LCS finals rematch goes according to script at MSI 2023

In a rematch of the 2023 LCS Spring Split finals, Cloud9 sent Golden Guardians packing from this year’s League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational. C9 won today’s series 3-1, the exact score by which they won the LCS finals and booked their ticket to the tournament as NA’s top seed last month. 

This weekend’s MSI action saw several of its second-round bracket matchups feature rematches of domestic finals. The only one to go in a different direction was the LCK rematch in the upper bracket between Gen.G and T1, which T1 won 3-2 after losing 3-1 in their spring finals matchup. 

C9’s victory over Golden Guardians paid homage to their last meeting, especially in game two when Golden Guardians practically gifted C9 a win by throwing a mid-game gold lead, just as they did in the opening contest of the spring finals. After C9 found momentum in the back half of game two to take a 2-0 series lead, they had Golden Guardians on the ropes, and a game three victory from the underdogs just wasn’t enough to keep C9 down for long. 

In the series-clincher, C9 jumped out to an early lead, grabbing a kill advantage of six-to-none at the 10-minute mark. They cruised to a methodical 35-minute victory to close things out and never fell behind in gold during the series’ final game. 

Related: MSI 2023: Scores, standings, and results

In this series, it was C9 mid laner Emenes who really came to play for the team. He consistently served as the dynamo for his team—whether it was in the form of a teamfight initiator on Annie or a sustained frontline damage threat on champions like K’sante and Sylas. In total, Emenes finished the series with a combined scoreline of 12/7/25 (5.2 KDA). 

While the result of this series does mark the end of the line for Golden Guardians, North America will have at least one representative in the next round of the MSI bracket stage in C9. They’ll face off against LCK champions Gen.G on Wednesday, May 17.