If anything, Cloud9 are known for their weird and unexpected champion pool, even on the most important stage of the year. That’s why no one was too surprised to see them lock in Viktor and Leona in the bot lane at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship today for their semifinal series against Fnatic.
As strange as it sounds, and as bad as Fnatic whooped them, the idea wasn’t a bad one. The idea of Viktor’s AoE burst combined with Leona’s chained crowd control definitely fits together. In fact, it’s possible that C9 could have pulled it off if Fnatic weren’t quite as good, but, well, that’s not how things work.
At certain points, the genius of the pick game through. Leona could engage on champions like Rakan, and by the time her crowd control chain ended, Viktor’s stun zone was ready to trigger, and all of his AoE damage was flying.
Against one champion, it was definitely punishing, but it had potential to be devastating in teamfights, too. Unfortunately for Cloud9, by the time Viktor’s damage was high enough to come online in teamfights, Fnatic’s Azir was too strong.
So it may not have worked out well for C9, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this combo popped up in solo queue after today. It probably won’t appear again at Worlds, because it isn’t an OP strategy by any means, but it has potential.
Unfortunately for C9, though, it doesn’t have quite as much potential as top lane Hecarim, or maybe they would’ve won the game. The series was 2-0 in Fnatic’s favor after this game, leaving Cloud9 only a very limited possibility to advance to the finals.
