Top Dead: SSG advance to the Semifinals

Riot·Oct 14, 2016·2 votes·14,604 views

The sound was deafening when Cloud9 took to the stage here at the Chicago Theatre. They were the last hope for North America here at Worlds, and If Cloud9 were going to come away with a win they were going to need all North America’s energy to make it happen.

That's because they were up against a Samsung Galaxy squad that had finished their previous two games in 23 minutes and topped Group D over the likes of TSM and Royal Never Give Up.

The first series started out slow, but it was in the top lane where expectations were flipped. Cloud9’s top laner Impact created a meme when he coined the term “top die” after a string of solo kills during the Regional Qualifier. Going into the Quarterfinals, he had one of the highest solo kill counts for all top laners, but CuVee wasn’t about to become a victim to the meme.

“Yes, I’d heard of ‘top die’ before,” said CuVee with a laugh. “The words ‘top die’ popped into my head a lot when I was killing him. Except I was saying ‘top joogyutsuh.’”

CuVee pummeled Impact -- picking up solo kill after solo kill. “I’d have to say that killing Impact over and over in the top lane the first game was definitely the most satisfying thing about the series,” says CuVee of his performance. The mismatch in the top lane was indicative of Cloud9’s opening game. They looked completely out of sorts. Their proactive plays were stifled. Sneaky was killed before the observers could even catch up, and in the end Samsung posted their third consecutive sub-30 minute win.

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Everyone in the Chicago Theatre realized just how uphill of a battle Cloud9 were facing.

While things looked bad for the boys from North America in Game 1, they massively upgraded their performance in Game 2. It was neck-to-neck until about 26 minutes -- a minute shy of when their last game had ended. There were only two kills on the board, but Cloud9 had the Dragon lead.

Then things went from zero to sixty in an instant. It all started with an incredible Teleport play from CuVee that showed off the all-in prowess of Samsung’s team comp. Despite both Orianna and Kennen being down in CS, they nailed their ultimates -- picking up four kills and nabbing Baron. That single play snowballed into a 7,000 gold lead. From there it was just a matter of playing the game out in the methodical way that Korean teams are renowned for. And despite being even for so long, Samsung walked away with their second win of the night.

Going into Game 3 it was do or die for Cloud9. If they wanted to keep North America’s hopes alive, they were going to have to win this game first, or their Worlds campaign would be dust. They managed to go even with Samsung for so long in Game 2, but hadn’t yet pushed them outside their comfort zone. So if they were going to give themselves a chance they were going to have to shake things up.

That shake came in the form of a green gelatinous blob -- Meteos’ signature champion Zac. It was the final pick for Cloud9 and as soon as it was locked in, the theatre erupted. Zac was a champion that the superstar jungler made his name with when Cloud9 first bounced onto the scene. If Cloud9 were known for reverse sweeps, this would be an epic time to pull one off.

In the end Samsung were clinical in how they buried the game and with it the hopes and dreams of North America. There were some promising early plays, particularly from Meteos, who gave Cloud9 a great engage tool and kept Samsung’s lanes on edge. But the cross map presence from Corejj's Tahm Kench and the great Teleport plays from CuVee's Poppy gave Samsung huge advantages in gold, objectives, and map pressure. It was the longest game of the series -- and Cloud9 hung on valiantly -- but it wasn’t enough as Samsung clinched the first Worlds Quarterfinals series.

Looking to the Semifinals, CuVee had a message for the rest of the Semifinalists:

“There will be a Korean team in the Finals.”

58 Comments

QueenElizabethIIOct 14, 201634 votes

On behalf of Chicagoans, I apologize about the crowd booing SSG. It was very disrespectful. They always cheered our teams when we were in Korea and we sucked.

AlexanderMagnusIOct 14, 20165 votes

Booo

p0psiclesOct 14, 20168 votes

If you spent less time booing and more time playing league you might not be bronze IV

Wrlte MusicOct 15, 20161 votes

that's one hell of a boost LOL... saw that record

AlexanderMagnusIOct 15, 20161 votes

Boooo

Count BuffonOct 14, 20166 votes

I was unable to watch because of my schedule, but... wow, you're telling me that this actually happened???

Don't hate them for being good and showing up in top form...

madiiimanOct 14, 20169 votes

Yeah, I was there and I was shocked when people started booing. I wanted C9 to pull off a miracle upset too, but booing the other team? Just bad sportsmanship.

Grym BoltOct 14, 20167 votes

It's a shame that this is how we represent our region. Maybe this is why we never won anything. Instead of wanting to improve, we just want to make someone else deprove(Or whatever the opposite of improve is). I am embarrassed at this. We need to bring it together for next year.

ReaxetionOct 14, 20165 votes

On behalf of Americans I apologize for the crowds behavior. There is no acceptable reason for such acts, and I hope that this does not reflect the rest of our country's citizens.

DiodeOct 14, 20162 votes

Koreans were more respectful, but who knows, maybe if the NA teams came in as the best region that crushes all it would've been differen't. Not an impossible thought

Sonic1013Oct 15, 20161 votes

After that I felt that NA kinda deserved to lose... Plus NA fans (Im an NA fan, but i didnt do this) would spam comment every youtuber saying how NA will win worlds and how EU will suck until the sun goes down.

SteefnessOct 15, 20161 votes

It's the same meathead element that chant USA for a team that has 4 different countries represented in the starting lineup. It's shameful to boo the Koreans, they should be booing C9 for performing so dismally as the NA regions last hope, but even that is low class.

bro0rtegaOct 14, 20165 votes

Guess we gotta wait for another year to see if NA can rise.

Count BuffonOct 14, 20161 votes

TSM was looking so much better than everyone else in the Summer. This ending was really weird and disappointing. Even the day before, Sneaky sounded pretty convinced that they were going to lose, and he didn't have any ideas about what caused them to lose games last week or how to fix it. It was like they somehow squeaked by and were in over their heads, while Korea was finally popping their Playoff Buff item actives just in time to clean up Worlds. It was pretty easy to see this coming after how groups ended.

AlexanderMagnusIOct 14, 20161 votes

Booo

EleshakaiOct 14, 20165 votes

Not sure what happened, but C9 clearly weren't able to fix their group stage woes. More's the pity... but I'm still a fan, win or lose.

PKThunder247Oct 14, 20162 votes

It's easy to explain what happened. The gap really hasn't closed. Samsung is on an entirely different level from C9.

EleshakaiOct 14, 20163 votes

{quoted}

It's easy to explain what happened. The gap really hasn't closed. Samsung is on an entirely different level from C9.

Except, even just looking at their play on a purely isolated level, C9 played far worse during this event - even against NON-SSG teams - than they did during the playoffs.

C9 underperformed. Whether SSG overperformed is largely irrelevant. C9 did not show up at all. As much as I love them as a team... they have moments where they seem to fall apart every so often, and one of those was for this event.

I'm actually surprised C9 made it out of groups given their groups performance. Fortunately they weren't the only team to underperform, because at least they made it to quarters... but I don't think C9 - if they'd played the way they did at worlds during the regionals - would've even MADE it to worlds.

AlexanderMagnusIOct 14, 20161 votes

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

ReaxetionOct 14, 20161 votes

I agree, but I would like to add that had they played at their peak, this would have been a very exciting series that could fall either way. I love C9, have ever since they made their debut. It just hurts sometimes to watch them fall apart like this. (I miss you Hai.)

PKThunder247Oct 14, 20161 votes

Hai may have helped C9 with strats, but hai's mechanical skills were among the worst ever seen for a competitive player. I can't think of any other player like Hai where his shotcalling is what made C9 a good team and his mechanical skills are what held his team back.

EleshakaiOct 15, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Hai may have helped C9 with strats, but hai's mechanical skills were among the worst ever seen for a competitive player. I can't think of any other player like Hai where his shotcalling is what made C9 a good team and his mechanical skills are what held his team back.

Hai was not THAT bad of a mechanical player in his prime. He was a mid-tier mechanical player in his prime, but a top class shotcaller. In his later days, post-injury, he became a liability... but wrist injuries will do that to you.

SloreDemonOct 14, 20161 votes

Not playing well week 2 of groups and quarters vs how they played in playoffs and gauntlet to get to worlds is a reflection of the "gap" not being closed, at least not with korean teams. The biggest cause for the gap is looking at the middle tier teams from each region. The middle tier teams from NA dont hold a candle to the middle tier teams from korea, so much so that it severely detracts from the growth of the top NA team(s). To me, coming into worlds, the only NA team that was a somewhat viable contender was TSM. C9 had shown macro issues that kept them from being a viable contender in my mind. Furthermore, impact showing up against so-so top laners didnt mean he'd run amok at worlds. SSG was a middle tier korean team for majority of the year and I think they still more or less are. While them still being middle tier is debatable, they came in as a middle tier team at showed up pretty well against TSM, the definitive best team from NA (yes, better than c9 even though they didnt get out of groups and c9 did) and decidedly beat RNG twice. Doing all that as a middle tier team is indicative of the proverbial "gap" that still exists. I don't believe c9 underperformed, I think they were beaten by a team better than them from a region better than theirs.

EleshakaiOct 15, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Not playing well week 2 of groups and quarters vs how they played in playoffs and gauntlet to get to worlds is a reflection of the "gap" not being closed, at least not with korean teams. The biggest cause for the gap is looking at the middle tier teams from each region. The middle tier teams from NA dont hold a candle to the middle tier teams from korea, so much so that it severely detracts from the growth of the top NA team(s). To me, coming into worlds, the only NA team that was a somewhat viable contender was TSM. C9 had shown macro issues that kept them from being a viable contender in my mind. Furthermore, impact showing up against so-so top laners didnt mean he'd run amok at worlds. SSG was a middle tier korean team for majority of the year and I think they still more or less are. While them still being middle tier is debatable, they came in as a middle tier team at showed up pretty well against TSM, the definitive best team from NA (yes, better than c9 even though they didnt get out of groups and c9 did) and decidedly beat RNG twice. Doing all that as a middle tier team is indicative of the proverbial "gap" that still exists. I don't believe c9 underperformed, I think they were beaten by a team better than them from a region better than theirs.

then all I can say is that you've never watched a C9 match before in your life... if you don't think that they underperformed at worlds, then you're not familiar with their recent performances.

Not going to say they would've won everything if they hadn't underperformed. That is IMPOSSIBLE to judge(because we didn't get to see it)... but if you claim that the performance C9 had at worlds is normal for them you're literally just ignorant of the way they're able to play when they're in their element.

I think people are just ignorant if they think the gap is as wide as it was 2-3 years ago. The reality is that a team can look convincing in a win if they're only a fraction better than the other team. Look at how convincing SKT's wins in the finals last year were. I don't think SKT was a MILES better team than their opponent. They were a fractionally better team, but they played to their strengths and were on their game that day.

A convincing win, or even a convincing series, does not mean that a team is DRAMATICALLY ahead. The rest of the world is getting better - and no, not just NA(although Europe this past split seemed to suffer some major adaptation issues to the meta, given their in-region play), and that where the gap was enormous 2-3 years ago(if I had to put percentages to it, I'd say Korean teams were like 40-50% better thgan the rest of the world then, but they're like 3-4% better now), it's simply not as enormous. You can see teams recognizing what to do, but just not quite being able to poke their heads through the opening. You can see teams making the right moves, but being just fractions of a second behind the play. You can see teams with good strategy, but just not accounting for one hole in it that gets exploited. The mistakes being made now by ALL regions in top tier competitive play are not the same mistakes as were being made 3~ years ago. They're now mistakes of inches, not miles. But inches are all you need to look convincing.

PKThunder247Oct 14, 20161 votes

They made it out of groups because Flash Wolves failed to close out two games week 1 of groups. Flash Wolves was on paper the second best team in the group, but failed to live up to the hype. For playoffs, you can't compare how C9 played against weak NA teams outside of TSM to their performance against stronger teams in the group stage and a Korean team in Samsung who was given no respect by the casters. C9 did not under perform at all. In all honestly they overachieved getting out of group stages. All world's has shown so far is that the gap between East (primarily Korea) and West is still massive. C9 needs to make quite a few changes to become a better team and it starts with finding a jungler to replace Meteos who was worthless in most of C9's matches at worlds.

PKThunder247Oct 14, 20164 votes

That crowd was bad. They should have started the lets go C9, C9 sucks chant. Regardless this series to compare to NA was the equivalent of TSM facing Echo Fox.

Hentai Fuels MeOct 14, 20162 votes

Equivalent to random amateurs playing a random fun game.

AlexanderMagnusIOct 14, 20162 votes

Booo

PKThunder247Oct 14, 20163 votes

For C9 too bad their best player had no impact on the series. xD

AlexanderMagnusIOct 14, 20161 votes

Booo

Elemental TheoryOct 14, 20163 votes

What a biased, partisan article.

Bern1niOct 14, 201610 votes

oh no! This reporter talked negatively about a team that got 3-0'ed and the support on SSG got more kills in game 3 than C9's bot lane in the whole series. I bet you believe the "gap is closing" as well.

AlexanderMagnusIOct 14, 20161 votes

Booo

CocosanOct 14, 20163 votes

I still believe ANX will make it to the finals.

Hentai Fuels MeOct 14, 20162 votes

I didn't realize a NA team was in the knockout stages...lol

HelelOct 14, 20162 votes

What does joogyutsuh means? Is it die in Korean?

Hentai Fuels MeOct 14, 20161 votes

It means dead

VROOMVROOMRACEROct 14, 20163 votes

It means "I killed him"

HaXourceOct 15, 20161 votes

It also can mean "is dead"

Carl JungleOct 14, 20162 votes

You are so so very ignorant if you think the end started at the pre baron fight. It started when Meteos had an opportunity to smite an infernal and missed a smite that a bronze jungler could make. Yes, I have missed smites before even recently, but that smite I make 1000 out of a 1000 times. Once SSG had an infernal, C9 was toast.

AlexanderMagnusIOct 14, 20161 votes

BOOOOOOO