We’re officially one week away from LTA North’s elimination matches, and the pressure was on today. Cloud9 clutched their victory today—once again thanks to a threadbare Nexus save. In a surprisingly cutthroat best of three, we saw Shopify Rebellion fight their way to the top in a very even matchup through and through.

Cloud9 vs. Team Liquid

Game 1:

All laners were playing passively, with Lee "Loki" Sang-min starting to build up a CS advantage, but no kills were traded before the ten-minute mark. Team Liquid killed the Mountain Drake, but Cloud9 was able to take all three of the Void Grubs. Around 12 minutes in, Jeong "Impact" Eon-young and Eom "Umti" Seong-hyeon tried to make a move, but C9 rotated faster—Loki picked up First Blood. A trade mid gave TL a kill but was immediately followed by a kill and Drake was given over to C9.

A huge trade at Rift Herald gave a third kill and objective to Cloud9, setting the pace for the game. Feats of Strength immediately went to C9. The teams skirmished at Drake Pit, and all of Team Liquid but Sean "Yeon" Sung were killed. With Atakhan in hand, C9 had a commanding 6,000 gold lead just over 20 minutes in. Fighting continued, but Cloud9 kept the momentum; they pushed turrets and smited Baron despite Yeon putting in a good effort to steal it.

Just after, a topside 5v5 left Team Liquid aced, and Cloud9 were able to reset before pushing the third midlane turret. C9 grouped to take Infernal Soul before diving Team Liquid under their Nexus turrets. With a near 18k gold lead and earning over quadruple the kills of Team Liquid, C9 showed great promise heading into the second game of the day.

Game 2:

Four minutes in, Team Liquid attempted to invade Cloud9’s jungle but were outnumbered as Loki joined the fight. Two kills went over to C9, but Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in was able to secure one for TL. Robert "Blaber" Huang was able to kill the Hextech Drake but lost two of the Void Grubs to Team Liquid following a four-man run for the objective.

A 3v3 topside gave two kills along with the Feat of Warfare over to Cloud9 and a flash Ult engage from Umti gave Eain "APA" Stearns a solid shutdown. With Ziggs passive and Demolish up for APA, Team Liquid was able to secure First Turret. With both teams being even in Feat Battle, and the next one giving over the boots buff, tensions were high at Drake Pit. Both teams lost their junglers early in the teamfight. APA tried to steal the objective with his ultimate, but Cloud9 paced themselves. C9 took the Ocean Drake, Feats of Strength, and put themselves at Soul Point.

Team Liquid was left with only their midlaner alive, and Cloud9 saw the opportunity for Soul. Blaber was able to take the Ocean Drake completely uncontested, but TL still kept their 4k gold lead. C9 was able to push through a lot of Baron’s HP, but APA stole the objective with his ultimate. While he was able to escape, the rest of his team fell, leaving him the sole holder of Baron buff. Elder went over to Cloud9, and the momentum was reversed.

In a daring call, Cloud9 rushed Baron and recalled to their base as Team Liquid was on the brink of taking C9’s Nexus for their own. The fight was explosive, making TL lose all but APA once again. Cloud9 grouped, pushing as a team down mid, and were able to turn the game around, burning through the Nexus turrets and ultimately claiming victory in this series.

Result: Cloud9 won 2-0.

100 Thieves vs. Shopify Rebellion

Game 1:

The early Game was pretty peaceful outside of a gank from Juan "Contractz" Garcia down mid. 100 Thieves was able to secure the first Drake of the game along with all three of the Void Grubs. First Blood went to Contractz in a 3v3 dive botside, ending the skirmish two-for-one. The third kill went to Shopify Rebellion, claiming the first feat of the game.

The first turret went over to 100 Thieves' topside and kills were traded in the botside river. 100T was able to take Rift Herald, uncontested to secure the Feats of Strength. Infernal Drake fell to 100 Thieves, and a teamfight started from across the wall at Drake Pit, with Ju "Bvoy" Yeong-hoon just barely dying to Kim "River" Dong-woo.

100 Thieves started Atakhan as bait, and River was able to take out Denilson "Ceos" Oliveira without issue. The combined damage from Victor "FBI" Huang’s ultimate and Cristian "Palafox" Palafox’s Seismic Shove proved to be too much. 100 Thieves walked out of the fight two-for-one but were not able to take Atakhan immediately after. They instead went for Soul Point before trying to get Atakahan and ultimately losing it to Contractz.

A fight broke out at Drake Pit once again, after Shopify Rebellion denied 100 Thieves' Infernal soul, ending positive for SR two-for-one. 100T tried to take Baron, but Contractz had other plans. Unfortunately for SR, their luck ran out. 100 Thieves was able to claim the Infernal Soul along with all members of Shopify Rebellion as they pushed down botside, claiming victory.

Game 2:

First Drake went to Contractz, without contest, but he shortly after got ambushed in his jungle, giving first Blood to Rayan "Sniper" Shoura, three Grubs also went over to Shopify Rebellion. A fight broke out in the botside jungle, with SR earning two kills, but 100 Thieves walked away with the Feat of Warfare.

A risky fight set the score even as Contractz took another Drake, giving them the Feat of Monster Slaying. The teams clashed in the topside river, and two critical picks for SR gave them the Herald for free. Sniper took the topside turret and gave the boot boost to 100 Thieves.

The third Drake of the game went to Shopify Rebellion, and an interesting use of Baron led to any further fighting being halted. River stole Atakhan from Shopify Rebellion following a two-for-two trade in the pit and 100 Thieves was able to delay Shopify’s run for Soul, claiming their first Dragon of the game.

Topside, Lim "Quid" Hyeon-seung got caught out by three members of Shopify Rebellion, leading to a two-for-one in favor of SR. A two-for-two at drake gave 100 Thieves their second Ocean Drake, and the gold difference stayed pretty minimal. 100T stacked a third Ocean Drake, and got up to a 3k gold lead. A fight broke out in the topside jungle, taking out three members of 100 Thieves, leading into another skirmish in mid right after. Pushing as five, Shopify was able to end the game.

Game 3:

First Blood went over to Contractz topside following a gank against Sniper. Ocean Drake was claimed by 100 Thieves in the meantime. Contractz secured all three of the Void Grubs, though, and neither team had a tangible gold advantage. River was able to claim a kill to settle the score when he showed up topside.

100 Thieves claimed the second Drake of the game, putting them at the feat of monster slaying point. Shopify was able to secure their first Drake of the game along with the Feat of Warfare following an impressive skirmish botside.

The teams had a bloody fight botside at the next Drake, where Shopify Rebellion was able to take down everyone but FBI. Shopify continued with their momentum, getting their second Drake. With an auto from Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami, Shopify Rebellion also stole Atakhan and claimed their third Drake. The gold may have been even, but the momentum was far from it.

Shopify took their fourth Hextech Drake, becoming the first four-stacked dragon of the day. Shortly after, they took Baron. They grouped and bulldozed through the botside, closing out Game 3 and the series.

Result: Shopify wins 2-1.

Wrapping Up

Expectations? Shattered. Boring? Far from it. Today’s matches flipped predictions on their heads and proved that Cloud9 isn’t afraid to risk it all when their Nexus is at risk. See you tomorrow for the report on FlyQuest vs. Dignitas and Lyon vs. Disguised!