Echo Fox move into first place as Cloud9 fail to finish once again

Echo Fox are now in a three-way tie for the top spot in the NA LCS after a crazy win over Cloud9 on Sunday.

For much of the beginning phases of the game, it seemed like C9 top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie was going to be the key to victory. His early-game dominance over Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon of Echo Fox surprised fans as the veteran Korean star died four times in the opening 15 minutes—tying a personal record for his most deaths during that time frame of a single game. Despite the incredibly one-sided affair in the first 15 minutes, Cloud9 proved incapable of finishing what they started, which has been an unsettling trend for C9 so far this split.

Licorice’s reign of terror was shut down near the 16-minute mark by a double-teaming Echo Fox attack. The top laner died yet again two minutes later with Huni getting some revenge from earlier duels. But even with C9’s best-performing player being eliminated in quick succession, it looked like C9 were still going to pull off the win.

With three Echo Fox players dying within minutes and Cloud9’s gold advantage growing, C9 became the aggressor and pushed mid lane in the hopes of possibly destroying an inhibitor and maybe even ending the game. Echo Fox shut that down, though, and things took a drastic turn.

Following Licorice’s death and C9’s failed surge through mid in the 23rd minute, the teams regrouped and prepared for what would end up being a momentum-changing teamfight several minutes later. In the fight, Echo Fox’s Johnny “Altec” Ru proved to be the hero, slaying every single Cloud9 player to secure the first NA Pentakill of this split.

Echo Fox immediately rushed to Baron, regrouped, and pushed down mid in an attempt to pressure C9 at their base. Unfortunately, Licorice was ready for Echo Fox and took out two players. Less than a minute later, Licorice eliminated Altec to give his team an opportunity to end the game.

C9 once again tripped over their proverbial feet, however, and allowed Echo Fox to fight back and turn the tides. This time, Echo Fox didn’t let Cloud9 get a shot at winning and instead wiped out the team, pushed into C9’s base, and ended their week with a win.

The victory marks Echo Fox’s fourth of the Summer Split, which ties them with TSM and Team Liquid for first place. Cloud9’s continuous late-game incompetence—this was the fourth game this split that C9 lost with a gold lead of 3,000 or more—puts them in last place with a 1-5 record.

Week three is over for both Echo Fox and Cloud9, but they’ll have chances to improve their records when the NA LCS resumes on July 14—EF will face CLG and TSM, while C9 have FlyQuest and CLG on the schedule.