What I was thinking during the Cloud9 vs GE Tigers early game (if it matters at all to you)

this is just my two cents I'm not looking for people to agree, but I just want to point out what I think C9 could have done to prevent this kind of loss. I also acknowledge that the pressure is high, and that this level of play is something that I will never get to experience and that everything in this kind of situation is usually clearer from a third-party perspective.

First of all, I expected GE to beat Cloud9; but, of course, I had a little bit of hope for the latter winning the match because gawd bless 'murrica Cloud9 is typically a team that you have to strategically take down to beat because of their own strategic prowess (however, they have been a bit iffy this season at the NA LCS). I thought that C9 would put up a fight on that stage, but damn, they just went all in on GE's draft and got their asses handed to them.

Anyway, on to the early game. I was brimming with vicarious satisfaction when I saw C9 get the first blood onto Gorilla (Nami) — onto Balls's rumble at that. That tribrush cheese was actually pretty nice. I don't see why they didn't send Sneaky (Graves) to 1v1 Smeb (Lissandra). I think they could have had Balls's Rumble and Lemon's Morgana go against Pray's Corki and Gorilla's Nami after that first blood (under turret or farming from a distance or something safe to hold on until the mid-game. Hell, if they let Pray overextend a bit, Meteos could have deterred them from between mid and bottom while Sneaky would shift into a safer style as to be wary of Lee's possible ganks on that would-be volatile lane in that situation). As far as I know, lane swaps aren't really a thing in the LCK (however, I do think that GE had a plan in case that happened, but now we'll never know). Instead, they went for standard lanes wherein Sneaky did pretty decently against Pray; though that means that Balls had to 1v1 Smeb's Lissandra which did not go so well. I think that a lane swap would have been the better call. (What do you guys think about that?)

As for the jungle matchup... Meteos (J4) vs Lee (Lee Sin lol)... From the pick and ban phase, C9 knew that Hai (Kennen) was targeted by GE. Why not do the lane swap and then have Meteos at the ready to counter Lee's inevitable early ganks onto Hai? Why didn't Meteos focus on protecting the the Kennen at a disadvantage against the Leblanc? That dive onto Pray and Gorilla was fine and all, but they were instantly punished by the Lissandra tp. And a dive or two in the top lane had Kuro (Leblanc) follow up because Hai ended up getting ganked by Lee twice beforehand, giving Kuro permission to roam like that. Hai without his Zed was punished and fell so far behind. The dives were too much as well. C9 didn't need to overextend like that.

Cloud9 should have expected GE to take them a bit lightly. This was evident with Gorilla spamming Nami's laugh and dance in that tribrush unawares. I think Cloud9 didn't give themselves enough credit. Demoralizing.

tl;dr — C9 didn't use Balls's Rumble's first blood. A lane swap was an option, not taken. Hai was shit on but could have been protected by Meteos. C9 should have been more confident in themselves to strategically outdo GE and not go all-in under GE's turrets. #TSMWIN Kappa if you read all of it, i thank you, friend.