By Griffin LaMarche
The Summer Split for legendary NALCS team Cloud9 was a true roller coaster from start to finish. The season started out on a rocky note when coach Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu and owner Jack Etienne made the widely controversial move of benching midlaner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, AD carry Zachery “Sneaky” Scuderi and support Andy “Smoothie” Ta. In replacement, academy players Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer, Yuri “Keith” Jew and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam filled in the positions of midlane, AD carry and support, respectively. Reapered and Jack released a video that made plain their reasoning: The LCS players were slacking in practice and did not match the discipline the academy players were showing in scrimmages and practices. The roster change was widely controversial, as Jensen, Sneaky and Smoothie were all considered at the top of their designated roles. Either way, all eyes were on the rookies Goldenglue, Keith and Zeyzal to prove Cloud9’s roster changes were justifiable.
They weren’t.
The new Cloud9 roster went 1-3 through Week 2, only picking up one game against Clutch Gaming. In Week 3, Jensen was subbed back into the team, but this time as the ADC. This unconventional change, coinciding with the big shake-up of bot lane in patch 8.11, wasn’t the secret to success either, as Cloud9 went 1-5 through Week 3. Things were not looking good. A team has never made playoffs in the NALCS after going 1-5 in the first three weeks. Tied for last with another powerful team, Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud9 looked likely to miss the playoffs for the first time, and be ineligible for Worlds for the first time in the organization’s history.
Cloud9 would end up permanently keeping Zeyzal in the support role, as Smoothie would be traded to Echo Fox. With Jensen back in the mid lane and Sneaky on ADC, Cloud9 won their first game in two weeks against FlyQuest, but dropped a game to CLG, finishing the weekend 2-6. Soon, another roster change would shake up the game. This time, in the jungle. Jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen was benched for rookie Robert “Blaber” Huang. With Blaber on the LCS stage, Cloud9 went on a tear, winning nine of 10 games in the rest of the Summer Split and finished second in the regular season, making the miracle run from 10th to second. Cloud9 would finalize a seven-man roster going into the playoffs with Eric “Licorice” Ritchie, Blaber, Svenskeren, Goldenglue, Jensen, Sneaky and Zeyzal. In the semifinals match against TSM, Blaber and Jensen started for the team, and after a 2-1 lead by TSM, Svenskeren and Goldenglue, now dubbed “The Swole Bros,” subbed in and took the series 3-2. While Cloud9 did falter to Team Liquid 3-0 in the finals, they surged back in the regional gauntlet to defeat TSM 3-0 to go from last place in the Summer Split to qualifying for Worlds.
Cloud9, should they win the Play-In stage at Worlds (which they are expected to), will be seeded into Group B with Royal Never Give Up, European powerhouse Team Vitality, and defending Worlds champion Generation Gaming. The odds are completely stacked against Cloud9. But, after what happened this Summer Split, anything is possible.
