Cloud9 vs Fnatic

For our second semi final Best of 5 we have yet another insanely exciting clash between the perennial EU LCS champions - Fnatic, and the only North American team that was consistently able to attain some success on the international stage - Cloud9.

Much like our first semi final, this one has fireworks written all over it. What’ll happen in the end remains to be seen, and it’ll surely be an insanely close game of inches. Millions of fans will sit down and witness the biggest, most important, high-stakes clash between Europe and North America in League history. The winner reaches Top 2, which is an insane achievement no matter how you spin it.

Fnatic are entering the semi-final clash with a lot of momentum and hype. They already reached Top 4 which is a fantastic achievement, however, looking at the meta and the overall situation now, it would be underwhelming and kind of disappointing if they didn’t at the very least reach the finals.

They already outclassed Invictus Gaming twice in the group decider matches, and the only obstacle right now is the third seed from North America - to which no one really gave a chance coming into the World Championship.

Fnatic did have a pretty underwhelming showing against Edward Gaming last week though, and that’s one of the main reasons why people are kind of scared to bet with full confidence, but they’ve had the better, more consistent regular season overall. They were able to maintain an insanely high level of play throughout the entire year, dominate in both the Spring and Summer Splits, dominate at Rift Rivals, reach Top 4 at MSI when the meta didn’t favor their playstyle, and they were able to perform well up to expectations at Worlds.

A single off-day shouldn’t hinder their momentum coming into this historic EU vs. NA clash.

They’re insanely strong on an individual level, they can pull off creative strategies, they’re versatile, they have fantastic tools and players for every stage of the game - with Rekkles as extra late-game insurance, and they’ve been playing as a well oiled machine throughout the entire tournament, with just a couple of small hiccups.

On the other hand, Cloud9’s road to this point has been absolutely astonishing as well. Many people didn’t give them a chance after they were ranked tenth in the NA LCS Summer Split regular season, and yet here they are, ranked as a Top 4 team at the biggest, most prestigious international League tournament in the world. It is a narrative that was years in the making. Jensen was always one of the best performing mid laners in the world, and yet he always lacked that little bit of extra oomph to get through and reach semis, just like he lacked the extra mile when it came to lifting the NA LCS trophy.

For years he played second fiddle next to Bjergsen and TSM, and even though he surpassed Bjergsen from a statistical standpoint more often than not, he was still unable to best the perennial NA titans.

It is then surprising to see him reach his full potential alongside two complete rookies - Licorice and Zeyzal. Both of them are playing out of their minds more often than not - Licorice is an absolute beast and can not only hold his own against the very best top laners in the world but even surpass the majority of them, whereas Zeyzal is not only a stellar shotcaller but an insanely clutch engage player that can almost single-handedly swing the fight in his team’s favor.

When you pair them with a seasoned veteran in Sneaky who’s also playing at the top of his game right now, and an unleashed Svenskeren who hasn’t been playing this well in years, and you get an insanely competitive team that can go blow-for-blow on the international stage.

Cloud9 as an organization have done wonders throughout 2018. Licorice was awarded the Rookie of the Split in Spring, Blaber got the nod in the Summer Split as well along with Reapered who was awarded the Coach of the Split award. They are one of the only organizations in North America that actually invests in homegrown talent, and the effort is paying off in spades right now at Worlds.

While they did get to this point by eliminating the Korean second seed in Afreeca Freecs, it is important to highlight that AFS was far from a force to be reckoned with. They were solid, strong even, but nowhere near the level of some LPL and even EU LCS teams.

If you didn’t watch the games though, you’d think that it was a clean 3-0 stomp for Cloud9. But that was far from the case. They stomped the very first game, and you’d think they would be able to ride that momentum forward, but that was far from reality. Afreeca rebounded nicely and completely outclassed Cloud9 on an individual level. That was the point where Cloud9 stuck together, that was the moment when you actually saw just how insane and resilient they were. Always fighting from behind, and yet always being able to create small advantages and get back into the game through some stellar macro and shot-calling.

Now, obviously, it wasn’t a pretty sight, but they did manage to claw their way back into the game and that’s worthy of the highest praise. They weren’t that dominant, but once they got ahold of the steering wheel they never let go. Sneaky was their biggest catalyst as well, and with Svenskeren performing so well, they had two stable carries on which they could rely upon.

At the very least, there is a lingering hope from Western fans all around the world that tomorrow’s clash delivers on the hype. It doesn’t have to go the distance, but it might take another couple of years before we get such an insanely promising clash between two Western titans. After witnessing G2 get dismantled by Invictus Gaming, we can all at least hope that both Fnatic and Cloud9 duke it out on the Rift and leave everyone satisfied, with zero regrets.

In the end, Fnatic is favored, and with good reason. It is incredibly hard to bet against Fnatic at this point as they have, by all means, done everything in order to be deemed the heavy favorites. While Cloud9 do pose a very specific, multi-layered threat, they shouldn’t be able to come out on top.

Cloud9 want to fight, and they want to fight often. They can team fight when ahead, or even better - they can go blow-for-blow even when behind in gold and objectives. That’s quite a complex challenge to tackle, but if there’s a team that’s capable of doing that then it has to be Fnatic. They have to slow down the pace of the game, they have to control Cloud9 from the very get-go, and they have the tools to do so as well, but how successful they’ll be remains to be seen.

Both teams struggled at times to handle their quarter-final opponents, and yet both teams clutched things out when it mattered the most.

While it might not be particularly pretty nor clean, Fnatic should be able to emerge victorious, at worst in a five-game series.