Immortals beat Cloud9 in a close, bloody series

Immortals went 2-0 on the week as they seek to reclaim the top spot in the NA LCS.
Photo via [Riot Games](https://www.flickr.com/photos/lolesports/35797133761/)

Cloud9 traveled to Europe last week for Rift Rivals with high hopes, but instead returned a little discouraged.

Recommended Videos

They found leads in many games, but weren’t able to close out and had the most disappointing week of the three North American squads. Then, upon their return to NA, they promptly lost their first LCS match to underdogs Team EnVyUs.

Related: NA LCS stalwarts CLG and C9 both go down

Immortals, on the other hand, had an extra week to prepare and a relatively easy game on Friday vs. Echo Fox. That meant they basically could have prepared two weeks of practice just for C9.

Cloud9 tried to reverse the momentum of the two teams with a strong first game. Picking Camille for top laner Jeon “Ray” Ji-won, C9 visited him with a couple early ganks to get him going. That was all he needed to effectively snowball the game. Immortals just couldn’t get anything done after Ray got the first turret, and all the fighting just ceded kills and objectives to C9.

But Immortals wouldn’t stop fighting, and more of those fights went their way in the second game. Getting mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park ahead on the ultra-powerful Corki helped.

C9 still took turrets with the pressure of Ray’s splitpush Kled and Kalista, but eventually, Immortals ran them down. It also helped that Immortals got good drake RNGtwo infernals and two clouds made for a super-speedy, incredibly powerful team.

Cloud9’s problems this split have revolved around two issues: poor late-game decision making, and inconsistent play from the top lane. Whether it’s Ray or Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong, C9 just doesn’t look comfortable around the top side.

Immortals punished that second weakness hard in the last game. Lee “Flame” Ho-jong straight dominated the top lane, gobbling up farm while denying his opponent. It was a masterpiece from Flame, and he very quickly achieved the Flame horizon: a 100 CS lead.

With Flame scaling into the late game, the other C9 weakness came into play. Multiple times, and key moments, their carries were caught by Immortals’ engage. What seemed like even fights would inevitably turn Immortals’ way as they lived up to their namesake.

With the victory, Immortals have solidified their place as a major contender for the NA LCS championship. C9, on the other hand, have the same old issues to fix. It’s disappointing to see a team this talented, one that made Worlds last year, continue to fall down to the same mistakes.


Dot Esports is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article LoL fans claim struggling Galio ‘has no point’ anymore—but Riot totally disagrees
Galio's splash art in League of Legends
Read Article CEO of former TSM, LCS sponsor FTX sentenced to 25 years in jail
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sporting a TSM jersey.
Read Article Phreak sparks debate around LoL laners’ lack of ‘appreciation for what jungling takes’ 
Lee Sin practising Muay Thay.
Related Content
Read Article LoL fans claim struggling Galio ‘has no point’ anymore—but Riot totally disagrees
Galio's splash art in League of Legends
Read Article CEO of former TSM, LCS sponsor FTX sentenced to 25 years in jail
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sporting a TSM jersey.
Read Article Phreak sparks debate around LoL laners’ lack of ‘appreciation for what jungling takes’ 
Lee Sin practising Muay Thay.
Author
Xing Li
Xing has been covering League of Legends esports since 2015. He loves when teams successfully bait Baron, hates tank metas, and is always down for creative support picks—AP Malphite, anybody?