LCS Playoffs Spring 2020: Previewing Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves

100 Thieves, LCS. Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games. /

We preview the second match of the LCS playoffs with Cloud9 taking on 100 Thieves.

The LCS playoffs will feature perhaps the most dominant team in the league’s history as they make their run for their first LCS title in half a decade. Their first challenge will be a surging team of rag-tag players who have defied every expectation to make it to the top three in the regular season. We break down what to expect in the match-up of Cloud9 versus 100 Thieves.

Cloud9 (17-1)

Not much else can be said about Cloud9 after their dominant performance in the LCS regular season. They lapped every single LCS team in terms of their understanding of macro and the meta and on an individual basis every single one of their players was top of the class, evidenced by the fact that all five Cloud9 members made first-team All-Pro for the Spring Split.

Their one loss on the year to TSM was frankly just a matter of poor draft and their opponents playing their best League of Legends of the year. While it was discouraging for C9 fans to miss out on their team being the first to have a perfect split, the loss seemed to jar Cloud9 and force them to re-double their efforts. This team has been the picture of consistency and near perfection, making them the overwhelming favorites to end the LCS playoffs as champions.

100 Thieves (10-8)

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100 Thieves were considered by most coming into the year to be a fringe playoff team, which was about where they hovered throughout the Spring Split. However, the Thieves turned it on in the last three weeks of the split, going 5-1 down the stretch to boost them into the winner’s bracket.

The biggest story for 100 Thieves has been their top laner, Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho. He has been one of the best players, let alone top laners, during the Spring Split and has made a strong case to be considered the MVP of the split. He is surrounded by strong supporting pieces including jungler William “Meteos” Hartman and ADC Cody “Cody Sun” Sun.

Head-to-Head

Cloud9 owns the head-to-head match-up on the season, as they do with every LCS team not-named TSM. In Week 2, Cloud9 wiped the floor with 100 Thieves, only surrendering five kills in a 32-minute rout. This was largely on the back of ADC Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen’s outstanding play on Senna and top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie holding Ssumday to an 0/5/0 scoreline on Aatrox.

In Week 8, Cloud9 handed 100 Thieves their sole loss down the stretch in a 30-minute win that was again on the back of Zven, this time playing Syndra. While the faster game might indicate the game was a stomp, it was actually closer than the first meeting. Mid laner Tommy “ry0ma” Le held his own against C9’s Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer and Meteos arguably out-jungled Cloud9’s Robert “Blaber” Huang.

Key Match-Up

Ssumday has been 100 Thieves’s best player all split, but in their two losses to Cloud9 he went silent, going a combined 0/6/2. Unlocking Ssumday, or holding him down in Cloud9’s case, will likely decide the series.

Prediction: Cloud9 wins 3-0

In terms of playing weak-side, there is no better top laner in the LCS than Licorice. He has proven that he can hold his own and keep Ssumday from taking over games in their match-ups, which is really all teams need to do to keep 100 Thieves from getting early leads.

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While 100 Thieves have proven to be a stellar team in terms of their late-game team fighting, Cloud9 is arguably the best LCS team in that regard. Plus, C9 has the fastest average game time in the LCS, meaning it’s highly unlikely that they will even allow 100 Thieves to stall out into the late game. Without those two win conditions, I don’t see much of a chance for 100 Thieves to take a game off Cloud9, let alone the series.

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LCS Playoffs: Previewing Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves

By Josh Tyler | Apr 4, 2020