They were made to work for it, but Cloud9 has swept Evil Geniuses 3-0 to lock in LCS’ first representative at Worlds 2023. The top three Summer Split finish means C9 will avoid the Worlds Qualifying Series and head straight to the biggest show of them all.
In doing so, C9 will appear at their 10th League Worlds since the organization entered the esport in 2013. 2022’s edition of Worlds would have marked the milestone had the squad not fallen short in 2020, which broke a seven-year streak of appearances at the pinnacle of professional League.
C9 is also just two series away from sweeping the entire calendar year regionally. The team backed up their first-place finish in the Spring Split with a table-topping regular Summer Split. Should they close out the split with a win, they’ll have locked in back-to-back LCS Championships for the first time in org history.
C9 jungler Blaber played down the team’s efforts both in the regular split and in playoffs thus far, believing the squad had yet to peak and was only getting started in their journey to Worlds, promising fans C9 wouldn’t drop a single game for the rest of the playoffs. “I think we’re a lot better than the other teams and hopefully, we’ll be able to show it in the next two best-of-fives.”
Related: LCS Summer Split 2023: Scores, standings, and schedule
Blaber extended his incredible streak with Maokai to 14 wins and zero losses for the year in the sweep over EG, who at times proved they have what it takes to push for the two remaining spots despite failing to win a game in the loss to C9.
Game three in particular troubled C9 the most: EG built themselves a platform with two opening kills and a Rift Herald, but keeping pace despite the deficit was C9 ADC Berserker. In a “near flawless” series, Berserker was nigh unstoppable on his Ezreal. From multi-lane ganks to cross-map snipes, C9’s ADC kept his cool and was a major factor in ensuring his team kept the sweep alive.
C9 now awaits the winner of Golden Guardians and NRG in tomorrow’s final match for the week. Only GG has gone international with their MSI qualification earlier in 2023, with both organizations yet to grace the Worlds stage. It won’t be doom and gloom for the loser of that series, with a spot still up for grabs in the lower bracket.
Next week will see Team Liquid, Dignitas, and Evil Geniuses contest the LCS Championship lower bracket. The LCS action resumes tomorrow at 4pm CT.
