The US team Cloud 9 reportedly spent 5 million USD before the season to acquire one of the best players from League of Legends in Europe: midlaner Perkz. But internationally at the MSI, the harsh awakening comes again. The new LoL is the old LoL again. South Korea dominates and the USA looks quite old.
This is the situation with LoL:
- For years, US teams in League of Legends have had a problem: While LoL is extremely popular in the USA and teams have filled war chests, internationally the USA is by far the weakest of the 4 major regions. The strongest team from the USA was eliminated at the Worlds 2020 without a win and embarrassed themselves and the region.
- Cloud 9 wanted to do everything differently in 2021 and really make a push. For reportedly 5 million USD, they acquired one of probably the best players in the Western world: Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković (22). With Zven, they already have a very strong Dane under contract.
- The US league LCS was won by Cloud 9 with Perkz, but at the international tournament MSI, the team is now being shown limits again. Particularly bitter: This time it might not even be enough for 4th place. A new region threatens to overtake the USA.
Cloud 9 is already close to elimination at MSI
This is how Cloud 9 is doing at MSI: Cloud 9 managed to get through the group stage relatively unscathed. Only against the super team from South Korea, the reigning world champion DAMWON Gaming, did they suffer 2 defeats, but they came through without a loss against the representatives of the “small regions”.
However, in the main stage, the “Rumble Stage”, things are already looking bleak for Cloud 9. With 1-5 games, they are in second-to-last place and on the verge of elimination. Cloud 9 can no longer advance on their own and must hope for mistakes from their rivals.
They cannot keep up with the competition from South Korea (DAMWON Gaming) and China (Royal Never Give Up). This was actually already clear beforehand. However, it is surprising that they also lost against the young team Mad Lions from Europe, who are still quite inexperienced internationally.
There was already a clear statement before the match. The Spanish jungler of MAD Lions, Elyoya, was asked before the match how he assesses the game against Cloud 9. He smiled and said:
I mean, this will be really one-sided, right from the start. Europe is clearly superior. This won’t even be close.
Elyoya
Indeed, MAD Lions won significantly with 23:9 in kills in a relaxed 26 minutes.
The real surprise for Cloud 9 is the defeat against PSG Talon, a team that belongs to Paris Saint-Germain but plays in the ‘Pacific Championship Series’. This LoL region actually does not play a significant role internationally, but with PSG Talon they have a strong team that is now threatening to displace the US top team.
The only victory for Cloud 9 so far has been against Pentanet.gg, a team from Australia.
Cloud 9 wins against top team, loses against total underdog
Update 18.5. 15:22: This is how it continued: Cloud 9 continued the tournament with a completely chaotic performance:
- They defeated the Chinese top team Royal Never Give Up, making a statement that the USA still belongs in the world elite. For a short time, there was even hope of advancing
- However, Cloud 9 then lost against the Australian underdog team Pentanet.gg, who came with a wild combo of champs, completely surprised Cloud 9, and sunk them. That was the first victory for the Australians in the main stage ever
Cloud 9 now stands with 2-6, practically without hope of surviving the Rumble Stage of MSI.
What’s behind this: This is the same pattern every year for the US teams: In their own region, the stars are celebrated and praised by fans. However, in international comparison, a performance gap becomes evident.
At the moment, all the old conditions have been restored in LoL: South Korea dominates ahead of China. The Western regions play only a minor role, especially after even the Euro-nobility, G2 and Fnatic, failed this year.
The actual super team is DAMWON Gaming with the superstars Showmaker and Canyon. The surprise of MSI 2021 so far is that it seems that even 4th place is currently not sufficient for the USA, despite them having invested so much money in the transfer market before the season.
