The sole North American team left in the competition, Cloud9 have defied the odds in coming through a tough group to reach the last eight of the League of Legends World Championship 2021. To date, their best performance in this competition came in 2018, when they reached the semi-finals stage, so they are just two wins away from a tournament best. But can they go all the way?
To get this far, Cloud9 have had to do it the hard way. They came through a tough play-in section, winning three out of four games, before sweeping PEACE 3-0 to be one of only two teams to reach the main event through that section. Their reward for that achievement was to end up in a tough Group A, which featured the dominant tournament favorites DAMWON Gaming, Rogue and FunPlus Phoenix.
With DAMWON sweeping all before them, the battle was on for the second qualification spot and after a slow start, which saw them lose their first three games, Cloud9 secured crucial victories over Rogue and FPX to ensure that they finished level with those two teams and triggering a play-off. They ultimately prevailed over Rogue, keeping their composure to snatch the second spot in the Group and set up a last eight clash with Gen.G Esports. So what has been the reaction of fans?
Pre-tournament, Cloud9 were not highly rated and even after their successful group stage campaign, they are still regarded as outsiders. Currently, the betting odds on Cloud9 rate them as no better than a 31.0 chance, making the sixth favorites, according to bookmakers and bettors. While those odds may be a little surprising, they could represent good value for Cloud9 fans who want to bet on them to win the tournament and a strong start to their quarter final could see those odds drop significantly.
They certainly have a good chance of defeated Gen.G to get to the last four. Their opponents are rated as fifth favorites currently, but they don’t have the best record against western teams and Cloud9 will relish once again being regarded as the underdogs. If they can build their challenge on another solid mid-lane performance from Perkz and keep their composure, than they have a great chance of getting past Gen.G who also had to come through a tiebreaker to get to the last eight.
If they come through that challenge, they will face the winner of the Royal Never Give Up and EDward Gaming quarter-final, currently rated as the third and second favorite for the tournament respectively. They would be likely to go into that game as outsiders once again but Cloud9 fans can take heart from their team’s strong performance against DAMWON in Group A. The tournament favorites have set the standard so far, but Cloud9 gave them a tough game, pushing them further than any other opponent has managed so far. If they can reach those levels again, they could go all the way to the final.
Story by Pandora Hughes
Share
Contributors
