On top of an already stellar start to a VCT Americas season that is wildly surpassing lowly expectations, the Cloud9 VALORANT roster has completed a noteworthy achievement while potentially securing a playoffs spot at the same time.
With their victory over Sentinels today, Cloud9 has completed their quest for North American dominance, having now beaten all four NA rosters in Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves, NRG, and Sentinels, with Marved and company representing the final red gemstone needed for Cloud9 to complete their gauntlet. C9 pulled this off while only losing a single map to NRG and cemented this accomplishment with a blowout win against Sentinels.
Cloud9 came out on stage today at the Riot Games Arena cooking, dominating early on the defensive side of Sentinels’ map pick of Haven, which is traditionally considered attack-sided due to its three sites. C9 finished the first half with a 9-3 lead and punctuated that impressive opening half with back-to-back gutsy clutch defuses.
Despite Sentinels taking pistol round in the second half, Cloud9 found themselves on map point after the first full buy round by getting onto C site and hammering Sentinels with post-plant utility. Sentinels opted for a desperate aggressive A Main take, but ran right into the crosshairs of leaf, and a Zellsis kill and plant unlocked his Killjoy Lockdown, securing the round and the C9 win on Lotus, 13-4.
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Cloud9 didn’t let up on their own pick of Fracture, and decimated any Sentinels attack effort through the first 10 rounds of the first half, prompting commentator Sideshow to call their performance “a work of art” after an 11-1 defensive half. In need of a miracle, Sentinels began to string rounds together starting with the pistol but finally gave up a 12th round to a C9 eco, and a barrage of C9 ultimates sealed the series win with a 13-6 victory on Fracture.
C9 now sits at 5-1, and two of their final three opponents are KRÜ and MIBR, both currently bottom three in VCT Americas. Unless the team suffers what would be considered a historic collapse in these final three weeks, a playoff spot is all but secured.
