League of Legends Worlds: Cloud 9 Obliterates AHQ In 23 Minutes

Cloud 9 came out swinging as they dominated AHQ, snowballing the game into a win just under 24 minutes long.

In pick and ban phase, Gangplank and Darius both made it through. The bans from C9 were Ryze, Reksai, and Elise. AHQ banned Mordekaiser, Azir, and LuLu. Coming into the game, it looked as if AHQ had the advantage, with the Darius pick and Rengar jungle, but AHQ seemed to have trouble making plays happen. AHQ Mountain's Rengar got nothing out of his ult multiple times and when he did ult in the critical teamfight in mid, it didn't do much and it was split away from the team.

Cloud 9 has really been impressive today. This writer was not big on Cloud 9 but they were nonetheless impressive. Hai didn't do a lot on Lee Sin, but it still worked out. Sneaky's Tristana was perfect for what they needed. He used Tristana's tower pushing ability and they snowballed so hard after their baron buff that they won the game. Incarnati0n was solid as well, playing Veigar if the game had gone on longer, he would have completely obliterated Kalista later on in the game.

Although Cloud 9 likely won't make it out of groups, they're going to be a surprise team that can put themselves in situations to be within reach of wins over the other teams in Group B. They showed today that they aren't just a scrub 3rd seed and they can actually hang with other teams, due to the power of Sneaky and Lemon in the botlane, and Hai's play-calling. It should be a much more interesting group than most gave it credit for.