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Cloud 9 are expected to make it through the Play-In Stage but it was evident through the regional qualifier that they may still have some tribulations to overcome. C9 are touted as a team which excels at team fighting and can go against the best teams if given the chance that the game goes long enough. With their win over Counter Logic Gaming, C9 are looking to be number one and survive the Play-In Stage without getting rabies, but before preemptively declaring them the winners, let’s take a closer look into C9’s enemies of the Group B Play-In.

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The Dire Wolves are a fierce team from the Oceanic region, conquering the historic Chiefs and winning their finals 3–1. DW showed in the finals that they understand macro and how to plan for objectives better than their opponents. The Chiefs had a paltry grasp on when invades were acceptable and DW took advantage to set back in the jungle multiple times throughout the series. But DW aren’t without their faults.

There’s a pattern with DW’s reliance of Ryan “Chippys” Short on carry oriented top laners in the finals, playing carries 3 out of 4 games, which may point to a top-centric play style for DW. Shern “Shernfire” Tai’s focus for top lane was quite evident, showing that they have a game plan going into each game and balance pressure incredibly well, even if the enemy team is looking at their bot laners to try and get an advantage. Along with these tendencies, their mid laner Richard “Phantiks” Su plays Viktor impeccably but it’s such an off-meta pick currently that it could get punished heavily by better players, along with the odd Kog’Maw mid. Such picks point towards a lack of a champion pool by Phantiks and could be a weak point for the team.

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Team One Esports hails from the CBLoL region and has had a fairytale split, having gone from Challenger to Worlds in one fell swoop after acquiring INTZ Genesis’ roster. ONE has displayed a superb understanding of macro and how to split the map apart, as they handedly beat the favorites in PAIN Gaming. Just like DW, ONE shows emphasis on the top lane, with Alvaro “VVvert” Miguel getting plenty of his jungler’s attention to snowball the top lane and therefore able to create split push pressure later on in the game. ONE had a better grasp of lane assignments in their game 2 against PAIN, putting their Corki against Cho’Gath and Mundo against Galio to better pressure the map. Games 3 and 4 showed that VVvert was a force to be reckoned with, getting a solo kill and exerting so much pressure that he couldn’t go unanswered.

The “ONE” weakness that seemed to appear during this finals match was the lack of coordination during team fights. In game 4, PAIN grew advantages through team fights, but were immediately dismissed due to lack of rotations and general macro.

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C9 have shown to be a team that can be put behind in the early game but are able to crawl back due to their superior team fighting and good macro. The shining light for C9 against these other teams is Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong’s ability to survive in the top lane, regardless of the amount of pressure thrown his way. ONE will be a challenge for Impact, as this will be the time where absorbing pressure will be paramount to C9’s victories. Impact has shown in the past that he’s able to outplay ganks and hopefully with his experience, he will prove to be the immovable object he’s been in the past. Coupled with this, C9 are at a higher level than the DW or ONE have faced, which should limit the advantages that these other teams are used to accruing macro-wise. With Jensen in the mid lane, DW’s Phantiks will be put to the test, even if he gets his touted Viktor pick. Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen puts unrelenting pressure on his adversaries and should be a great hurdle for Phantiks and the rest of DW.

C9 will have to prove why they deserve to be on the World stage and it begins with the Play-In Stage. C9 need to be mindful of top lane and Juan “Contractz” Garcia should change his focus accordingly in order for C9 to have a chance at making it out alive.