The stellar level of play from the Cloud9 VALORANT fan, and the turnaround in the eyes of North American fans, has been one of the most gripping stories of the first VCT Americas season. With only a couple weeks remaining, C9 has locked in a playoff spot, and has a case to be considered not just the best NA team but the best team in the league.
The team is currently 6-1, sitting just behind LOUD, who are 6-0 at the time of writing, although LOUD faces 100T later on today. Although LOUD leads C9 in that record, Cloud9 has the higher differential in both maps and rounds. LOUD are 12-5 while C9 are 13-3, and even if LOUD manages a 2-0 win over 100T today, C9 will still have the better round differential.
As for round differential, two straight weeks of stomps by C9 have ballooned the team’s round differential to a staggering and league-leading +56, a full 22 rounds higher than LOUD, and 33 rounds higher than the next-highest NA team, NRG. LOUD would have to decimate 100T to catch up to C9 this week in this metric.
Part of C9’s success comes from winning both pistol rounds and eco rounds at an elite rate. Per statistician willminder and RunItBack.gg, C9 was leading the league in both pistol round and eco round win percentages before the start of this week, and their eco round win rate (30 percent) was the highest even amongst teams in all three VCT leagues. C9 only trails LOUD in total average ACS by only a few points, boosted by the exceptional play from leaf, who only sits 0.3 points behind aspas, the league leader in ACS.
During this run, both the players and coaches have preached about the positive environment in the C9 camp, one that promotes accountability and strict fundamentals. If they maintain this level of play, they’ll be thinking about more than just VCT Americas playoffs in the near future.
