Cloud9 wins again. An invincible League of Legends team?

“Nobody has come close to beating Cloud9,” said David ‘Phreak’ Turley, Riot Games shoutcaster, as he opened the cast of Cloud9 vs Dignitas last weekend. As the early games wore on, it became clear that the game wasn’t going to buck the trend. Similar results occurred during the Cloud9 vs FlyQuest match. Cloud9’s win streak continues.

North American League of Legends never held an undefeated team, but Cloud9 seeks to change that. With over half of the spring split now passed, they hold a 12-0 record. They are at the top, or near the top, of every relevant statistic. Cloud9 has the shortest games, the best kill-death ratios, and the highest gold incomes. Individually, they have three of the top five KDAs in the league.

How did this happen? Cloud9 always best represented America internationally but just do what’s necessary domestically. How did they go from top-tier to god-tier in a few months?

12-0! @Cloud9 keeping the streak alive. #LCS pic.twitter.com/YBxMBOI4hs

— Twitch Esports (@TwitchEsports) March 3, 2020

The struggles of their competition surely helped. Team Liquid’s difficulties are highly publicized and Cloud9 faced them on day one of the split. TL played with a stand-in and lost convincingly. TSM, meanwhile, looked about as good as one may expect of a 6-6 record.

Still, Cloud9 can only beat what is put in front of them. And they have done that. Just seeing recent matches, C9’s superiority is obvious. Dignitas kept them quiet early on and FlyQuest even won the early game in their match. In either case, it didn’t matter. Cloud9 were quicker to every play after that.

They played the map better than their opponents on both occasions and every kill turned into an objective. From tower plates to barons, Cloud9 never wasted a second of enemy downtime. They have been brutally efficient all season.

Cloud9 finally adapted to the international game. They play aggressively when the opportunity arises and take full advantage of any kills. Against FlyQuest, they gave first blood in the top lane. Eric “Licorice” Ritchie lost some minions, but that was it. When Robert “Blaber” Huang returned the favor shortly after, Omran V1PER Shoura, without teleport, lost a turret plate and an entire wave. FlyQuest traded it for a dragon, but that was as good as it got for them. The next skirmish ended with a kill and a dragon for C9 and nothing for FlyQuest.

Dignitas didn’t even get that close. In 12 games, they were the first team to take down C9’s mid-tower but still lost. Cloud9 simply plays a more effective brand of League of Legends than anyone in America.

Statistically, they are miles ahead of the pack and their play is deceptively simple. Cloud9’s win streak shows they get more kills and snowball that into more objectives. It looks that way because that is essentially what they do. When breaking Cloud9’s playstyle down to a basic level, they do everything better than others. It may sound silly, but in the LCS right now, it’s accurate. They look unbeatable and it’s possible they will remain invincible.

Written by Michael Longsmith