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As a C9 fan, I was expecting Liquid to win the final...

Yfrappefort·9/10/2018, 2:06:17 AM·1 votes·1,959 views

Because they are overall a better team, but damn, C9 got crushed! IMO they had pretty poor drafts and made some questionnables picks :

Jensen on Malzahar : Seriously? Picking a stun bot on someone who is gifted with mechanicals champions? I would much rather see him on LB, Fizz or any mobile champions so that he can actually make plays. He contributed almost nothing and him getting caught off lost them the first game.
Not banning Sion : After getting crushed by Impact's Sion in two games, you'd think they would ban it on game 3, but no. They gave Impact the opportunity to be this giant unkillable frontline that can easily access the back line in all games.
Picking Twitch twice in a row : After not succeding in game one, I wouldn't have picked Twitch again, especially with the lead they threw in game 1. Sneaky would have been better on a utility carry like Varus or Ashe.
They banned Kai'Sai too late : This champion should have been perma-ban the whole serie. She is just broken atm, especially with the AP build late game.

Overall Liquid showed a very good performance and the stage experience showed off, but I think C9 could have made the series a bit more challenging (I was expecting Liquid 3-2 or 3-1). Let's hope Liquid can translate that region dominance on the internationnal stage (at least get out of group stage)...

As for C9, they will need to get their shit together. Otherwise they won't have a chance in the gauntlet.

10 Comments

Geauxx9/10/2018, 2:09:02 AM1 votes

i'll add on, picking braum every game when he looked lost on that champion.

GeminiRune9/10/2018, 2:25:45 AM1 votes

Oooo weee when I tell you TL was just the better team on the day that is just THE closing statement. The performance, particularly the draft, felt like C9 played disrespectfully and they definitely deserved to take that loss especially the closing moments in the series; team fight after team fight you just see how C9 can't even get to the core without taking punishment for it.

There's so many what ifs for them here. Zeyzal on anything but Braum, Sneaky on variable pocket marksmen, Jensen on assassins, a thorough vision game. All of these were doable but it's like they just expected their confident win during the regular season to be the potential expected of TL.

HonestJohnTheCon9/10/2018, 2:34:47 AM1 votes

Something to note about the Gauntlet...

Because TL and 100 Thieves -- two new faces -- are going to Worlds, C9 and TSM are stuck in the Gauntlet (along with Echo Fox and Clutch). Meaning that one team's Worlds streak will be broken.

But yeah, a bit of a shame that C9 got crushed. Pretty stupid drafting by them even though their mechanical performance was solid.

StonePlatypus9/10/2018, 4:28:22 AM1 votes

It's the C9 curse.

Someone on the opposing team picks something strong, something stupidly broken. Not only is it strong, but they pilot it well.

They don't ban it for any of the games and let it sweep them.

They did it last time at worlds (Fakers Galio)

They did it again (Sion)

What a laughable "coach of the split".

God I hate Reapered.

They didn't utilize Jensen, switching out for Sven and Golden Glue was useless.

I seriously hate being a C9. It's all about them getting your hopes up, then shitting the bed the first time a stiff breeze blows their way.

Honestly at this point I really hope they get knocked out and don't go to worlds.

I still hate TSM more than I want to see my team punished.

But god damn I want both those organizations to miss worlds.

It's a shameful time to be North America to boot.

Shitty TL performance at MSI.

Terrible Rift Rivals results.

100 Thieves will be choking hard, despite making it on points.

TL will fail hard like they did at MSI.

Then whoever is our 3rd seed will merely be our 3rd seed if disappointment.

Will it be Echo Fox and stupid over aggression?

Or will it be Team Super-passive MId?

Will it be Unable to C-their mistakes 9?

Screw me. Why is region such a pile of garbage? :\

Watched game 1 hopeful. Disappointing, but it was sorta close.

Game 2 I stopped halfway then fast forwarded to the end after 10 minutes of lost fights.

Game 3 I didnt even play after seeing the draft and just looked up the results.

Thank you C9 for making me wish I never got into esports! XD

Ok I'm done. Here's hoping all the hope and desire I had for C9 is now redirected into them failing harder than ever.

I support C9. Always have, always will. They want to lose? I don't understand, but I'll support them! They can be the best trash team in NA, I believe in them!

(Yeah I'm salty)

saltran9/10/2018, 8:46:44 AM1 votes

Score and Uzi got ride of their curse this year and are way older than Jensen, he will have more times to win a title in the next years, as a KT fan can only say: dont lose hope, it's just a matter of time.

On the other hand, my boys Ssumday and Ryu are going back to Korea, thank you mr Doublelift.

(Now C9 win the Gauntlet please)

BigBellBrute9/10/2018, 5:29:46 PM1 votes

{quoted}

Because they are overall a better team, but damn, C9 got crushed! IMO they had pretty poor drafts and made some questionnables picks :

Jensen on Malzahar : Seriously? Picking a stun bot on someone who is gifted with mechanicals champions? I would much rather see him on LB, Fizz or any mobile champions so that he can actually make plays. He contributed almost nothing and him getting caught off lost them the first game.

Not banning Sion : After getting crushed by Impact's Sion in two games, you'd think they would ban it on game 3, but no. They gave Impact the opportunity to be this giant unkillable frontline that can easily access the back line in all games.

Picking Twitch twice in a row : After not succeding in game one, I wouldn't have picked Twitch again, especially with the lead they threw in game 1. Sneaky would have been better on a utility carry like Varus or Ashe.

They banned Kai'Sai too late : This champion should have been perma-ban the whole serie. She is just broken atm, especially with the AP build late game.

Overall Liquid showed a very good performance and the stage experience showed off, but I think C9 could have made the series a bit more challenging (I was expecting Liquid 3-2 or 3-1). Let's hope Liquid can translate that region dominance on the internationnal stage (at least get out of group stage)...

As for C9, they will need to get their shit together. Otherwise they won't have a chance in the gauntlet.

I didn't like the Malz pick either. But not for the same reason. Just because a player is mechanically gifted doesn't mean he always has to play a top Mechanical champ. Just look at Bjerg. He's no slouch either but But what champ of his were people afraid of? Press R, Kill stuff. I thought it was a defensive pick once Zilean got banned and I'm not sure how practiced up Jensen was on it. Anyway, I think c9 totally underestimated Pobelter who was My Series MVP. Although it really could have been anyone.

 By game 3 yes it was clear Sion and Kaisai were working them over.   But  It was the Kaisai that should have been banned all three games.   Liquid right off the bat said OK Jensen Big boy, you aren't getting Zilean and guess what, you guys aren't getting Kindred either.  c9 should have done the same with Kaisai.  Doublelift has really taken to that champ.  Make him play anything else.  Also Top bans are often useless against TL but Sion had been crushing you.

Make him play anything else.
3. I think Tyler said it best. Twitch sucks. But I think c9 fell into the It was working, we were ahead, we just need to not throw trap. And that trap is an easy trap to fall into. But you have to think. Did our comp contribute to that mistake in the team fight costing us the game and would another comp be more forgiving. I think like you, that it was at least partially the comp. And they just got blown out the second game. They never had a chance.
5. Picking red side. If you're going to be picking red side, you need to take advantage of what the red side offers. You are guaranteed at least one counter pick and you should be getting two. C9 didn't take advantage. All too often I don't see counter picks coming in on red side. You just threw away the best advantage of red side.

Nipsahoy9/11/2018, 12:40:08 AM1 votes

They didn't play to their strengths. They have very strong laners in Licorice and Jensen - and Blaber has been pretty good early game although his TSM games weren't great. Sneaky and Zeyzal typically don't fall enough behind to become a liability. Their strength was playing strong lanes and creating map pressure through that and getting an early gold lead and pressing that advantage.

This series frustrated me because it felt like they were drafting only for late game. Gangplank, Malzahar, Twitch are all champs that don't have super great early games and tend to scale strong into late game. They basically conceded the early game and played for late and TL had better vision control and comps that could make plays early and they did that really well.

I feel like C9s drafting was their biggest issue - not flaming Reapered but I just felt like they didn't play to their strengths as a team and kinda danced to TL's tune the whole time. Game one they almost pulled it off but some mistakes by the guys being caught out lost them that game and the others weren't close.

Dr Poro9/11/2018, 3:27:54 PM1 votes

Well, it's hard to beat Asian teams anyways. NA just lost a slot in Worlds lol.

Chumpzi11a9/13/2018, 12:31:33 PM1 votes

Liquid is a hedgehog. They are good at one strategy. So I can understand losing game 1 of a series. You may just want to see exactly how good they are at their strategy. Losing game 2, the same way, is bad. Losing game 3 is awful. I was unable to detect the coaching staff's plan. It looked like Napoleon's.