A little banter towards Cloud9 in FlyQuest’s weekly pre-game video ended up not working out in their favor, fueling their opponents to a one-sided dominant victory.
C9 continue their small win streak into the final few weeks of the 2022 LCS Summer Split, successfully taking down FlyQuest to tie with them for fourth in the standings. While FlyQuest had a clear plan they aimed to enact in the early game. They were unprepared to deal with one outstanding factor: Blaber’s Olaf.
FlyQuest opted for rather off-meta picks heading into this match, complete with a Jax for Philip and Sivir/Taric duo for Johsun and Aphromoo. These picks, centered around comfort for the individual players, allowed them to play to their unique strengths that would scale well—as seen with three quick kills for FlyQuest that afforded them a sizable lead until a Rift Herald fight.
Blaber’s patented Olaf pick, which he has an 82-percent win rate on across his LCS career according to Oracle’s Elixir, proved to be an efficient way to kite his opponents around Rift Herald until his teammates got there. Becoming unstoppable with his ultimate, Blaber outhealed the damage from three separate opponents to allow Fudge and Berserker to grab kills for themselves.
FlyQuest knew that initiating a fight on what appeared to be a caught-out Fudge would potentially turn the game around in their favor. However, C9 waited in the shadows for Aphromoo’s utility to wear off, engaging their unsuspecting enemies while allowing for Berserker to free-fire in the backline. Though some members of C9 fell, Berserker’s Zeri shocked all of FlyQuest with a pentakill, allowing him and his team to secure a Hextech Soul and finish the game.
FlyQuest and Cloud9 now share a spot in the standings in fourth place, trailing only Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, and 100 Thieves as they contest spots in the upcoming LCS Championship. This loss, while very one-sided, continued to show that FlyQuest is more than capable of coming together as a team and synergizing their communication, only countered by allowing for a comfort pick to reach the hands of C9’s jungler and multi-time MVP of the split.
C9 will face Team Liquid tomorrow in an attempt to reach third place in the 2022 LCS Summer Split. FlyQuest will have to regain their footing to take down the reigning champions in Evil Geniuses, who currently hold an uncontested first place spot.
