In League of Legends the Worlds 2024 are approaching. Normally, Cloud9, six-time champion in the LCS, participates every year as the representative of the USA. But in 2024 they miss the qualification for the LoL Worlds 2024, even though the season was excellent. It is a catastrophe, a “disaster,” as one of the players says.
What is special about the USA in LoL: In the USA, each team is allowed to use two “foreign players,” who are often the main contributors to their teams, as North American players are considered somewhat weaker compared to players from Asia.
The two best teams of the regular season both rely on the maximum number of South Koreans in their foreign player slots: Cloud9 plays with Thanatos and Berserker – Team Liquid has Impact, UmTi, and CoreJJ. The South Korean Impact has been playing in the USA for so long that he no longer counts against the foreign player cap.
This is how the season went for Cloud9:
- Everything was actually going according to plan for Cloud9. In the summer split of the LCS, they finished second. Cloud9 won 6 games, losing only to Team Liquid, the favorites.
- But in the playoffs, Cloud9 faced problems right away, losing the first game against the third-placed FlyQuest 1-3.
- In the second game of the playoffs, they were eliminated 1-3 against the fifth-placed team, 100 Thieves.
Cloud9 misses the Worlds 2024: “Catastrophic Year”
The meaning of the defeat: Cloud9 has now become fourth in the summer split 2024 and is definitely not attending the Worlds in LoL.
Instead, 100 Thieves, FlyQuest, and Team Liquid are going to the Worlds.
For the favorites Cloud9, this is now a severe setback, as they have only missed participation in the LoL Worlds twice since their establishment. That it will happen again in 2024, after the regular season went so well, is a catastrophe.
Jungler Blaber speaks of a “disastrous year” in which they never reached their potential.
On paper, actually a hugely strong team – disappointing in-game
Why is this particularly noteworthy? For Cloud9, a dream team is actually playing, one of the best that the USA has to offer.
The supporter Vulcan has been considered a star for years, Blaber has been in the team since 2018.
With Jojopyun (19), they acquired the most promising young player from North America in November 2023. He is considered the biggest talent that North America has produced in recent years.
Moreover, they have an excellent foreign player in the Korean Berserker on the bot lane.
Cloud9 was sure they had replaced the team’s “previous weak point” well with the South Korean Thanatos on the top lane. But in the game against 100 Thieves, Thanatos appeared lackluster, managing only 7 kills in 4 games.
Fans believe: The young midlaner screwed it up
What was the reason? On reddit, the discontent is mainly directed against the young midlaner Jojopyun: he showed nerves under pressure.
However, there is also – as always – criticism of the coach and the draft, as many criticize that they let Berserker play Ziggs.
Overall, the situation for Cloud9 fans is just disappointing, while 100 Thieves are given a surprisingly good performance.
But the combination of 2 South Koreans and 3 North Americans apparently could not deliver as well as hoped under pressure. For Cloud9, the entire year of 2024 in LoL is already going significantly worse than they had envisioned on paper: LoL: The six-time champion reaches for the stars, builds a super team, fails
