Counter Logic Gaming swapped a former world champion for an NA veteran in the mid lane but were still the latest to fall to the Cloud9 buzzsaw in week five of the 2020 League of Legends Spring Split.
Eugene “Pobelter” Park made his return to the LCS stage today for CLG against juggernauts Cloud9, replacing Lee “Crown” Min-ho, who won Worlds with Samsung Galaxy in 2017. Despite being one of the most biggest offseason signings for the region, the Korean mid laner had struggled in his first eight games. Crown ranked worst among mid laners in K/DA and gold per game and was third-to-last in kill participation before the swap.
Aside from the change surrounding the visa issues that delayed Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen’s arrival to Team Liquid, this roster swap by CLG was the first of the split by any LCS team.
Ultimately, Pobelter held his own in lane on Azir against Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer’s Rumble and even pulled off what would have been the play of the game if CLG had won with a game-saving ultimate in their own base.
Unfortunately for Pobelter, he got caught out after walking right through a Cloud9 control ward soon, foiling what would have been a great flank for Pobelter but instead turned into a pick that snuffed out the last hope for a CLG comeback.
Week three’s Player of the Week, jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang, had another strong game for Cloud9, denying Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin farm early and pressuring well all over the map. His play facilitated his team’s ability to snowball their four-dragon lead well into a Baron and yet another win.
Cloud9 will look to go 10-0 on Sunday, while CLG are still searching for just their second win of the split. Both Cloud9’s and CLG’s next matches come against second-place squads Immortals and FlyQuest, respectively, at 3 and 4pm CT.
