1 saw both sides select fairly conventional team fighting compositions. While the first couple of plays seemed strong for Phoenix1, including a solid roam bottom by Ryu, Cloud9 answered point for point every time, always gaining a little more than they gave. The game ended in a flash with C9 turning a Baron and a 4-0 into a base destroying push.

Game two was similar, though Phoenix1 didn’t find an opening until the midgame where they won two teamfights in a row before Contractz picked up a Quadrakill on Graves, giving Cloud9 the window they needed to push into the Phoenix1 base and end the game.

Finally, in game three Phoenix1 selected a composition that mirrored parts of Cloud9’s from game two including Ray’s signature Jarvan IV top. However, Cloud9 proved it wasn’t the composition that helped them win as they made short work of P1 once again, with the third victory being their cleanest of the series only giving up one tower and three kills to the LCS third seed.

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5:33 pm ET — A late first blood comes with a Sneaky Ashe arrow snipe onto Ryu allowing Jensen and Contractz to secure the kill.

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5:20 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 3

Phoenix1’s comp is looking pretty specifically for picks this game, while Cloud9 is going all in with the team fight composition.

P1: Jarvan IV, Elise, Syndra, Varus, Zyra

Bans: Lee Sin, Graves, Rengar, Shen, Leblanc

C9: Nautilus, Kha’Zix, Ashe, Lulu

Bans: Rumble, Kennen, Renekton, Kassadin, Fizz

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5:10 pm ET — Meteos in for Phoenix1!

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4:57 pm ET — A few safe skirmishes are broken up by a fight that seems, at first, to go P1’s way, until Contractz ends it with a Quadrakill (the penta stolen by Sneaky) and C9 immediately pushes in and ends the game, going up 2-0.

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4:46 pm ET — Coming into this game, Jarvan IV vs. Kled was definitly the most interesting match up, so here’s a little update on that:

That’s right, so far it is all Jarvan, although Kled did just grab a pick for P1.

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4:37 pm ET — 15 minutes in and Cloud9 are up to an early lead with 3 successful ganks from Contractz giving them a 3-1 kill lead as well as first tower. All this adds up to a 2k gold lead.

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4:20 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 2

These compositions are a little different than last time, but have the same central ideas. There are a couple pick opportunities for both teams, but the focus will be the team fights. The biggest departure is going to be in the toplane with the J4 vs Kled match up that should be full of fireworks and will result in some huge damage during team fights.

C9: Jarvan IV, Graves, Syndra, Ezreal, Lulu

Bans: Leblanc, Shen, Ashe, Rumble, Ahri

P1: Kled, Rengar, Orianna, Varus, Karma

Bans: Lee Sin, Camille, Renekton, Lucian, Caitlyn

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3:54 pm ET — C9 uses the Baron for a methodical push into the P1 base. With P1 behind in gold and an inferior team fight comp, C9 engage and win allowing them to push into the base and end the game at 34 minutes.

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3:51 pm ET — Cloud9 go for Baron, but P1 gets a little too close in their contest, a quick Ashe arrow results in a 4 for 0 trade in favor of C9 along with the Baron, opening the game up in their favor.

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3:42 pm ET — P1 take the game to Cloud9 as Ryu ganks bottom lane and helps them take first tower, before bot lane moves mid and returns the favor. Cloud9 counter punches well only a couple minutes later taking a mid and bot tower of their own and retaining small gold lead.

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3:36 pm ET — 17 minutes in and both teams have been playing it safe with a couple skirmishes that haven’t resulted in much. The one exception was a gank midlane that grabbed C9 first blood and and slight 1.5k gold lead.

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3:11 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 1

Both teams are going to have strong team fight and a bit of pick potential. For P1 that pick potential is going to come in the form of burst from Leblanc, while C9 will have to count on Ashe arrows.

P1: Shen, Graves, Leblanc, Ezreal, Karma

Bans: Lee Sin, Elise, Rengar, Nautilus, Syndra

C9: Gragas, Kha’Zix, Kassadin, Ashe, Lulu

Bans: Rumble, Kennen, Ivern, Varus, Kalista

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The first match of the 2017 NA LCS semifinals kicks off Saturday with number two seed Cloud9 facing off against number three seed Phoenix1. While both teams will receive a trip to Vancouver regardless of the results, only the winner will advance to the finals with the loser playing in the third place match the day before.

For all the information about the possible matchups as well as the schedule, bracket and results from all of the NA LCS Playoffs check out our post here.

After a dominant start, Cloud9’s split has been slowly going down hill, barely securing the league’s second seed. But, with a couple of bye weeks providing them so time to recover from their rough end to the split Cloud9 will have to show that they are better prepared to play in this new NA LCS meta if they want any chance of making it to the finals.

Phoenix1 also started the split hot, but took a fairly substantial dip into fifth place around the middle. However, over the last 4 weeks they have looked like one of the league’s most dominant teams and after sweeping Team Dignitas in the Quarterfinals last week are certainly the hottest team left in the playoffs. If P1 are going to pull off a victory against Cloud9 it is likely going to come from strong combination play from jungler Rami “Inori” Charagh and midlaner Yoo “Ryu” Sang Wook.

The series will be a best-of-five.

Lineups

Phoenix1

• Derek “Zig” Shao
• Rami “Inori” Charagh or William “Meteos” Hartman
• Yoo “Ryu” Sang Wook
• Noh “Arrow” Dong-hyeon
• Jordan “Shady” Robinson

Cloud9

• Jeong “Impact” Eonyoung
• Juan “Contractz” Garcia
• Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
• Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
• Andy “Smoothie” Ta

Series info and how to watch

The first match of the NA LCS 2017 Spring Split Playoffs will be watchable on Lolesports as well as on the NALCS1 Twitch channel. The first match will kick off after the conclusion of the EU LCS Playoff semifinal series between Fnatic and G2.