Gloomy Clouds Article: HyperST February 20th, 2015 22:40 GMT



NAME OF ARTICLE

Contents



Recent turmoil



The Once Kings of North America



Strategic masterminds



A matter of time?









No king rules forever. The Season 3 World Champion, SK Telecom K, who utterly dominated the League of Legends competitive scene for an entire year and seemed to be on the cusp of immortality, were eventually surpassed by their peers. Similarly, when Cloud 9 strolled their way to a 30:3 record in their first split in the North American LCS 2 years ago as the undisputed top team in NA, the question was not if, but when rest of the competition will catch up.



After the end of Season 4, Cloud 9 was the only LCS team that had not changed a single member from their original five starting line-up. Coming off of a fresh 3-0 victory as the champions of IEM San Jose over the rising star, Unicorns of Love, Cloud 9 proved that a veteran team with superior teamwork can easily triumph over unrefined raw talent. Unsurprisingly, Cloud 9 was back at the helm of the NA power rankings for the start of Season 5.



Their victory at IEM was not flawless, however, as there were a few noticeable mechanical mistakes such as Ball's mispositioned ultimates on Gnar and Hai's occasional over-aggressive positioning on Fizz. While most people had written off those problems as off-season anomalies, they would resurface with aggravated severity in the new season.

No king rules forever. The Season 3 World Champion, SK Telecom K, who utterly dominated the League of Legends competitive scene for an entire year and seemed to be on the cusp of immortality, were eventually surpassed by their peers. Similarly, when Cloud 9 strolled their way to a 30:3 record in their first split in the North American LCS 2 years ago as the undisputed top team in NA, the question was not if, but when rest of the competition will catch up.After the end of Season 4, Cloud 9 was the only LCS team that had not changed a single member from their original five starting line-up. Coming off of a fresh 3-0 victory as the champions of IEM San Jose over the rising star, Unicorns of Love, Cloud 9 proved that a veteran team with superior teamwork can easily triumph over unrefined raw talent. Unsurprisingly, Cloud 9 was back at the helm of the NA power rankings for the start of Season 5.Their victory at IEM was not flawless, however, as there were a few noticeable mechanical mistakes such as Ball's mispositioned ultimates on Gnar and Hai's occasional over-aggressive positioning on Fizz. While most people had written off those problems as off-season anomalies, they would resurface with aggravated severity in the new season.

Recent turmoil

At the end of Season 4, Team SoloMid narrowly defeated Cloud 9 in a 3-2 finals to claim the NA LCS championship crown. When the two teams met once again in the Season 5 LCS opener, Cloud 9’s loss to TSM could be explained, perhaps, by superior team play from TSM rather than a lack of team play from Cloud 9.



Over the next 4 weeks, Cloud 9 would surprise everyone by continuing to lose against arguably weaker teams on paper such as Gravity and Winterfox. While Cloud 9 had dropped similar games in the previous season, their unpromising start to the new season is worrisome since the current competition is much weaker than the previous split. Several strong teams either disbanded (e.g. LMQ) or adopted a new, far less synergistic roster (e.g. Dignitas).



What’s more shocking is Cloud 9’s lack of success in converting large early game leads into victories. The strength of Cloud 9 has always been their ability to turn small advantages into kills and towers around the map, which allows them to push up their ward line and take even more towers, denying the other team from as many objectives as possible. If Cloud 9 ever fell behind, they had the ability to make plays to retake the game.



Watching Cloud 9’s games this season makes me wonder if the team nameplates were mixed up, because everything I expected from Cloud 9 was reversed. In their losses against TSM and WFX, Cloud 9 had a few thousand gold advantage heading into the 20 minute mark, and significantly higher CS lead on their top laner thanks to great lane swap play. Yet, they could not maintain enough control to take a single second tier tower from their opponents.



In their losses against CLG and GV, Cloud 9 straight up lost the early game and couldn't rally a comeback. To make everything worse, the once strongest skirmishing team in NA looked distraught, unorganized, and uncharacteristically greedy for kills, often losing team fights while ahead.







If one were to look at Cloud 9's individual performances, Balls and Hai top the list of under-performing individuals. The aforementioned massive early game advantages given to Balls were, harshly speaking, wasted, since Balls performed atrociously in team fights and was not a force to be reckoned with on perhaps the strongest top lane pick this meta - Gnar. MonteCristo observed that if a similar advantage was given to a Korean top laner on Gnar, the game would have been over at that point.



Equally guilty, Hai has been underwhelming on his individual play and team fight ability. For example, in his WFX game he had a very early kill on Kassadin, a super AP carry that can turn the game around when given a lead. Disappointingly, Hai was quickly neutralized by in team fights, locked up in crowd control and blown up instantly before he could do anything. Although we do not know whether Hai or Meteos is the current shotcaller on Cloud 9, one thing is for certain: this Cloud 9 team is not on the same page when it comes to team fights.



Was this really Cloud 9 we were expecting?

At the end of Season 4, Team SoloMid narrowly defeated Cloud 9 in a 3-2 finals to claim the NA LCS championship crown. When the two teams met once again in the Season 5 LCS opener, Cloud 9’s loss to TSM could be explained, perhaps, by superior team play from TSM rather than a lack of team play from Cloud 9.Over the next 4 weeks, Cloud 9 would surprise everyone by continuing to lose against arguably weaker teams on paper such as Gravity and Winterfox. While Cloud 9 had dropped similar games in the previous season, their unpromising start to the new season is worrisome since the current competition is much weaker than the previous split. Several strong teams either disbanded (e.g. LMQ) or adopted a new, far less synergistic roster (e.g. Dignitas).What’s more shocking is Cloud 9’s lack of success in converting large early game leads into victories. The strength of Cloud 9 has always been their ability to turn small advantages into kills and towers around the map, which allows them to push up their ward line and take even more towers, denying the other team from as many objectives as possible. If Cloud 9 ever fell behind, they had the ability to make plays to retake the game.Watching Cloud 9’s games this season makes me wonder if the team nameplates were mixed up, because everything I expected from Cloud 9 was reversed. In their losses against TSM and WFX, Cloud 9 had a few thousand gold advantage heading into the 20 minute mark, and significantly higher CS lead on their top laner thanks to great lane swap play. Yet, they could not maintain enough control to take a single second tier tower from their opponents.In their losses against CLG and GV, Cloud 9 straight up lost the early game and couldn't rally a comeback. To make everything worse, the once strongest skirmishing team in NA looked distraught, unorganized, and uncharacteristically greedy for kills, often losing team fights while ahead.If one were to look at Cloud 9's individual performances, Balls and Hai top the list of under-performing individuals. The aforementioned massive early game advantages given to Balls were, harshly speaking, wasted, since Balls performed atrociously in team fights and was not a force to be reckoned with on perhaps the strongest top lane pick this meta - Gnar. MonteCristo observed that if a similar advantage was given to a Korean top laner on Gnar, the game would have been over at that point.Equally guilty, Hai has been underwhelming on his individual play and team fight ability. For example, in his WFX game he had a very early kill on Kassadin, a super AP carry that can turn the game around when given a lead. Disappointingly, Hai was quickly neutralized by in team fights, locked up in crowd control and blown up instantly before he could do anything. Although we do not know whether Hai or Meteos is the current shotcaller on Cloud 9, one thing is for certain: this Cloud 9 team is not on the same page when it comes to team fights.Was this really Cloud 9 we were expecting?



The Once Kings of North America

If you recall the meteoric rise of Cloud 9 in Season 3 Summer Split, it was a time when vision control relied purely on a single Sightstone and a few vision wards from the always starved support. Trinkets didn’t exist. With wards on the map rarely exceeding a few at a time, the map was mostly dark, and it wasn't uncommon that teams had to play tag with each other with a blindfold on. In such an environment, Cloud 9 thrived and was usually the first to strike from the darkness. If LoL can be compared to the game Slenderman, Cloud 9 were the Slendermen.







You see, LoL is a numbers game. The team with higher gold numbers, objective numbers, and most importantly, player numbers in a skirmish has the upper hand. If you watch all the Cloud 9 games from Season 3, the numbers game was mostly in Cloud 9’s favour.



It starts with their jungler, Meteos, gaining a 10+ CS lead on his opponent jungler. Able to complete his items faster, he then proceeds to create a numbers advantage on the map, ganking one of the side lanes, or for his tag buddy Hai in mid. By the time you noticed that both Hai and Meteos are nowhere to be found, your teammates probably just got 4v2’d somewhere.



In most games, Cloud 9 could transition an early gold lead to better map positioning and vision, which helped them claimed territories around the Dragon Pit, Baron Pit, and eventually their opponent’s towers and base. Despite not having the most mechanically adept players, their team play was almost perfectly methodical and nearly impossible to overcome by their peers. Even the NA giants, TSM, failed to take a single game off of Cloud 9.



The NA scene began picking up pace in Season 4. Many teams acquired stronger rosters with hyped up individual talent to compete with Cloud 9. Cloud 9’s early game was heavily challenged by teams that had either aggressive play-making junglers (CLG’s Dexter), or elite mid laners that crushed their opposition (TSM’s Bjergsen).



Meteos’ tried and true farm-heavy jungling style has long been punished by Fnatic and Gambit, who took the early fight to Cloud 9 during their international encounters. By matching or suppressing the early game influence of Hai and Meteos, teams were able to snowball an early advantage into victories against Cloud 9.



What kept Cloud 9 at the top of NA LCS, however, was their trademark ability to out-think their opponents. If you recall the meteoric rise of Cloud 9 in Season 3 Summer Split, it was a time when vision control relied purely on a single Sightstone and a few vision wards from the always starved support. Trinkets didn’t exist. With wards on the map rarely exceeding a few at a time, the map was mostly dark, and it wasn't uncommon that teams had to play tag with each other with a blindfold on. In such an environment, Cloud 9 thrived and was usually the first to strike from the darkness. If LoL can be compared to the game Slenderman, Cloud 9 were the Slendermen.You see, LoL is a numbers game. The team with higher gold numbers, objective numbers, and most importantly, player numbers in a skirmish has the upper hand. If you watch all the Cloud 9 games from Season 3, the numbers game was mostly in Cloud 9’s favour.It starts with their jungler, Meteos, gaining a 10+ CS lead on his opponent jungler. Able to complete his items faster, he then proceeds to create a numbers advantage on the map, ganking one of the side lanes, or for his tag buddy Hai in mid. By the time you noticed that both Hai and Meteos are nowhere to be found, your teammates probably just got 4v2’d somewhere.In most games, Cloud 9 could transition an early gold lead to better map positioning and vision, which helped them claimed territories around the Dragon Pit, Baron Pit, and eventually their opponent’s towers and base. Despite not having the most mechanically adept players, their team play was almost perfectly methodical and nearly impossible to overcome by their peers. Even the NA giants, TSM, failed to take a single game off of Cloud 9.The NA scene began picking up pace in Season 4. Many teams acquired stronger rosters with hyped up individual talent to compete with Cloud 9. Cloud 9’s early game was heavily challenged by teams that had either aggressive play-making junglers (CLG’s Dexter), or elite mid laners that crushed their opposition (TSM’s Bjergsen).Meteos’ tried and true farm-heavy jungling style has long been punished by Fnatic and Gambit, who took the early fight to Cloud 9 during their international encounters. By matching or suppressing the early game influence of Hai and Meteos, teams were able to snowball an early advantage into victories against Cloud 9.What kept Cloud 9 at the top of NA LCS, however, was their trademark ability to out-think their opponents.

Strategic masterminds

If you asked your typical LoL audience about Hai, they will tell you that mechanics and lane dominance have never been Hai’s strong points. His champion pool isn't very diverse, which limits Hai to play-making assassins such as Fizz, Leblanc, and Zed. If Hai as a player is analyzed in isolation, on paper he seems to be an average player - nothing special.







In reality, we know Hai as the captain of Cloud 9, and the nucleus of their shotcalling. Hai is not a commander that rallies his troops from afar; he often leads the charge. And that is why high mobility assassins give Hai the tools he needs to influence the game while making the calls. While not synonymous with flashy outplays and highlight reels, Hai instead focuses on using assassins' speed and burst to take out key targets, often at the cost of his own life.



Much of Cloud 9's strategic brilliance can be attributed to the shotcalling of Hai. In fact, Hai is so effective at what he does that TSM's star mid laner, Bjergsen, once said that on Leblanc, Hai is the best in NA at roaming and making plays around the map.



In chess, a fork is an attacking manoeuvre that threatens two pieces at once. Cloud 9 are the masters of this strategy. For example, a normal response to the enemy team attacking your base is to go back and defend it. However, Cloud 9 knows how to assess each situation differently and punish their opponents for their plays. If Cloud 9 has the counter-push advantage, they would instead counter-siege the enemy towers with no hesitation, forcing a situation where their opponents have to make the tough choice between continuing their push, and risk losing in a base race, or stopping their push and defend to prevent further damage. By the time the opponents retreated, Cloud 9 would have taken their tower and immediately start setting up their next objective grab.



Their innovative play style, executed with unrivalled decisiveness, gave them an edge against the strongest teams in NA. In their Season 4 semifinal playoff games against Team Curse, Cloud 9 destroyed Curse through several early game plays that repeatedly forced their opponents to decide between losing control of Dragons or their towers. On the back foot for the entire series, Curse was not able to advance further than Cloud 9's second tier tower line in any of the three games, dropping the series 0-3, completely outclassed.



On the international stage, Cloud 9's understanding of how to play the map stood out against much stronger opponents, who on paper outclassed Cloud 9 in almost every position of the roster. How could we forget Cloud 9’s brilliant rotations in game 3 of Worlds group stage against Najin White Shield, playing ring around the rosie and reducing Najin’s base to mere nexus towers despite being thousands of gold behind?







But, if Hai cannot keep up with the enemy mid laner and falls behind, he can no longer do enough damage to complete a successful assassination, and his threat diminishes to a mere distraction. In fact, Hai carries such a massive weight on his team as both the mid lane carry and the main shotcaller that if he ever falls behind, Cloud 9's overall shotcalling suffers. Hai has to constantly juggle the burden between keeping up individually and shotcalling for the team, and a poor performance on his champion leads to Hai misjudging situations, resulting in bad calls. Make enough bad calls and not only would the current game would be lost, but the shotcaller would also face increasing doubt from his teammates on his future decisions.



Despite Hai rarely being exploited in his domestic matches, on the international stage he was often picked apart by world class mid laners such as Xpeke and Ggoong. In their Season 4 Worlds quarterfinal game 1 versus Samsung Blue, Hai with 3 early game kills on Syndra could not pressure Dade in lane. He then proceeded to get hooked and blown up 3 times in a row by the enemy Thresh, nearly giving Samsung an opening to turn the game around. The experienced teams knew that a good way to shut down Cloud 9 is to shut down Hai early.

If you asked your typical LoL audience about Hai, they will tell you that mechanics and lane dominance have never been Hai’s strong points. His champion pool isn't very diverse, which limits Hai to play-making assassins such as Fizz, Leblanc, and Zed. If Hai as a player is analyzed in isolation, on paper he seems to be an average player - nothing special.In reality, we know Hai as the captain of Cloud 9, and the nucleus of their shotcalling. Hai is not a commander that rallies his troops from afar; he often leads the charge. And that is why high mobility assassins give Hai the tools he needs to influence the game while making the calls. While not synonymous with flashy outplays and highlight reels, Hai instead focuses on using assassins' speed and burst to take out key targets, often at the cost of his own life.Much of Cloud 9's strategic brilliance can be attributed to the shotcalling of Hai. In fact, Hai is so effective at what he does that TSM's star mid laner, Bjergsen, once said that on Leblanc, Hai is the best in NA at roaming and making plays around the map.In chess, a fork is an attacking manoeuvre that threatens two pieces at once. Cloud 9 are the masters of this strategy. For example, a normal response to the enemy team attacking your base is to go back and defend it. However, Cloud 9 knows how to assess each situation differently and punish their opponents for their plays. If Cloud 9 has the counter-push advantage, they would instead counter-siege the enemy towers with no hesitation, forcing a situation where their opponents have to make the tough choice between continuing their push, and risk losing in a base race, or stopping their push and defend to prevent further damage. By the time the opponents retreated, Cloud 9 would have taken their tower and immediately start setting up their next objective grab.Their innovative play style, executed with unrivalled decisiveness, gave them an edge against the strongest teams in NA. In their Season 4 semifinal playoff games against Team Curse, Cloud 9 destroyed Curse through several early game plays that repeatedly forced their opponents to decide between losing control of Dragons or their towers. On the back foot for the entire series, Curse was not able to advance further than Cloud 9's second tier tower line in any of the three games, dropping the series 0-3, completely outclassed.On the international stage, Cloud 9's understanding of how to play the map stood out against much stronger opponents, who on paper outclassed Cloud 9 in almost every position of the roster. How could we forget Cloud 9’s brilliant rotations in game 3 of Worlds group stage against Najin White Shield, playing ring around the rosie and reducing Najin’s base to mere nexus towers despite being thousands of gold behind?But, if Hai cannot keep up with the enemy mid laner and falls behind, he can no longer do enough damage to complete a successful assassination, and his threat diminishes to a mere distraction. In fact, Hai carries such a massive weight on his team as both the mid lane carry and the main shotcaller that if he ever falls behind, Cloud 9's overall shotcalling suffers. Hai has to constantly juggle the burden between keeping up individually and shotcalling for the team, and a poor performance on his champion leads to Hai misjudging situations, resulting in bad calls. Make enough bad calls and not only would the current game would be lost, but the shotcaller would also face increasing doubt from his teammates on his future decisions.Despite Hai rarely being exploited in his domestic matches, on the international stage he was often picked apart by world class mid laners such as Xpeke and Ggoong. In their Season 4 Worlds quarterfinal game 1 versus Samsung Blue, Hai with 3 early game kills on Syndra could not pressure Dade in lane. He then proceeded to get hooked and blown up 3 times in a row by the enemy Thresh, nearly giving Samsung an opening to turn the game around. The experienced teams knew that a good way to shut down Cloud 9 is to shut down Hai early.



A matter of time?

After being trounced by Cloud 9 over and over again, many of the NA teams looked to both Korea and Cloud 9 to imitate their success. While the rest of NA have been catching up quickly in terms of map movements, vision control, and team compositions, what kept Cloud 9 at the top of the NA scene for three splits in a row was their ability to adapt to the meta and to their opponents.



Without changing their current roster, the only way for Cloud 9 to overtake the current top NA teams (TSM and CLG) is to return to their roots as the most strategic team in NA. In my opinion, the main shotcalling duty should be split with Meteos or LemonNation, providing relief for Hai so he can focus on his individual play. Hai's strengths as a shotcaller should not be completely neglected, but nor should they be emphasized to the detriment of his laning phase and team fight ability. If Hai starts to perform better as a carry, not only would he be a major asset to team fights, it would also boost the team’s overall morale and contribute to better decision making and less tilting.







Currently, the best performing player on Cloud 9 is Sneaky, who has consistently played at the top of his game since the latter stages of Season 4 playoffs. When choosing the top 3 ADCs in NA, Sneaky is rarely left out of the discussion on most experts' lists. If Sneaky gets going on a strong early-to-mid game champion such as Lucian or Corki, he has the ability to put Cloud 9 on his back and win the game for his team.



On the other hand, Balls has been underpeforming on meta top lane champions like Gnar and Lissandra. Instead of providing Balls with a favourable early game advantage, why not give that advantage to Sneaky and make sure he can get far ahead to carry the game? Balls should be relieved of the duty of a carry top laner since he can still take on the role of a supportive position that protects Hai and Sneaky when they are busy dealing damage in a team fight.



By distributing the resources to more bot-heavy rather than top-heavy, Cloud 9 can create a farmed Sneaky, which can mitigate the mid-game trough that Cloud 9 often struggles with. Meteos should continue to camp mid for Hai to ensure he gets through the laning phase and at least stay even with the enemy mid laner. With all three lanes having clearly defined goals from early to mid game, Cloud 9 can roam as a team after the laning phase to set up a deep ward line and take objectives on the map.



But, it all comes down to if Hai can step up as a stable mid lane carry that Cloud 9 can rely on, and become again an on-point assassin that was once feared in NA. If Hai continues to underperform while making poor calls, Cloud 9 needs to consider a replacement in the mid lane and make the tough choice between either facing stagnation or breaking the tried and true 5-man synergy. As seen by TSM's choice to replace Gleeb with Lustboy, even end of the season roster swaps can make the difference between winning and losing the LCS.



Regardless of what Cloud 9 decides to do, if they want to reclaim the NA crown for a chance to compete at the Mid-Season Invitational, they need to start improving right now. Cloud 9 needs to understand and play to their strengths if they want to beat CLG or TSM in the playoffs. Of course, Cloud 9 has been gradually recovering their strength, but the other teams have not stood still and watched. As the newer rosters continue to build synergy and experience, it would only be a matter of time before the competition in NA returns to the level of the previous split.



One thing is for sure, the clock is ticking for Cloud 9.

After being trounced by Cloud 9 over and over again, many of the NA teams looked to both Korea and Cloud 9 to imitate their success. While the rest of NA have been catching up quickly in terms of map movements, vision control, and team compositions, what kept Cloud 9 at the top of the NA scene for three splits in a row was their ability to adapt to the meta and to their opponents.Without changing their current roster, the only way for Cloud 9 to overtake the current top NA teams (TSM and CLG) is to return to their roots as the most strategic team in NA. In my opinion, the main shotcalling duty should be split with Meteos or LemonNation, providing relief for Hai so he can focus on his individual play. Hai's strengths as a shotcaller should not be completely neglected, but nor should they be emphasized to the detriment of his laning phase and team fight ability. If Hai starts to perform better as a carry, not only would he be a major asset to team fights, it would also boost the team’s overall morale and contribute to better decision making and less tilting.Currently, the best performing player on Cloud 9 is Sneaky, who has consistently played at the top of his game since the latter stages of Season 4 playoffs. When choosing the top 3 ADCs in NA, Sneaky is rarely left out of the discussion on most experts' lists. If Sneaky gets going on a strong early-to-mid game champion such as Lucian or Corki, he has the ability to put Cloud 9 on his back and win the game for his team.On the other hand, Balls has been underpeforming on meta top lane champions like Gnar and Lissandra. Instead of providing Balls with a favourable early game advantage, why not give that advantage to Sneaky and make sure he can get far ahead to carry the game? Balls should be relieved of the duty of a carry top laner since he can still take on the role of a supportive position that protects Hai and Sneaky when they are busy dealing damage in a team fight.By distributing the resources to more bot-heavy rather than top-heavy, Cloud 9 can create a farmed Sneaky, which can mitigate the mid-game trough that Cloud 9 often struggles with. Meteos should continue to camp mid for Hai to ensure he gets through the laning phase and at least stay even with the enemy mid laner. With all three lanes having clearly defined goals from early to mid game, Cloud 9 can roam as a team after the laning phase to set up a deep ward line and take objectives on the map.But, it all comes down to if Hai can step up as a stable mid lane carry that Cloud 9 can rely on, and become again an on-point assassin that was once feared in NA. If Hai continues to underperform while making poor calls, Cloud 9 needs to consider a replacement in the mid lane and make the tough choice between either facing stagnation or breaking the tried and true 5-man synergy. As seen by TSM's choice to replace Gleeb with Lustboy, even end of the season roster swaps can make the difference between winning and losing the LCS.Regardless of what Cloud 9 decides to do, if they want to reclaim the NA crown for a chance to compete at the Mid-Season Invitational, they need to start improving right now. Cloud 9 needs to understand and play to their strengths if they want to beat CLG or TSM in the playoffs. Of course, Cloud 9 has been gradually recovering their strength, but the other teams have not stood still and watched. As the newer rosters continue to build synergy and experience, it would only be a matter of time before the competition in NA returns to the level of the previous split.One thing is for sure, the clock is ticking for Cloud 9.

Twitter: @HyperST | @Esportsheaven