Players from Cloud9 and FlyQuest walked out today with dramatic individual introductions from Clayton "CaptainFlowers" Raines. FLY had more time to rest before these matches, but C9 put up a hard fight. While the matches today might have ended far from how many had expected, this final was one for the history books.

Game 1

Despite an overall calm early game, FlyQuest was far from quiet in the jungle. The first Drake and all three of the Void Grubs went to Kacper "Inspired" Słoma. A gank following the first two objectives gave First Blood over to Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau. Up top, after yet another laneswap, Bwipo and Inspired teamed up to secure FLY’s second kill.

First Turret went to FlyQuest up top, and their gold lead reached around 3,000. Cloud9 managed to secure the Hextech Drake and made a run for Rift Herald as five. FlyQuest pulled up with three, claiming the Feat of Warfare and ultimately taking down Herald and picking up a three kills. They dropped it mid, knocking out another turret.

Moments later, a skirmish broke out at Drake Pit, and Cloud9 scored a three-for-one along with the objective. As Atakhan spawned, C9 took it down before FlyQuest could even make it there, losing the teamfight after a four-for-one.

The second Cloud Drake went to FlyQuest, and a fight shortly after at Baron Pit left Alan "Busio" Cwalina dead. The teams clashed again at Cloud Drake, which fell to FLY. Both sides kept hovering around Baron, but neither could take it until FLY’s third attempt. When they tried to rotate to Drake, they got ambushed by Cloud9, but still came out on top, taking down all but Park "Thanatos" Seung-gyu.

Ignoring Drake, FLY pushed mid as three to end the game.

Game 2

Just like the first game, both teams played carefully early on. About five minutes in, Bwipo swapped with Fahad "Massu" Abdulmalek, nearly killing Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen. Thanatos played aggressively topside, but couldn’t yet secure First Blood.

FlyQuest started strong again on objectives, taking Cloud Drake early. Blaber ganked Thanatos up top, giving Cloud9 First Blood. With help from mid and top, Blaber claimed all three of the Void Grubs, setting C9 up alongside a 1.5k gold lead.

A gank botside with a gutsy tower dive gave Zven the game’s second and third kills. Cloud9 started Mountain Drake, narrowly winning the smite fight. Massu got FlyQuest’s first kill thanks to a Lucian ult to finish off Blaber.

The teams skirmished under FlyQuest’s topside turret, but Song "Quad" Soo-hyung quickly took First Turret botside. As a team, Cloud9 secured Rift Herald, gaining the Feats of Strength boot buff. A second Dragon went over to C9 without issue.

FlyQuest sent four topside, claiming the tier two turret, but no kills. Both teams postured around Atakhan, but neither committed until FlyQuest backed off. With all five C9 players ready, they began to shred through Atakhan, until a decisive Bwipo stole it with an Aatrox Q. C9 immediately took revenge by acing FlyQuest, with Zven grabbing a clean Triple Kill.

After the teams respawned, fighting resumed. Cloud9 secured the Drake and four kills along with it. Bwipo tried to walk out, but was killed under turret. One-for-ones continued across the map, but C9’s gold lead started to snowball. They headed to Baron on spawn and began pushing into FLY’s base with the buff.

All of FLY but Quad fell as Cloud9 crushed FLY’s last turret defenses, tying the series 1-1.

Game 3

With scaling champs on both sides, it looked like another slow start. Inspired solo'd Hextech Drake without contest. He started Void Grubs with Massu, but only secured one. Zven caught Busio leaving topside river. After the rest of the objective was claimed, Inspired tried to re-engage, but Thanatos had Mega Gnar ready. In just seconds, C9 went from one kill to four, along with the Feat of Warfare. Unfortunately for FlyQuest, three of those went to Zven on Senna.

A bloodbath broke out in FLY’s jungle, with an aggressive flash ult from Lee "Loki" Sang-min. The rest followed up, giving Cloud9 an ace just 12 minutes in. The fight went five-for-none. C9 kept pressing across the map, pushing their kill lead to 11-0 under 15 minutes. As they took First Turret, they won the Feats of Strength.

Inspired got a huge Herald steal, but traded a couple kills for it. He dropped it mid, claiming another turret. Thanatos pushed top while FlyQuest secured their second Drake, an Ocean drake. A massive Realm Warp from Quad earned him a key 1,000g shutdown bounty onto Thanatos.

C9 started Atakhan with FLY approaching from behind. Bwipo ulted in to interrupt, but missed, and fell to Zven. Inspired stole Atakhan, but his whole team was wiped on staggered death timers.

C9 got the fourth Drake, but their gold lead shrank as Massu grew into a bigger threat on Smolder. They forced a Baron fight, killed Inspired and Massu, then secured Baron. They pushed bot and mid, searching for a way to end. FLY tried to engage, but Bwipo dropped quickly. On the re-engage, Massu got a triple kill. Loki was shut down after a long chase across the map, but C9 grabbed another Ocean Drake while FLY kept following.

In C9’s topside jungle, FlyQuest only got one kill in the next fight. Cloud9 took the ace and started Baron again. FLY posed for a fight. Thanatos took the bait, but Zven traded back with a kill of his own.

C9 took Ocean Soul while FLY got Baron, both uncontested. FLY pushed bot and tried a risky Realm Warp under C9’s tier three turret, losing their team in an extended fight.

With Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme, Thanatos, Loki, and Zven in their base, Cloud9 closed out game three.

Game 4

Tensions leading into this game were high, with Cloud9 at match point. Blaber got caught out by an aggressive flash from Busio, and gave First Blood to FlyQuest. Cloud9 persisted though, and won the fight in the end, walking out with a total of four kills, along with Hextech Drake.

Quad and Inspired invaded, taking down Blaber and giving FlyQuest their second kill. A four man dive by FLY took their third kill, almost setting the score even. Inspired tried to start Void Grubs but was too low, instead going for his Blue. While Cloud9 worked on taking down turret platings, Inspired took all three of the Void Grubs. 

Cloud9 took the second Drake of the game, but lost First Turret to Inspired. The gold lead remained modest, but C9 kept slowly picking up kills. FlyQuest swung back with an unofficial ace, losing only one of their allies. FLY picked up an Ocean Drake and Rift Herald, giving them the Feats of Strength just under twenty minutes in.

As Atakhan came up, Zven got taken down, dashing any hopes Cloud9 had at contesting. FlyQuest took the Atakhan, but both teams suffered heavy casualties right after. FLY put up a good fight at Drake, but ultimately lost out.

Fights broke out at Baron but Cloud9 came out on top, taking the Baron for themselves, sitting at Soul Point. The game wasn’t over, but things were looking like they were coming to a close. Despite that, FLY fought hard at Drake and Massu got a major quadra kill.

Suddenly, FlyQuest pushed through midlane to Cloud9’s base, winning game four.

Game 5

Blaber invaded early, stealing Inspired’s Blue Buff, but FLY had vision. First Blood went to Busio after a clean stun onto Vulcan. Bwipo ganked botside, giving Busio a second kill. C9 started Ocean Drake, a risky call while outnumbered, but secured it along with a kill for Zven.

C9 took one Void Grub but couldn’t fight for the rest. They were too low after the initial skirmish, but prevented FLY from stacking all three. C9 secured the second Drake unopposed.

As turret plating dropped, Bwipo took First Turret, but a fight afterward gave C9 three kills, all going to Loki. Rift Herald went to C9 shortly after. Busio got picked off in C9’s jungle.

Blaber dropped Herald mid and chipped at a turret before helping take down Drake. Vulcan died early in the fight, and both teams traded kills in a four-for-three. They continued trading across the map after C9 hit Soul Point. Bwipo claimed Atakhan for FLY, extending their gold lead.

Prepping for Drake, things looked good for C9. Bwipo died early, but Inspired delayed Soul Point another five minutes. C9 faked a Baron start, caught Bwipo, and forced FLY to retreat while Zven pushed topside.

C9 started Baron again and took it down with Rend. With Blaber down for the count, FLY grabbed their second Chemtech Drake for free. A fight in FLY’s jungle went C9’s way. Thanatos got caught out near mid, but C9’s follow up kept him alive.

With Baron, C9 pushed bottom but pulled back. A clash mid saw no kills. But FlyQuest stayed strong, and managed to take the next two drakes even after losing Baron. This brought both teams to Soul Point, and FLY claimed the respawned Baron while Blaber was dead.

FLY knocked down two tier-twos with Baron, trying to capitalize on the buff they had. At Drake, the fight was close, but C9 was too low to contest. FLY secured Soul, stacking four Chemtech Drakes total. The damage mitigation was putting in work as the rest of the game unfolded.

C9 started Baron, but FLY avoided Vulcan’s ult and stole it. They shoved botside as four while Inspired split mid. C9’s Nexus turrets were half-health when FLY reached the base.

Pushing too far up, Inspired and Massu were taken down. Things looked up for Cloud9 for just a moment, until everyone saw FlyQuest’s plan. A surprise double teleport in topside river let Bwipo and Quad backdoor (without minions) for the win.

Result: FlyQuest wins 3-2.

In the end…

With FlyQuest’s victory, they’ve officially punched their ticket to MSI. LTA North only gets one slot at the international event this time. FLY certainly earned it after this grueling five-game series. This isn’t the last we’ll see of either team, though. Both FlyQuest and Cloud9 have secured invites to EWC later this year, as first and second place from this split.

If the fight we saw today showed anything, there will be plenty to look forward to heading into the rest of the year from both of these talented rosters.