Cloud9 gambled their livelihoods at the beginning of the split, and tonight, after a roller coaster ride of emotions, their bet had paid off.

When the summer split began a few months ago, C9 were at a crossroads. They were coming off of their fourth straight NA LCS Grand Final, but had lost the past two of those to rivals Team SoloMid. As a roster, they were a solid unit that played a formidable macro game that could make up for their weaknesses in other areas. Hai, their shot caller and captain in the mid lane, was an elite level talent when it came to directing a team and making quick decisions in the heat of battle but wrist injuries had hampered him in terms of keeping up mechanically with his mid lane peers.

C9 needed to make a decision considering that they had to go up against a TSM squad that was built around Bjergsen. If they kept Hai and continued with the same roster they had played with for the past two years, Worlds was almost a guarantee. They would possibly have a few hiccups during the season and most likely lose to TSM or another team come the Grand Finals, but going to Worlds with a runner-up position in the spring split was, for all intents and purposes, a sure thing.

What they did, however, was go with the second choice: blow everything up for the shot to become the best team in North America once again. Incarnati0n, a solo queue prospect from Europe who was suspended from professional play, was at the center of the team's gigantic gamble. The online standout was released from his suspension before the summer split, and C9 took their chance by going all-in on him. Cloud9 signed Incarnati0n to be their new starting mid-lane after a few weeks of tryouts, and Hai, the former heart and soul of the team, decided to retire to take on a management role within the organization.

The first two months of the gamble were, to be frank, a disaster. Meteos, Hai's replacement as team captain and shot caller, couldn't find a rhythm in his new position. Being renowned as an assassin player coming into his pro-gaming debut, Incarnati0n struggled early and usually found himself on control mages for the majority of his early games. Sneaky and LemonNation, the backbone of the squad, were simply lackluster on the new Cloud9 team, going from one of the best bottom lanes in the Western scene to appearing near their expiration date. Even Balls in the top lane, who had one of his worst splits the previous season in the spring, couldn't return back to his old form as he routinely fell behind and was little help to the sinking ship named Cloud9.

The team knew that it might take a while for everyone to come together, but as the weeks went along, their standing in the ladder consistently dipped. Time was Cloud9's main enemy. Unfortunately, the precious months of practice they needed wasn't allotted to them, and the pressure of being a cornerstone of the LCS was starting to get to them. A team that went through their first two splits with only seven losses altogether in that year was now forced to face real adversity for the first time as a franchise — and they needed the heart of their team back.

The decision to bring back Hai with only a few weeks left in the season was an entirely new gamble already thrown atop of the bet they made before the campaign. Meteos left the starting roster after his attempts at bringing the team together, and with no time to look for a replacement, Hai returned from his retirement to play for the team until their year was done. C9 hoped with their captain back, even in a role that he hadn't played in professionally for over two years, that his shot calling and macro-sense would be able to stabilize the tilting franchise and bring life back to North America's pillar.

Cloud9's ascent wasn't instantaneous. Sure, they looked better with Hai back in the starting lineup to calm down the team around him and make smarter decisions, but they were still a far cry from a top team in the LCS. As the games with Hai went along, the results weren't out of this world, yet there was a distinct improvement in the atmosphere around the team. Sneaky began to play like the player he was last year when he considered one of the West's strongest AD carries, and Incarnati0n finally started to grow as a pro-gamer with the player he replaced guiding him from the jungle.

At the end of the season, C9 needed two victories to avoid playing in the relegation rounds and keep their faint hopes for Worlds alive. First, they needed to beat Team SoloMid, the team that had forced C9's hand in changing before the split started. Even after they were able to pull off that victory against their slumping rivals, Cloud9 still needed a win over the sturdy Team8 in a tiebreak match to see which team would get seventh place and which would have to fight in the relegations. Survival was the only thing on C9's minds, and they secured their place in the North American Regional Finals with a convincing win over Team8 to hold onto their spot in the LCS.

Survival.

Living one more day.

Fighting for that chance to take one more single gasp of air.

That's what the new Cloud9 has been all about since gaining a second life following their win over TSM to force the regular season tiebreak. C9's first two series of the NA gauntlet were both 0-2 starts for the opposing team before they came back in the latter half to win the matches in reverse sweeps. By the time that they faced Team Liquid on Sunday for the last NA spot at Worlds, they'd played eight elimination games since their game against TSM at the end of the season, and Cloud9 had won them all.

Although Hai is a major reason why C9 were able to breakthrough Liquid in the gauntlet final to make their third straight strip to Worlds, the two biggest factors were the rejuvenation of Sneaky and the maturation of Incarnati0n. Sneaky was bullied in the first two games against Team Impulse when playing Ashe, and was a detriment to the team heading onto the third map. That's when C9 decided to put him on Vayne, a more free-flowing carry champion, and the faith paid off with Sneaky tearing through Impulse to bring the series' momentum back into the favor of Cloud9.

Sneaky continued his carry play against TL, this time also bringing out his old signature champion Draven to pressure his opponents. It didn't matter if he was able to cash in his Adoration stacks with a kill or not. Merely Sneaky's presence on the champion forced Team Liquid, a team that's already disjointed when it comes to team fighting, take awkward fights in unfavorable choke points on the map to try and kill the all important Draven. With TL all going for the Draven to take him out, it allowed Hai to pick apart the flustered Liquid and take advantage of their overzealous attempts.

Alongside Sneaky, Incarnati0n was the star of the weekend. After months of criticism due to his play and being the new player that ruined the former Cloud9 dynasty, these past three days proved that C9's gamble to bring him into the fold was the correct decision. He took over games on a variety of champions, from a control mage in Orianna to a hard carry in Yasuo. Whatever C9 needed him in that particular game, Incarnati0n stepped up to prove his worth and lead his new band of brothers to the World Championships in his home continent of Europe.

In the end, the gauntlet was the training ground that Cloud9 needed all along. With the wave of best-of-ones that LCS teams have to play, C9's biggest enemy with changing their roster was time. No matter how well Incarnati0n could become in the future with Hai helping him as a shot caller, the seconds would always be ticking behind them as the road to Worlds started to be taped off. The gauntlet, forcing Cloud9 to play three best-of-five matches in continuous days, was exactly what they lacked to become the elite team they knew they could become.

Over the past three days, we've seen Sneaky return to one of the best hard carrying AD carries in the West. Incarnati0n has grown from a fledgling pro-player to now a full-fledged pro-gamer, fighting with his back against the wall to only evolve from the adversity the rest of the league put on him. Lemon, who stated he needed to trust his coaching staff more with picks, has learned that while he's a great mind, he also needs the help of his head coach in the pick/ban phase. Balls is continuing the steps to return as North America's strongest top laner.

And Hai, the captain that lost the trust of his team last split, has returned to bring the heart back into Cloud9. He isn't the best mechanical jungle in the world, and who knows if he'll continue down the road of a pro-gamer when Worlds comes to an end for his team. But, through it all, he's proven that no matter how injured his wrists are or what role he's playing, that he will always be there for Cloud9 when they need him the most.

As long as Hai is in the starting lineup making brash Baron calls and initiating team fights, Cloud9 will believe that they can create miracles on Summoner's Rift.

Tyler "Fionn" Erzberger is a staff writer for theScore eSports who covers the North American LCS and Korea's Champions. You can follow him on Twitter.