North America is off to a rough start at this year’s Rift Rivals tournament against Europe, and now there’s more bad news. Cloud9’s AD carry Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi is out for day two of the tournament due to illness. As a result, the team will be playing jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang in the bottom lane.
Due to international event roster locks, the team can’t play Academy ADC Yuri “Keith” Jew. So Blaber will now have to face off against Origen’s powerful bot lane duo of Patrik Jírů and Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez.
NA fans have to hope for a miraculous performance from Blaber and Cloud9, as well as the rest of the region’s representatives. TSM, Team Liquid, and Cloud9 were all unsuccessful in finding a win against Europe on day one, putting the region in a deep hole heading into the second day of the tournament.
As for Cloud9, they were simply outclassed by a dominant G2 Esports in the first match of the event. They were constantly on the back foot while the fast-paced G2 continued to put the pressure on almost every lane, resulting in a disappointing 23-minute stomp.
Origen, on the other hand, looked incredible in their match against TSM. They have some of the best shotcalling and macro of any team, and that calm, calculated playstyle was on full display. It’ll take a lot and more from a shorthanded Cloud9 team to overcome this obstacle. You can watch them in action today at 3:30pm CT on Riot Games’ official Twitch channel.
