Cloud 9 had lost their mid-laner, Hai, to retirement, and brought in a soloque artist Incarnation to replace him. Things were rough for Cloud 9, as they constantly went in and out of regulation area. Meteos stepped down and Hai came out of retirement, only this time as a jungler. Hai, considered to be one of the best shot-callers in the region, switched roles into a more engage role to where he could make the decisions and start fights. This pushed cloud 9 out of regulations and into a tournament called the gauntlet.
C9 had to go through Gravity, Team Impulse, and Team Liquid. all three quality teams, and all three likely favored over C9. The kicker to all of this, because who doesn't like to make things harder on themselves? Cloud 9 got behind 0-2 to both Gravity and Team Impulse, and reverse sweeped them 3-0 to advance. Things like that are unheard of, especially with all the other drama.
Gravity and Team Impulse are quality teams, but was not a surprise that they were beat. Team Liquid on the other hand, has arguably the better lineup top to bottom. Liquid was one of the few teams analysts said had a shot at winning games in worlds because of their sheer talent. The world may never know.
Now that Cloud 9 is in, we've got a trio of teams who are all intriguing. CLG being the best team out of the three, has the talent to advance to semi's depending on their bracket. TSM is the legendary team that stole a game off Samsung White last tournament, but can they even remotely step up to what they were last season? Cloud 9 will be undermatched in nearly every matchup they have, but have potential to be an upset pick over any team.