NA faces off against EU for the final time in Group A. With both sides sharing a 1-1 record against each other, C9 were the favorites given their earlier victory in the day against RGE. The winner would advance to the Finals stage, but would it be Europe or North America?
Tiebreaker: Rogue vs Cloud9
It was a tense early game, and by eight minutes we’d had multiple chances of fights breaking out. But in such a do-or-die match, both sides were keen to not make a mistake, so it remained even. RGE were finally able to pick up the First Blood onto Perkz, who was caught out in the RGE jungle. Two big kills were picked up by C9 just after, as the gloves came off after the first kill. Next, C9 forced a play in the mid-lane. Though it had a bad start as they lost two members, one was picked up in return as the gold remained close.
At the 18-minute mark, we’re still dead even between the two. A minor gold lead went over to C9 as they took more towers across the map. RGE were able to claim a second drake, with C9 using the time to ward ahead of the Baron. C9 tried to make a play bot side but RGE were able to knock down two members as Baron was available. RGE was set up for the Baron, but C9 were able to stop it as the gold remained even. With time bought, C9 claimed the next drake, and with it the winning fight they needed. It ended two-for-one in kills in favor of C9 as they removed the Soul drake possibility for at least 10 minutes.
At 30-minutes, the first Baron was still unclaimed as tensions once again became a factor. But suddenly, there was another massive mistake by Perkz as he was caught out and killed in the mid lane. C9 took the drake, but dropped another member as RGE moved to 2k ahead. The Baron was the next focused objective, and with five members on both teams alive, it was make-or-break. C9 claimed it uncontested, and the fight was all C9. It looked like they had done it. RGE had no one left alive, but unfortunately for them, C9 had no minion waves and RGE somehow survived.
Tournament lives on a knife’s edge
With Baron, C9 were still able to claim one out tower as the game hung in the balance. When the next Baron spawned, C9 were right on it and forced a fight, but it was disasterous. Vulcan and Fudge dropped almost instantly as they handed over momentum to RGE. Finally, RGE was able to claim a Baron with C9 unable to contest. Now, with drake spawning, it’s an Infernal Soul if C9 could claim it, but they had to give it up. Shortly after that though, C9 once again looked to force a fight. But somehow no one fell on either side, despite Perkz nearly 100-to-0’ing Hans Sama. Infernal Soul spawned, and Perkz was able to take down Odoamne before the fight, so C9 secured the Infernal Soul with Baron having just spawned on the map.
As the game approached the 50-minute mark, it’s C9 pushing into the RGE base, with the RGE bot lane and mid lane Inhibitors having fallen already. RGE managed to catch Zven after an all-in engagement as RGE stayed alive, but with their base in ruins, C9 had full control with Elder spawning in just two minutes. Knowing they couldn’t deal with a C9 Elder, RGE sent hail mary play, who threw everything at C9 on the drake. Sadly, they lacked the damage and were completely routed. Here, C9 finally killed multiple members and pushed straight to the RGE Nexus to finish this crazy game and advance to the Knockout Stage.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: C9 – RGE
- Time: 53:55
- Kills: 17-15
- Turrets: 11-5
- Gold: 97.8k – 91.4k
- Dragons: 4-4
- Barons: 2-1