Another LTA North Playoffs match, another snappy 3-0 series. Cloud9 came out on top today in an unexpectedly quick best of five. Following Team Liquid’s strong performance last week, many may have been predicting TL to take at least one game off of C9. Today's match, however, ended even quicker than FlyQuest's yesterday.

Game 1:

A late invade from Ganbat "Yuuji" Ulziidelger nearly gave Cloud9 first blood, but he was able to escape before coming back again to steal Robert "Blaber" Huang’s Raptors and Red Buff. Yuuji secured Ocean Drake with no contest. First blood went to Lee "Loki" Sang-min following a clean gank, and C9 managed to take the first Void Grub, before multiple members of Team Liquid showed up to finish off the objective.

Both teams postured at Drake, with Cloud9 starting the objective. Team Liquid used multiple ultimates to slow their momentum and interrupt the damage on Drake. In a close smite fight, Team Liquid secured their second Drake. Despite members of both teams taking heavy blows, neither team picked up any kills during the exchange that followed.

Trades happened across the map as both teams met once again at Drake Pit, but Team Liquid could not successfully contest this time. Cloud9 took their first Drake of the game, and minutes later, secured two more kills botside, claiming the Feat of Warfare. Outnumbering TL, Cloud9 took Atakhan and the next Mountain Drake with little to no issues. TL was able to claim their first kill, but the fight in midlane shortly after did not go their way.

Baron was up, and Cloud9 wanted it. Team Liquid tried their best to enter the pit, but Cloud9 was just doing too much damage. Baron went to Cloud9 as planned. C9 pushed top and mid with the buff, securing a couple more kills along the way. Their gold lead jumped to over 9,000 as turrets and inhibitors fell.

Cloud9 stacked their third Mountain Drake, and the game started to feel settled. The trades continued, but Cloud9’s push was just too strong. Loki’s ult kept Team Liquid at bay as the rest of the C9 roster cut down the TL Nexus.

Game 2:

The second game looked a lot like the first, with Team Liquid dominating the early neutral objective game. Yuuji took the first Drake along with two of the three Void Grubs once again. At the second Drake of the game, Cloud9 showed up in almost full force, claiming their first objective.

A teamfight broke out topside and Cloud9 secured four kills in quick succession, getting the Feat of Warfare in under 30 seconds after the first major skirmish of the game. One kill went to Sean "Yeon" Sung shortly after, but yet another one-for-one happened just moments later.

Blaber took Rift Herald with no contest, putting Cloud9 at Feats of Strength-point. With a strong fight from both sides at Drake Pit, it looked like Team Liquid was close to getting another objective, but some key positioning from Park "Thanatos" Seung-gyu took Yuuji out of contention. With yet another Drake down, Cloud9 won the Feats of Strength boot buff.

Cloud9 baited a start on Atakhan, and Eain "APA" Stearns was able to secure a kill, but everyone else on TL unfortunately fell in combat. With all but one member of Team Liquid eliminated, C9 rushed Baron. Team Liquid grouped in mid, but Cloud9 grouped better. Three members of TL took the fall.

Another teamfight happened in the botside jungle. While Team Liquid was in their base, Cloud9 cut through Baron quickly and took multiple turrets botside. In a last-ditch effort, Team Liquid tried to fend off Cloud9 and lost three of their members. C9 demolished the Nexus just seconds later.

Game 3:

Before the game started, Team Liquid substituted Yuuji out for Eom "UmTi" Seong-hyeon, who had originally started on the roster this season.

Jeong "Impact" Eon-young got a solo kill onto Thanatos, as the bot lanes were swapping up towards topside, thanks to a daring flash Yorick Q. Shortly after, though, Thanatos clapped back with a double kill in botside following a failed gank. The first Drake of the game went to Team Liquid with little interference from Cloud9. The second dragon along with the Feat of Monster Slaying also went to TL, after Blaber walked up a bit too far, putting the kills at two-to-two.

Cloud9 claimed the Feat of Warfare as a skirmish gave them two kills in quick succession. At Rift Herald, Loki finished off the objective, but fell alongside Blaber. Team Liquid earned a gold lead just over 1k for the first time this game, thanks to shutdowns and Impact’s split push in botlane for First Turret. The Feats of Strength went to TL.

A skirmish in the botside river after Cloud9 started Drake began well for them, but Yeon soon shredded through their defenses. C9 lost three of their players, and Team Liquid made it to Soul Point. Atakhan went to Team Liquid, uncontested. While the momentum looked unstoppable, the gold difference stayed under 2,000 up until this point.

Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in and Impact got caught out and picked off, knocking the gold lead in half. Cloud9 took Chemtech Drake, holding Team Liquid at Soul Point for another few minutes. A fight broke out at Baron and a sneaky smite steal from Blaber secured Baron, but the fight left three of their team members on grey screens.

The teams butted heads at Drake Pit, with two members of Cloud9 and all members of Team Liquid dying in an extended teamfight. In a close smite battle once again, Cloud9 took yet another Chemtech Drake. APA got caught out, and Cloud9 made good use of their number advantage, getting a clean ace. Instead of going for Baron, they pushed as five and destroyed the Team Liquid Nexus.

Wrapping Up

Now that the first round of Playoffs is over, we’ve seen Shopify Rebellion and Team Liquid move to the Lower Bracket, where they’ll both be fighting their way up to finals against the winners of next week’s matchups. On June 7th, the top two teams will go head-to-head again in the Upper Bracket Finals.

The remaining schedule for Split Two is as follows:

May 31: Team Dignitas vs. Team Liquid (Lower Bracket Round 1)

June 1: 100 Thieves vs. Shopify Rebellion (Lower Bracket Round 1)

June 7: FlyQuest vs. Cloud9 (Upper Bracket Finals)

June 8, 14, and 15: TBD (Lower Bracket Semifinals, Lower Bracket Finals, and Split 2 Finals)

We’ll see you here next week for the Lower Bracket matches!