Cloud9 Advance Through Play-In Knockout Round at Worlds 2018

We’re down to the wire for the teams in the Knockout Round of the Play-In stage at the 2018 League of Legends World Championships. Some of these teams will be able to secure victory and advance to the main event, while others will be sent back home to watch the games online. Here’s a brief breakdown of the action between Cloud9 and Gambit Esports.

Match One

The first match seemed fairly straightforward for Cloud9, as they easily kept Gambit in check whilst making the rotations they needed to secure crucial objectives. When the teams began to clash in earnest, Cloud9 was easily able to sweep Gambit from the field and push into their base, ending the first match in just under 27 minutes.

Match Two

The second clash between these two teams was much more action oriented, as Gambit struck back hard early on. the CIS representatives proved to be wily foes, trapping and eliminating individual members of Cloud9 wherever possible as they slowly built a lead, before ultimately landing the crushing final team fight they needed to claim their first victory of the series.

Match Three

The NA LCS third-seed bounced back hard in this third match, putting all thoughts of their previous failure behind themselves as they took down Gambit once again. Similarly, to the first match, Cloud9 opted for objective control rather than raw kills, using that strength gained to deliver knockout blows in larger team-fights that saw Gambit pushed beyond the brink of failure. Cloud9 just needed one more win to secure their place at the main event.

Match Four

With their backs against the wall, Gambit Esports once again fell back on their tried and true method to achieve victory, picking isolated fights and maintaining objective control. Both teams were able to stay relatively close in terms of gold income, though Gambit certainly had the better record on objectives, before the CIS team launched their final blitz and began to sweep Cloud9 from the map. It didn’t take long to turn a relatively close game into a blowout, as Gambit leveled out the scores once again and set up a decisive final showdown.

Match Five

The final clash between these two teams would see Cloud9, and Blue Side, win once again. Just like their other victories, Cloud9 opted to slowly build a lead over the course of the early to mid-game, before launching their attack around the Baron pit. Once the Baron buff was secured, Cloud9 was able to push into the base of Gambit and close out the match and series, booking them a spot at the main event.

With the first of the knockout rounds concluded, North America will see its third-seed representative continue their campaign at World 2018. For more on the knockout rounds to be played, check out the official schedule page, here, and for more on how we got here, check out the results of the Play-In stage, here.