Worlds 2018 Play Ins - Cloud 9

Cloud 9 (C9) seems to be the best North America (NA) has to offer when coming into worlds. Even when Team Solo Mid (TSM) looked dominant, they would always fall flat on their face at worlds leaving everyone from North America cheering for C9 as the last hope. This year, just like last, C9 is the 3rd ranked team from NA and therefore has to make it through play-ins to make it to the World tournament.

• SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!

C9 has started off play-ins ok. They've gone 4 - 0 which sounds great, but as far as I'm concerned they were heavy favourites to go 4 and 0. However, they didn't win the 4 games in a very convincing fashion. The first game they gained an advantage, played it slow to get rid of nerves and went on to win the game.

However the second game they ended up winning a team fight at the end of the game that ended up allowing them to win the game. Up to that point, it looked like a very real concern that C9 might lose the game. C9 was making huge mistakes by wandering into areas with little to no vision and allowing for easy picks against them. Not a big deal against lesser teams, but higher ranked Korean, Chinese, or even European teams will definitely may you pay for these silly mistakes.

I was impressed by the way that Blabber, Licorice, and Zeyzal has played in play-ins so far. Blabber has made some mistakes getting caught out, but has performed much better than I think Svenskeren has in the past at worlds. Also, Licorice was allowed to play Atrox top on one of the games and carried or helped to carry C9 to victory. Zeyzal support Thresh looked good showing that he could play other supports besides Braum, what he played most of the Summer Season.

C9 starts the second part of their play-in journey tonight to see if they will, in fact, be going to worlds. Tune in to the Lol E-Sports channel on Twitch or YouTube to show your support. Would love to see 3 NA teams having a chance to move out of group stage at works and potentially making it to semi-finals or even finals. Plus, I think C9 will be a stronger team from NA then 100 Thieves so they have a better chance at moving on past groups.

Let me know in the comments down below if you agree and think C9 is the stronger NA or 100 Thieves? If you think C9 is the strongest team representing NA would love to know why (my opinion is that TL is our strongest team)?