As the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) approaches, and the best teams from every region around the world converge on Reykjavik, Iceland to compete, how does NA hold up against their current competition? This post will be my completely subjective thoughts and insights towards North America’s approaching challenges as the time for MSI, May 6th, draws near.
As already shown by the results of the Mid-Season Showdown, Cloud9 is our best contender to represent the North American region at MSI. As stated in my most previous post, C9’s strengths lie in their early game, champion draft knowledge, and their synergy as a team. C9’s strengths are also probably the best attuned to handle the likes of their first competitor at MSI, current League of Legends’ Worlds’ Champions, Damwon Gaming.
China’s Tencent League of Legends Professional League, otherwise known as the LPL, are notorious for being one of the best regions in all of League of Legends professional play. They are unquestionably one of the most dominant regions in professional play. They have nearly perfected their mastery over game mechanics and game knowledge, so much so that many Western regions look towards trends in the LPL’s gameplay to imitate. This solidified the LPL’s status as an League of Legend behemoth in international play, alongside the likes of Korea.
However, on the complete flip side of things, North America is one of the worst performing regions, internationally. Whether or not it’s North America’s lack of proper fosterization of their ametuer scene, poor server ping, or the lack of support for esports in American culture, a myriad of reasons have been offered up as to why NA underperforms on the international stage.
So what exactly makes C9 our best equipped team to take on the likes of a Worlds’ Champions LPL team? Well, for one, this is one of the most unique and promising rosters we’ve had in a very long time.
C9 has not only some of the best fostered talent in NA, but also some of the best players in all of the West right now. It has been clear from watching Fudge, Blaber, and Vulcan, that their success on C9 is not only due to their hard work and effort, but also partly of being properly fostered in the amatuer scene. On the other hand, C9 also has the likes of Perkz and Sven. A legendary duo whose run together on G2 in the League of Legends’ European Championship (LEC) made history. In fact, Perkz was a part of G2 during their MSI run in 2019, leading them to be the first European team to have ever won MSI. This roster of the well-fostered NA talent and the best players from Europe might finally be the team that breathes a new breath of hope into the lungs of some seriously weary NA fans.
C9’s strengths and playstyle as a team have also made it clear they’re the best in NA, and best suited to take on Damwon. China’s style of play, establishing dominance in the early game and continuing that throughout the entire game, is known to be aggressive, fast, and strong. However, C9 plays similarly, utilizing their champion choice and synergy to create early game leads, rolling it into a snowball. A strong and air-tight early game is exactly what NA needs to play against the LPL.
However, in their game against Team Liquid, the match revealed a fatal flaw that could jeopardize C9’s success against Damwon; their mistake of throwing their leads.
Despite being the second runner up for NA, I did not want Team Liquid representing NA at MSI. Team Liquid struggled to make early game leads and instead relied purely on their team fighting abilities and comps. Which means Team Liquid often sacrificed early game objectives and opportunities, playing for a more late game orientated strategy. This strategy will NOT work against LPL aggressiveness and decisiveness.
So when C9 threw their leads, they often had to rely on team fights and team composition to come back, much like Team Liquid’s strategy. This is why C9 needs to work on solidifying their leads and seeing it all the way through.
I have high hopes for C9, I believe if they defeat Damwon within the first round, the only other true opposition they’ll face will be the LEC’s champions, Mad Lions. Although, defeating Damwon Gaming is easier said than done. Has North America finally gathered the strength and courage worthy of earning an MSI title? We’ll see this upcoming May 6th.
The Beat @APU 