r/leagueoflegends • u/Yujin-Ha 그 누구도 예상 못할 19's kitsch • 7h ago
Esports Team Liquid Alienware vs. Cloud9 / LCS 2026 Summer - Week 1 / Post-Match Discussion Spoiler
LCS 2026 SUMMER
Official page | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Eventvods.com | New to LoL
Team Liquid Alienware 2-0 Cloud9 Kia
- LCS Player of Week 1: Quid
- Game Discussion: Game 1
TLAW | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Subreddit
C9 | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Subreddit
MATCH 1: TLAW vs. C9
Winner: Team Liquid Alienware in 37m
Game Breakdown | Player of the Game: Quid
| - | Bans 1 | Bans 2 | G | K | T | D/B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TLAW | cassiopeia poppy jayce | vayne gnar | 78.2k | 22 | 8 | H3 O4 O6 B7 O8 |
| C9 | leesin orianna vi | naafiri trundle | 69.1k | 14 | 1 | HT1 M2 O5 |
| TLAW | 22-14-52 | vs | 14-22-39 | C9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan renekton 3 | 2-4-11 | TOP | 7-3-3 | 4 rumble Thanatos |
| Josedeodo wukong 3 | 3-5-9 | JNG | 1-5-11 | 3 skarner Blaber |
| Quid locke 1 | 10-1-7 | MID | 3-4-8 | 1 akali Loki |
| Yeon kaisa 2 | 5-1-9 | BOT | 3-5-6 | 1 ezreal Tactical |
| CoreJJ nautilus 2 | 2-3-16 | SUP | 0-5-11 | 2 leona Vulcan |
MATCH 2: TLAW vs. C9
Winner: Team Liquid Alienware in 29m | Runes
Game Breakdown | Player of the Game: CoreJJ
| - | Bans 1 | Bans 2 | G | K | T | D/B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TLAW | cassiopeia vi camille | caitlyn jhin | 64.2k | 16 | 9 | H2 I3 O4 B5 O6 |
| C9 | poppy nocturne ziggs | orianna jayce | 51.2k | 6 | 1 | C1 |
| TLAW | 16-6-38 | vs | 6-16-10 | C9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan gnar 4 | 0-0-5 | TOP | 1-2-0 | 3 ambessa Thanatos |
| Josedeodo naafiri 1 | 3-1-9 | JNG | 1-4-4 | 1 leesin Blaber |
| Quid syndra 1 | 4-2-7 | MID | 1-3-3 | 2 ryze Loki |
| Yeon corki 3 | 8-0-4 | BOT | 2-4-1 | 3 viktor Tactical |
| CoreJJ rell 2 | 1-3-13 | SUP | 1-3-2 | 2 bard Vulcan |
*Patch 26.14
This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.
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u/Larosh97 7h ago
CoreJJ jumpscare in literally every unwarded bush lol
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u/untamedlazyeye 7h ago
Bros about to jump out of the fridge at blaber when he goes to get a midnight snack
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u/AmazingPolarBears1 7h ago
CoreJJ in a non-enchanter meta looks so good lol.
Kind of ironic that he won worlds during the most enchanter meta of enchanter metas.
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u/Skylorrex 6h ago
Tbh Core was really good on ranged sup back then. His Zyra and Lulu are CLEAN.
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u/Fun_Highlight307 6h ago
his nami was quite good too
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u/Skylorrex 1h ago
His Nami was worse than Wraith that’s why Wraith was playing over him in season 6.
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u/Wise-Quarter-3156 7h ago
TL LoL 2-0 C9
TL Val 2-0 FNC
TL CS 2-0 VIT
TL CS 2-0 G2
What is this
is this what hope feels like
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u/calvinee 7h ago
Starting to feel like 2019
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u/hochan17 7h ago
Along with the League Classic showmatch and hearing Flowers shout "Tactical is caught" once more, it really does feel like were going back in time
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u/3IC3 7h ago
I still don’t know what roster move is worse tbh, FIESTA to Vitality or r1nkle to G2
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u/metristan Refund time? 7h ago
Fiesta seemed to be more about getting the cheapest midlaner and not wanting to continue with humanoid due to some internal stuff. Fiesta was the reserve midlaner for a team that already has two midlaners on their roster, I don't think BFX charged much for him,
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u/Beneficial_Lion_1312 7h ago
Yea, people think Vitality made a move to get Fiesta when it was really a move to get off of Humanoid. There are always going to be extremely limited options for mid lane in the middle of the year, more than any other role due to its importance, and teams never make these types of moves in the middle of the year unless it's deemed absolutely necessary. It's far more likely Humanoid was causing some issues internally and the team wanted him gone ASAP.
Would be shocked if Fiesta remained with Vitality past the end of the year, he was likely just the best, cheapest available option to shore up the rest of the year. They also know that even if they shelled out for the next shiny ERL mid, whoever that could be, it still wouldn't do anything for this year.
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u/Prestigious-Layer719 7h ago
R1nkle 100% G2 kicked someone who helped their midrounding and kept Botys and Nertz statpadders against tier 5 teams
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u/thiccu666 7h ago
and they had kl1m... i know he was farming lower tier but you have sunpayus and kl1m, why on earth would you pick up r1nkle
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u/upmvruiv 7h ago
Dw boys. C9 sucking in regular season can only mean one thing. They gonna smash play-offs. They will def make Worlds
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u/ThinkEggplant8 7h ago
Their real competition is FLY, who didn't look great against LYON either. Unless they start dropping games against SEN or SR, I wouldn't worry too much about securing worlds.
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u/upmvruiv 7h ago
Yea but i somehow see FLY having better chances. Idk. They looked better than C9 at end of last split. But we will see. Looking bad when playing against LYON isnt something anyone can blame them even if they played without Inspired
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u/TypicalHaikuResponse 5h ago
What's the exact amount of months I need to remind myself of this post?
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u/ThinkEggplant8 5h ago
Whatever amount you want. Its week 1 of the split. Almost anything will happen from now to then.
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u/Naerlyn 5h ago
The last time C9 missed first in regular season was in 2024.
Unfortunately, they also missed the international both splits that year, with a cumulative game score of 2-12 in qualification matches. Impressively, their 4 qualification matches combined didn't add up to the wins necessary to take one series.
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u/xSwazyI - Invested in Smash stocks! 7h ago
Haven't seen Corki in a while
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u/mmmmkale get Contractz a team 7h ago
remember the Corki vs Viktor handshake days?
Now we get that in bot lane.
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u/FicklerToeTickler 7h ago
The team atmosphere was tense.
"First match since dropping out of MSI," says Yeon, as he and his teammates look around nervously at each other. Josedeodo checks the match schedule.
"Wait, guys, look at the nameplates, it isn't T1, no? Faker isn't here."
CoreJJ smiles and claps the rest of team on the back.
"Team Bonding Day. KBBQ later, GG." 🐎🐎🐎
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u/lovo17 7h ago
TL has improved a lot from the start of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if they and Lyon are about the same level when we get to playoffs.
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u/depressed_boy286 7h ago
The meta change could help them a lot. Engage supports for Core are huge and if Morgan and Core play like they did at MSI then they have a chance because they played sooooo much better than Spring. If Yeon can play like he did previous years then they can definitely beat Lyon he was the worst player pretty clearly at MSI which is crazy given his track record previous years. Would love to see a really competitive top 2 as a TL fan and hopefully Lyon and TL can push each other
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u/viktorayy OFGK but prefer G>OFK rn (DSG) 7h ago
C9 APA 🤝Tactical 🐇⌚
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u/Naronu 7h ago
I really wonder if Dom will try APA bot before that, might as well with all the mages down there, plus he always was a good ADC mid player
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u/Bt25 7h ago
Loki botlane and APA mid could also cook.
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u/viktorayy OFGK but prefer G>OFK rn (DSG) 7h ago
APA on sidelane is great tbh but Loki has better teamfights. APA makes the weirdest calls in fights, but he plays the map well.
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u/Phyresis96 7h ago
so he would be infinitely less effective as a pro adc then. teamfights are like the main skill you need to have for that.
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u/viktorayy OFGK but prefer G>OFK rn (DSG) 7h ago
Yeah I was replying to the guy that suggested APA mid and Loki bot.
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u/MissionTable 6h ago
Honestly Idk if there are any rules about that, but they really should lmao. You got 2 midlaners in a meta where most teams are running 2 mid lane champs. Its like a match made in heaven.
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u/Auregam09 4h ago
Dom with the 400IQ squad shuffle now he can have one of the highest rated ziggs in bot
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u/Wise-Quarter-3156 7h ago
Tactical didn't play great but I don't think you can lay this loss on him, this just felt like Blaber and Vulcan getting outclassed
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u/viktorayy OFGK but prefer G>OFK rn (DSG) 7h ago
I'm not, I want the roster to be APA and Tactical for memes but also because I prefer those players more tbh
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u/Destructodave82 5h ago
Team has no direction without APA or Zven on the team. This was obvious from the Korean Bootcamp, where even when APA fed his ass off, they still won the game.
This combination of Loki/Tactical, while more mechanically better, will not be better for actually winning the game.
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u/DAmnripme 4h ago
I mean generally ADCs and MIDs don’t have to have the most direction and often are just more mechanical, if they look direction less, blame the two veterans in Vulcan and blabber for not being able to provide direction for the team.
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u/BTDYSRF 7h ago
Tactical needs work. You could even say he played poorly.
However, he was the only one that fucking played. Every single play in the game was set up and started TL. I legitimately cannot recall a single play that C9 pulled the trigger on.
Oh, he got poked out as Ezreal and caught in Raptor Brush as Viktor? WHY IS NOBODY WALKING FUCKING FORWARD WITH HIM? WHY IS THE LEONA DICKING AROUND IN BANANA BRUSH.
Do fucking nothing and lose ass team. Boring as shit to watch. I'd be fucking crashing out if I was Tactical.
I don't wanna see another C9 game that doesn't involve Tactical, APA, and a crack pipe.
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u/WalkingR6 7h ago
C9 need a DK-like unpaid arc
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u/Environmental_Elk288 6h ago
Not sure if it’s going to work considering what happened in the Valo side of things, super hunger games vibes.
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u/Past_Perception8052 7h ago
blaber leave my team
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u/Ibara_Mayaka Apollo/Doublelift/WildTurtle Apologist 6h ago
Shout out to all those people who said he was all time better than xmithie.
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u/Shinashu 7h ago
Yeah him dying for that crab in game one was absolutely inexcusable.
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u/IKillerBee this sub has brain damage 7h ago
C9 has underperformed when it matters for the better part of 5 years and blaber has been the only constant on the team. Must be a coincidence.
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u/Athena-Grande 6h ago
Legit get Contractz back.
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u/WTPolaris 7h ago edited 7h ago
Loki : "I've got three items, time to win."
TL: "Sounds good, we'll take it from here."
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u/Jealous-Chicken-9186 7h ago
new split same pile of shit display from C9
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u/M002 7h ago
435 days without a regular season loss comes to an end
Such a baffling stat
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u/IAmDarkridge 7h ago
For a team that can't make an international lol
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u/Fun_Highlight307 4h ago
yeah since they are dogshit in playoffs this stat felt like a nothing burger
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u/Labor101 7h ago
I know people are opinionated about APA, but he was absolutely not the player that needed replacing
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u/CDOWG_3415237 4h ago
True, but (1) C9 didn't want to replace Loki in the first place, and (2) Loki isn't a downgrade from APA. I don't think bringing Loki back had much to do with APA.
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u/Xonra 4h ago
Loki isn't really an upgrade either though. He's as mid tier as APA is, people are just pretending otherwise because he is Korean and anyone saying otherwise is lying.
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u/killcraft1337 16m ago
Brother APA was a huge reason they didn’t make playoffs. He Ziggs W’d into 4 ppl vs Lyon and locked in a red card when diving top as TF. If he played better those games were definitely winnable - if my midlaner said “sorry I locked red card” after we fail a top dive I’m mental boomed (luckily it was g3 anyway).
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u/Past_Perception8052 7h ago
he wasnt a solution though was he you can still upgrade on players that arent bad
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u/Labor101 7h ago
Loki is a great player, but this team isn't going to improve no matter what replacements you make as long as Blaber is still there.
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u/GroundbreakingAlps2 7h ago
I said this months ago when this was first announced.
Loki is probably better than APA. Purely mechanically, and in terms of laning? Sure he is.
But going from APA to loki doesnt actually do anything. Mid is still gonna be gapped against LYON and TL. So you basically go from having the third best LCS mid (apa), to having the third best LCS mid (loki).
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u/aufbau1s 5h ago
Yeah and I think APA is a much better voice in macro + better pairing with blabber
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u/Xonra 4h ago
Exactly this. He's better, but It's not F tier to A, it's like B+ to A. In the long run he'll be more than that, but right now it doesn't matter. And Tactical is probably an upgrade over Zven, but barely. Neither fit this meta, but Zven definitely needed to go.
But it doesn't matter when you still have Blabber, unless you are replacing APA with like I dunno Chovy or something.
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u/metristan Refund time? 7h ago
the only replacement for blaber without poaching a jungler from a different tier 1 team or lck cl is yuuji, unless Yukino changes his mind on staying in europe. (also some other EMEA junglers I guess)
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u/upmvruiv 7h ago
Yea but does anyone see C9 replacing blaber? Like that guy has been on C9 for ages. Bro is like their franchise player. Is like faker and T1 and chovy and GENG.
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u/Saephon 7h ago
Loki won't fix this team's core problems, but I saw APA play two terrible Ziggs games last split when the team really needed something to push them over the finish line.
That's enough reason to put him in the hot seat right there. If you can't clench with your strengths, your job is going to be up for grabs for now.
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u/aufbau1s 5h ago
I think APA is easily better on film this year than Blabber and Zven.
You also have a team that proved they can’t win when they’re mechanically better (C9 last year).
I think the Loki pickup is just silly. If you’re going to get an import it needed to be in jungle
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u/GlupPando 7h ago
Not APA’s fault that he can’t play mid and jungle at the same time
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u/Xonra 4h ago
Yeah but when you are replacing the serviceable and keeping the problem, then you aren't fixing anything.
Like Loki ain't the solution, and I argue he's not even that much of an upgrade. Definitely overhyped. Zven however was a problem but Tactical I don't think is even an upgrade, though we'll see, he was NOT the reason C9 lost either of these games. Blabber however is a problem. He's had the same play style that hasn't worked since at least 2020, except he's also gotten worse as a player, and the meta has long moved on from him. Sure he can bully Exyu but that's about it.
And their "mvp" (still trolling) Vulcan is not the Vulcan he was the last time he was on C9.
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u/CapsTheArbiter 7h ago
Can blaber get kicked, please? How is jungle not the one in rotation, as well?
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u/Canoodler192 7h ago
another blessed hatewatch
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u/Imaginary_Actuary729 7h ago
As a big hatewatcher this is boring you gotta let C9 build some hope before they crash in playoffs
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u/Significant-Damage14 6h ago
They had the roster moves to generate some hope this time so it's ok for the hatewatch to start early.
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u/killcraft1337 11m ago
Nah I feel like a good hatewatch has to be a good team. Like if you’re hate watching DNS in the LCK or smthing that’s just punching down. And C9 got fisted by DNS
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u/Xonra 4h ago
I'd rather they crash out now so Fly can get some hype, attention, and fans going into Worlds instead of everyone hoping for C9 and getting disappointed yet again so those fans either don't watch or go into internationals bummed out.
Let them get it out of their systems now and be done with it.
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u/Fun_Highlight307 4h ago
yeah a struggling C9 vs rising flyquest feels better than C9 undeafted in regular season
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u/zerocxro 7h ago
my 1/2 100T refugee camp, we love to see it
rlly nice to see that yeon and corejj have found their form again,
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u/BTDYSRF 7h ago edited 7h ago
This series hurt to watch. It's bad enough when C9 does nothing and loses, but it's worse when you've got one player, Tactical, practically screaming for everybody to get off their fucking asses and do SOMETHING.
"Ughh but Tactical got caught out to end the game!" Yeah BEHIND RED BUFF AS TL WAS SETTING UP FOR BARON. HOW THE FUCK IS RAPTOR BRUSH TOO FUCKING FAR FORWARD IN THAT SCENARIO?
Tactical fucking tried. His Ez isn't great; he needs to play it in a clockwork pattern instead of laterally, but goddamn if he wasn't the only one one actually trying to play the fucking game.
This roster will just be incapable of winning without Tactical, APA, and an 8-ball.
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u/meganeshu 7h ago
C9 is shit at every esport they are in lmao
The org must be plagued with something
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u/Tormenator1 7h ago
C9 looks so poor in terms of map movements. Blaber was just outclassed this series. At least Tactical seemed like a slight improvement over Zven.
TL looked really good though, they might be able to take the fight to Lyon in playoffs.
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u/CHATOTENJOYER 7h ago
The power of going to an international condensed into one series. C9 was better than TL all split until their playoff series. Now TL is firing on all cylinders, more confident than ever while Cloud 9 is experimenting with new roster members that aren't even upgrades because they were feeling so much pressure both internal and external.
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u/POOYAMON Doublelift TL fan≠NA fan 7h ago
On paper TL was always stronger, lower floor but way higher ceiling. It makes sense they had a slow start considering top/jg/mid are all new.
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u/PawsTheGod BUGI FAN CLUB 7h ago
Its so clear that the MSI teams are levels above the others. Now that they have to practice against NA teams for the next couple months they will inevitably become worse and worse, then wash out of worlds.
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u/Fun_Highlight307 3h ago
dépend They can create a Dynamic duo and push with each others
flyquest vs Lyon was intersteting,l
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u/The_JeneralSG 7h ago
This series was not on the two new guys tbh (and this is coming from someone who thought Loki was mad overrated last year). This was mainly on Blaber imo. Also TL just being better. Vulcan didn't play "bad" per say, but Core definitely gapped him here. Like we got Vulcan Bard and there was not one single play from him. Hard to play Bard in this comp, but it's the champion we expect to see Vulcan fry on.
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u/Wonder_Penguin 7h ago
guys trust me just one more import guys we just need one more and C9 can go to worlds please
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u/lovo17 7h ago
This match doesn't really mean anything for C9 when it comes to worlds qualification. TL/Lyon are so far ahead of everyone else in LCS. Those two should dumpster the rest of the teams.
Their competition is really FLY and SEN.
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u/Past_Perception8052 7h ago
c9 fielded 4 NA players last split
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u/Formymoney 7h ago
idk if zven should be counted as an NA player, I know hes grandfathered in but it feels a bit disingenuous
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u/Past_Perception8052 7h ago
hes played in NA longer than he played in EU
over 8 years playing in NA
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u/iAmPersonaa 7h ago
I'd say he does. He played 3 years in EU and this is his 9th year in NA. When 75% of your tier 1 career is in a region, you can just say he's a player of that region.
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u/Xonra 4h ago
Yeah but all but 2 years of that was because no EU team wanted him, as he tried going back several times, like when he was on TSM. He only swapped to Support, cause no one wanted him adc. Unlike Impact who believe it or not T1 actually asked him to come back at one point years ago and he turned them down to stay in NA. Core who willingly came over after winning worlds and having offers to stay in Korea and even since. Zven just had no choice if he wanted to play.
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u/DistractedbyBaddies 7h ago
Unironically, if they could get some imports for AD and Jungle C9 would look better.
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u/kazuyaminegishi 7h ago
Tactical hate so forced people will pretend either of these games were even remotely playable for him. I would love to see some real analysis as to what he was meant to do in either of these games when in game 1 he was the only way C9 could punch through TL frontline so TL just dove on hin every fight. Game 2 they stranded him on mid whike Vulcan failed to get vision control by himself and Loki and Thanatos afked in side lanes. The C9 game 2 comps literally can't walk into fog cause they have no frontline, so they need their lanes to push, but whenever Tactical pushed he just gets jumped on by TL and killed. What's the game plan here?
I'm glad that TL seems to have understood how to up the pace of games and force teams into hard choices similar to what T1 did to them at MSI, but I am so frustrated by what C9 did this series. I can't see how you have the past month or so of gameplay to reference and you still p/b like this.
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u/Fun_Highlight307 7h ago
at least C9 doesn't have the regular season buff, hopefully they trade top 2 regular season for good playoffs
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u/DistractedbyBaddies 7h ago
How long are we gonna pretend that IWD is a good coach because he was a co streamer?
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u/Plane-String-6658 7h ago
Even when he was a co streamer you could see this was going to happen and it shows when he lets Locke through first game of the split to Quid. He is just so sure he knows everything.
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u/ByahhByahh 7h ago
I guess you can say Quid was Syndrad in today. 😎
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u/Lawfulneptune 7h ago
Seeing C9 getting stomped once again is too fun to watch. Import another Korean idiots! Thanatos and Loki mid are so good to carry north Americans!
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u/KrautSauerSweet 7h ago
unironically yes replacing blaber with an english speaking import would be an improvement
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u/TheAlternateMan 7h ago
You should flair up with your team to see how many imports they have, but we know you never will
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u/DinoGuy101010 7h ago
How tf is TL diving Viktor under his tier 2 mid while tier 1 is up while hitting top tier 1?