Team Liquid falls 2-3 to Cloud 9 in semi-finals

It was thrilling to see Team Liquid up 2-0 in the series against Cloud 9. It was nothing but absolute annihilation from start to finish in both games; simply, we outplayed Cloud 9. Surely, winning in the way TL did should have demoralized the opposition, but veteran teams fight back and Cloud 9 definitely proved a point. While our losses in game 3 and 4 were not terrible, the upward momentum Cloud 9 created for themselves helped close out the series in a reverse sweep, 3-2.

A favorable match-up

“Piglet and Dominate are fairly emotional players,” the Riot Games analyst desk would constantly say. “That’s why Piglet emphasized the importance of winning game 1.”
And boy did we get our game 1 win. Fans of the NA LCS know Cloud 9, of all teams, are capable of doing great in the pick and ban phases, utilizing any pick—standard or not. But game 1’s draft went to Team Liquid. We got the picks we wanted—a triple engage comp with Sejuani, Sion, and Lissandra--and Cloud 9 went with an awkward two ADC composition involving Draven. Behind the back of Piglet’s Lucian, TL proceeded to pile drive Cloud 9 across the map, making every single C9 player useless throughout the game.

“We like having multiple engages,” Xpecial told Riot Games in a post-game interview against CLG. ”Having that wombo-combo, good things happen.”

In game 2, Cloud 9 drafted a bit better. They took away three of our game 1 picks. However, they did not consider Quas getting Hecarim nor FeniX playing Azir. It was time to give Piglet a break, as Quas and FeniX tore through Cloud 9, often winning battles 3v5. The solo lane duo collectively had 16 of the 21 kills on Team Liquid. It really was only a matter of time before we would end the game; there was little to no come back potential.

After wins like that, you can almost say Team Liquid will sweep Cloud 9 confidently. But alas, it’s not over till it’s over.

A shift in momentum

Our momentum would fall to shambles during the picks and bans phase of game 3. We got the picks we wanted. The Lulu and Janna were locked in for Team Liquid. The inevitability of the juggermaw composition was nye. Arguably our best team composition, TL was looking to close. Hard. But Cloud 9 knew, and they took the midlane Corki away from us.

Taking a single pick away was not the end of the world, but it delegated Quas to a top lane Sion and FeniX onto Lulu. We ultimately became a one damage threat, putting a greater amount of pressure onto Piglet’s Kog’Maw. It was obvious all C9 needed to do was put resources into denying Piglet and the game would become easier, and they did just that. Kog’maw, while strong, just did not reach the powerspike we needed and for the first time, it was only a matter of time before C9 would over-run us.

The fact of the matter was Team Liquid was 1 game away from securing a spot in the finals. Surely being 2-1 would not change anything but somehow it got to us. The momentum Cloud 9 created for themselves was nothing short of great, and Team Liquid seemed down and out after losing on their best composition.

Moving on, I wouldn’t say game 4 was a devastating loss either. In fact, we got a pool of champions that were looking to close the game. Sejuani fell into the hands of Dominate and the mighty Urgot went to FeniX. However, Cloud 9’s frontline in Braum, Gragas, and Maokai just could not be cut through. Piglet’s Kalista couldn’t do it either. The game was close, but Cloud 9 played their composition much better than we played ours.

The reverse sweep Curse

I was there when Curse lost in a reverse sweep to LMQ in the same way. It hurt more then, especially since our series against Cloud 9 was merely for NA finals and not a trip to Worlds. But PTSD… it sucks. I watched as Team Liquid in game 5 vs C9 just crumbled. We gave up first blood and 2 follow-up kills at lv.1/2 in a jungle fight that we honestly should have just back out of. Piglet was in a position to do well (carry? Maybe, we will never know) since he had solo farm in the top lane. But it all came crashing down a mere 5 minutes into the game.
I guess there’s always a bright side. We fight Team Impulse for a chance at third place—thus ending the curse if we prevail—on Saturday in one last best of 5. Cheer us on!