C9 in free fall after LCS Super Week losses
After a strong 3-0 start into the LCS Spring Season, Cloud9's League of Legends roster has hit a major performance cavern. C9 has lost four matches in a row and now ties with the organisation's loss-streak record, despite its high aspiration for a title attack.
A solid start
Cloud9 started into the 2024 Spring season with solid performances against NRG, 100 Thieves, and Dignitas, making good on the potential that both experts and the community had ascribed to them.
For the 2024 season, the multi-gaming organisation brought on the Canadians Joseph Joon "Jojopyun" Pyun and Philippe "VULCAN" Laflamme. While the former came over from Evil Geniuses as a homegrown talent, the latter took a split-long detour over FlyQuest after having played with Jojopyun on EG between 2021 and 2023.
Pairing the best parts of the former Evil Geniuses team with the strong base of Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol, Robert "Blaber" Huang, and Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami looked to be a worthwhile shot at a winning formula after a second place at the LCS Championship and a relatively early exit from the 2023 World Championship.
Even the moniker of a North American 'superteam' was applied to the team by various experts, putting high expectations on the C9 squad.
Super week, superteam, super weak
The honeymoon period of the newly assembled roster was already over by its fourth match, losing to Shopify Rebellion in the opener of the Super Week. However, arguably, the most surprising loss came at the hands of Immortals - one of the lower-ranking teams in the LCS that has been operating on a budget for several seasons.
Saturday and Sunday came with further beatdowns, as Cloud9 lost both to the first-ranked FlyQuest and rivals Team Liquid, tying the organisation's longest loss streak in its history. While the LCS format is fairly forgiving in its round-robin format leading into the season playoffs, a general form displayed during the regular season play has historically strongly correlated with top-ranking performances in the playoffs.
That said, C9 has dropped from first to fifth place, right on the border of being forced to be seeded into the loser's bracket during the post-season. Next weekend, C9 kicks it off against NRG in a rematch from week one at 10 pm CET / 11 pm BST / 4 pm EST / 1 pm PST. The rematch might now prove challenging for C9, given the form both teams have displayed. On day 1 of the Super Week, NRG surprisingly upset FlyQuest, dealing them their first loss.
