After two full day of competition at the 2018 World Championship, we have seen every team at the Play-in Stage take to the Rift. Every group has seen its fair share of dominance, but if there’s one team that is already looking like a serious contender, it’s Cloud9. The team has jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over the rest of Group C, and they might have already established themselves as the strongest team at the Play-ins.

And while the whole of Cloud9 has looked solid so far, if any one player has truly stepped up, leading the team to a seriously impressive performance through its first two games, it’s Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi. The long-time star AD Carry for C9 is proving once again why he is the organization’s franchise player. Through the first two days of the tournament, 12 AD Carries have taken to the stage, and still, Sneaky has shown exactly why he should be regarded as one of, if not the best.

Heading into the second round robin beginning in less than half a day, Sneaky towers over the entirety of the AD Carry field, posting a 20.0 KDA, a DMG% of 32.9, and a DPM of 645.

And although he leads the pack in the aforementioned categories, he still ranks within the top four among all AD’s at the Play-ins in nearly every other statistical category. The only stat in which Sneaky doesn’t rank within the top four among AD Carries is CSM, where he sits at 5th, just 0.2 behind the 4th place spot. With these stats in mind, it’s safe to say that Sneaky is one of the most elite marksmen at the Play-in Stage, so far. He very well could turn out to be one of the strongest at the whole tournament, if he’s able to continue to play at this pace.

The question still remains, though: what exactly is fueling Sneaky’s sudden rise to the top of the field. One hypothesis could be that Sneaky was able to take one champion, Kai’Sa, and essentially perfect her throughout the course of two games. He’s had some practice on the character, before, posting a 100% win-rate over three prior games in domestic play, accompanied by a KDA of 18.0 and a DPM of 546.5 at the professional level. Additionally, Sneaky amassed two wins on Kai’Sa in the NA Academy League with a KDA of 17.0.

And now, not only is he taking his mastery of Kai’Sa onto the Worlds stage, but his mastery of the AD Carry role, as well. And while it would certainly behoove KaBuM! esports and DetonatioN FocusMe to perhaps force Sneaky onto a different champion for tomorrow’s contests, it would make Cloud9 incredibly comfortable to see their star player on his now-signature champion.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s matches and the conclusion of the round robin phase of the Play-ins, Cloud9 is on a fast-track to secure the first seed in Group C, automatically qualifying the squad for the knockout phase, and potentially making things a whole lot easier when it comes to securing a spot in the tournament’s main event.

However, one thing’s for certain: if C9 is going to make a run at this year’s World Championship, it’ll be on the back of Sneaky, a player who is already putting up an MVP-caliber performance at this very young installment of Worlds.

Photo Credit: Riot Games, League of Legends