100 Thieves

100 Thieves (7-3) currently share the 2nd-4th places in the standings with Dignitas and TSM. 100 Thieves made quite a few roster changes during the offseason: only Top laner Ssumday remained on the team, while all other players were bought from the Golden Guardians organization. A big plus is that they all played together last season, so this year they needed much less time to get into the game rhythm.

100 Thieves started the season with 4 consecutive wins: defeating Evil Geniuses, Dignitas, FlyQuest, and Counter Logic Gaming. Apart from the surprising loss to Golden Guardians, who are one of the weakest teams in the league this season, they also lost to two of the league favorites – Team SoloMid and Cloud9. In the match against Cloud9, 100 Thieves led for a long time but failed to maintain their advantage and “close” the match, allowing Cloud9 to come back and win.

This match will be a great opportunity to see how 100 Thieves have improved compared to the first round of the season and what conclusions were drawn after the loss to Cloud9 in the first round. 100 Thieves may not match the individual skill of some league teams, but their main asset is good team play and capitalizing on advantages. With a good draft and avoiding silly mistakes, 100 Thieves should have every chance to challenge one of the best teams in the league.

Cloud9

Cloud9 (8-2) are currently in first place in the standings, with 2 losses suffered against Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid. Cloud9 did a lot of work during the offseason, making one of the biggest transfers in League of Legends e-sports. One of the best players in the world, Perkz, who became the face of the G2 organization, joined the North America LCS team, which is considered a much weaker region. The team also retained undoubtedly one of the strongest LCS bottom lane duos, Zven and Vulcan, as well as Jungle position player Blaber. The Top position was taken by Fudge, who has no major achievements but often surprises with his individual skills.

Before the season started, there were more questions than answers about this team – it was unclear how Perkz would perform in this league, whether Fudge would be able to play on a team favored to win the entire tournament, how Blaber would look in the starting position, etc. However, in the first half of the season, most of these questions were answered, and indeed, this team is undoubtedly the main favorite to win the entire tournament. It is hard to find weak spots in Cloud9's game, and to do so, other teams usually have to play above their capabilities.

Cloud9 is not the most dominant team in the early game stage, and they usually highlight their advantages in the mid-late game stage. In several matches, Cloud9 did not show anything impressive, but sooner or later, they turned the match in their favor.

Prediction

Two good teams, the high importance of the match, and both teams' excellent form going into the match – everything needed for a great spectacle for League of Legends e-sports fans. Cloud9 is considered the clear favorite, but the first meeting between these teams proved that the gap between them is not as big as one might expect. 100 Thieves demonstrate excellent team play, so they will certainly give Cloud9 a fight and try to get revenge for the loss in the first round.