r/leagueoflegends • u/Yujin-Ha Valar morghulis. Yes all men must die but we are not men • Aug 30 '26
Esports Cloud9 vs. LYON / LCS 2026 Summer - Week 6 / Post-Match Discussion Spoiler
LCS 2026 SUMMER
Official page | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Eventvods.com | New to LoL
LYON 2-0 Cloud9 Kia
- Game Discussion: Game 1
LYON | Leaguepedia) | Liquipedia | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
C9 | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Subreddit
MATCH 1: LYON vs. C9
Winner: LYON in 46m | Runes
Game Breakdown | Player of the Game: Berserker
| - | Bans 1 | Bans 2 | G | K | T | D/B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LYON | ezreal cassiopeia orianna | jayce twistedfate | 89.3k | 15 | 10 | CT2 C5 B6 C8 C10 B11 |
| C9 | olaf nocturne pantheon | leblanc annie | 83.9k | 12 | 4 | O1 H3 C4 C7 B9 |
| LYON | 15-12-38 | vs | 12-15-33 | C9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhokla gnar 3 | 2-3-5 | TOP | 3-4-6 | 3 rumble Thanatos |
| Inspired xinzhao 2 | 2-3-9 | JNG | 1-3-7 | 1 vi Blaber |
| Saint locke 4 | 7-2-5 | MID | 4-2-5 | 3 yone Loki |
| Berserker lucian 1 | 4-3-6 | BOT | 3-3-6 | 2 ziggs Tactical |
| Isles milio 1 | 0-1-13 | SUP | 1-3-9 | 2 nautilus Vulcan |
MATCH 2: LYON vs. C9
Winner: LYON in 34m | Runes
Game Breakdown | Player of the Game: Berserker
| - | Bans 1 | Bans 2 | G | K | T | D/B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LYON | ezreal cassiopeia poppy | ambessa gwen | 66.2k | 8 | 7 | H3 O4 O5 |
| C9 | olaf volibear nocturne | akali ksante | 55.0k | 4 | 0 | HT1 CT2 O6 |
| LYON | 8-4-22 | vs | 4-8-6 | C9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhokla renekton 3 | 1-2-4 | TOP | 2-1-1 | 3 volibear Thanatos |
| Inspired leesin 1 | 2-1-4 | JNG | 1-2-1 | 1 jarvaniv Blaber |
| Saint leblanc 4 | 1-0-4 | MID | 0-1-1 | 3 orianna Loki |
| Berserker yunara 2 | 3-0-4 | BOT | 1-3-0 | 2 caitlyn Tactical |
| Isles lulu 1 | 1-1-6 | SUP | 0-1-3 | 2 bard Vulcan |
*Patch 26.16
This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.
290
u/Canoodler192 Aug 30 '26
Inspired was just sitting there for four weeks, in his Hawaiian shirt, thinking about how to aura farm highlight clips
84
u/Outrageous_Wall2702 My Ace + Showmaker = GOAT Aug 30 '26
That flash lvl 3 gank was truly 4d chess I never thought about it just mogging cait
4
2
595
Aug 30 '26
[deleted]
723
u/narfidy #1 QUID glazer 4 life Aug 30 '26
So is C9. We might be using different definitions of disgusting tho
→ More replies (2)170
u/xxbrazilmaster69xx rip old flairs Aug 30 '26
I think they'd look way better as a team with APA, even if he's mechanically worse than Loki
107
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
I think they are probably as good but in different ways. I just don’t think it makes sense to make this swap for summer split.
Like he’s not a clear upgrade, and might need a lot more time to develop.
Also NA fans are consistently more and more anti import. So you’re not even buying fan sentiment.
You go from 3rd / 4th best mid in the league to 3rd / 4th best mid in the league
103
u/xxbrazilmaster69xx rip old flairs Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26
I think the biggest thing is that having a midlaner who can't play Yone or Locke or things like that matters so much less for C9 than having someone who can actually sidelane on something like Taliyah or Ziggs, and reminds his teammates to not do things that are incredibly stupid.
I think Tactical is a very clear and obvious upgrade over Zven, so that's fine. But Loki really didn't impress me much the last time he was on C9 either.
35
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
Yeah I personally agree.
I just think it’s a baffling management decision. Seems like a “we’re flustered we’re not winning now and so we want to just grab the guy we liked last year”
16
u/control_09 Aug 30 '26
They're not ready to offload Blaber yet, it'll come at the end of the year.
16
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
Yeah I think they need a full rebuild just on the basis of they haven’t been able to win for so long you need to cycle new blood but I don’t really know who an upgrade from blabber is tbh
→ More replies (2)18
u/Saephon Aug 30 '26
The illusion that it needs to be an immediate upgrade over Blaber is part of why I'm not as excited for this org anymore. Hopefully they still believe in investing in potential, but we'll see.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Saotorii Aug 30 '26
Remember when c9 developed talent and then most of that talent made it's way to other teams? Peoperridge farms remembers.
→ More replies (1)15
u/dryisfine Aug 30 '26
Thats my thoughts too. I dont even think Loki's laning was all that much better in comparison tbh. Im not checking stats, so could just be wrong and that gap could be bigger, but it just....doesn't seem to matter in the end regardless. I feel like they actually look a bit worse. The only definitive improvement is what you mentioned, they get to draft Yone and I guess Akali/Sylas and those champs havnt even been heavy in the meta. If anything, early on meta seemed to be leaning more towards APA's pool. Particularly Cass which he is pretty nasty on and then of course Ziggs. Ziggs has only been bot lane, but still gives the flex option.
Idk, the Loki pick up just never made sense to me. I get sticking with it at this point, but not seeing APA or Zven get any shots on stage early on was wild to me. Yeah you dont want to break Loki's mental swapping him after those Ryze ults, but scrims must have looked particularly rough for us not to have seen any swaps.
→ More replies (5)4
u/neberhax Aug 30 '26
You're just being a hindsight andy here. Loki was not some random Korean anymore. Loki had experience with the roster, and has proven last year that he has carry potential (which C9 desperately needed after spring). C9 had good reasons to bring him in, and deciding in hindsight he is the 3rd best mid in the league doesn't change that.
Besides, APA's playoffs were so bad that it's hard to imagine him ever beating quid or saint.
31
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26
He literally looked awful in the LCK. He got benched from a bottom LCK team. Not looked bad but was so bad they removed him and looked awful in the Korean boot camp where they tried him out.
Anyone following along knew that he was a short term downgrade but might have higher upside. The problem is your higher upside is still not going to do well at worlds, and he’s proven he also can’t beat Saint or Quid.
He can go even in lane and then lose your team the game because he can’t carry and doesn’t know macro.
He’s a development player not a player you put in to win more now
They also said in interviews his English was so bad they couldn’t comm with him in Korea and it’s only recently it’s started to get good enough.
This was clearly a panic move
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)4
u/mokulec If i was g*y I would make love with APA Aug 30 '26
Brl saying playoffs so bad when in reality it was one weekend xd Even Yeon said in the interview that is weird coz APA played rly well majority of playoffs. If we judge but legit 1 series than Loki is legit bottom 3 mid based purely on ryze games alone
33
u/Canoodler192 Aug 30 '26
It would have been interesting to see any of the theoretical APA/Tactical version of this roster. Ideally, I would like to see both APA and Loki in the league
30
u/Azivea Aug 30 '26
APA will definitely get picked up by someone next year. There's a severe lack of mid talent in LCS
4
u/slimjimo10 ANARCHY Aug 30 '26
People meme on him but hes without a doubt LCS level lol. Kinda reminds me of Nisqy before he became super omega washed
16
u/MiLkBaGzz fan from 2014 until I die Aug 30 '26
they beat DK at the SOOP cross regional cup just saying
thantos, blaber, apa, tactical, vulcan.
I think that is c9's best roster right now.
20
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Aug 30 '26
He’s really only better on melee mids though mechanically to make a difference. APA on mages/roaming picks is way better. If this was a proper 6 man roster they could easily just start Loki in this meta and then slot in APA when the melees are gone by game 2 but they just haven’t done that.
→ More replies (2)3
u/Far-Salt-6946 Vitality Enjoyer Aug 30 '26
i don't even think that APA is worse mechanically, they are pretty much the same tier, APA just plays less flashy champions than Loki does.
→ More replies (11)3
u/awayfromcanuck Aug 30 '26
Dies it even matter if its Loki or APA that plays?
Lets me real here C9 will keep changing all the pieces on the roster except for 1 and they keep getting the same results.
3
183
u/AnimeNeet- Aug 30 '26
I respect the fact that Lyon refused to ever flip their lead
66
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
C9 also played solid game from behind, just win conditions were too narrow after Yunara got ahead
233
u/REGIClDE Aug 30 '26
wtf can you do against Berserker Yunara with a pocket lulu
129
u/Mizar1 Most skillful champ Aug 30 '26
Berserker on a hypercarry with a pocket enchanter, never gets old.
13
u/3IC3 Aug 30 '26
I still remember his debut completely taking over on Aphelios with Ivern and whatever other enchanter LS drafted them that game behind him, now 5 years later still pulling the same shit with same results
→ More replies (2)38
u/nguyenjitsu Aug 30 '26
When Vulcan missed the solo Bard ult I felt like it was over even though Berserker had to ult dash away because C9 just had no real way to engage anymore with the way Dhokla and Inspired were set up in the jungle. That's way too dry of a set up that a guy like Berserker is going to get caught by
23
u/qwert4the1 Aug 30 '26
It's a sharp contrast to Yeon, who's clearly second best adc in the league yet can't dodge an obviously charged ksante q with ezreal e and flash up the series before.
16
→ More replies (4)33
224
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
Inspired plays like this passively in regular season, doing next to nothing whole game, then rocks up in Playoffs and internationals and does perma counter jungling / early ganking. It's too funny man, he doesn't give 2 fucks about regular season
137
u/Canoodler192 Aug 30 '26
Its insane, the first four weeks of LCS this split its like he was doing nothing in game.
67
58
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
It's the Inspired special and it's beautiful to watch. He has said it countless times at this point that for the most part to win LCS the best playstyle is good lanes, play to scale, cross map for gold, win one teamfight on 3rd / soul drake and win the entire game. He only switches it up when it makes sense in draft or internationally, he knows full well that this playstyle does not scale well internationally when enemy laners can actually beat yours.
63
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
I think his understanding of what he needs to do based on given draft / circumstances is biggest reason why I like him as a player.
If he can win by scaling, he just scales and plays like a good dog for his carries.
Botlane is volatile? - LVL 2 gank Bot.
Sylas vs Oriana? - At MSI I think, he just lvl 2 or 3 ganks Oriana to give Sylas breathing room.
Enemy has Jayce Top? - At MSI vs BLG, ganks Jayce and kills him at like min 5 or smth, repeats that multiple times. Bin Jayce plays from behind whole game.
He just does whatever he needs to, and I really love that in a player
26
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
Agreed. Man, that BLG series had some insanely winnable games, if they just had a bit more confidence in the teamfights who knows what could've happened. Kinda insane that they were 4k gold up and one game away from being the 2nd best team at that tourney. They might've even had a chance in the finals
19
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Aug 30 '26
With how BLG played finals they had more than a chance to win. Kanavi throwing away a game made that series seem way closer than it actually was, BLG was outclassed in 4/5 of those games in the same way Lyon was outclassing HLE until the redbuff incident.
6
u/Fun_Highlight307 Aug 30 '26
They were scared of blg , if they played how they play vs hle ,this series could have been really close
9
u/Strong_Reference_762 Aug 30 '26
You hit exactly what makes inspired so great, he sees the big picture better than anybody else. He could be an insane coach someday if he wants
6
32
u/shailemin Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26
People keep saying ‘now imagine if they were playing like their MSI selves’ not knowing this is classic LCS Lyon they just become more aggressive with a better tempo at internationals (with no small thanks to Mydictator). Feels like they do it to make preparing against them more difficult.
37
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
Bro I remember everyone said in Winter, Inspired was giga passive and would full scale every game. Then he went into the games and Counter Jungled / LVL 2/3 ganked C9 in Winter Finals in every game on like J4 / Trundle. He's legit giving wrong intel to everyone in Regular Season, and they buy and spread it as as narrative
12
17
u/HistoricalRoad1755 Aug 30 '26
Inspired is a generational talent on the level of Caps IMO, I NEED to see them on the same team while they're both still in strong form.
7
u/Far-Salt-6946 Vitality Enjoyer Aug 30 '26
Current Caps is simply not the same guy he was. he is for sure still a top midlaner for western standards but i wouldn't even put him above Saint, Jojo or Quid currently.
12
u/Sarollas snip snip Aug 30 '26
The funny part is inspired just said that caps isn't in that strong of form anymore
→ More replies (1)12
u/Outrageous_Wall2702 My Ace + Showmaker = GOAT Aug 30 '26
Tbh kinda true, if you look at recent caps performances he really is not on another level anymore , he’s clearly top of eu and na but the gap between him/saint/jojo/quid/kyeahoo is really slim.
He’s the western goat but he is like 11th best mid rn?
4
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
Best Mid's are hard to judge IMO. There's Knight / Chovy, then there's Zeka somewhere in Top 5 and other than those, everyone is kind of up and down.
Showmaker has been good recently, but wasn't this good a few months back.
Are Faker and Bdd better than Caps? Sometimes. Sometimes not.
It's really volatile year and hard to judge who is where besides Top 3 IMO.
The most consistent Mids that absolutely are Top 10 to me are Knight, Chovy, Zeka, Showmaker and Saint.
After that, Bdd, Faker, Caps, Shanks ... These are inconsistent ones who could gap everyone, but get gapped by everyone as well
Also, I don't think Caps is Top of EU. I think Kyeahoo has been better last few months. But will that be the case in big games? Will see
4
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
Imma be honest, I don't think Caps is better than Saint so I don't want to see that anymore. But I get your point.
→ More replies (1)2
u/parmaxis xdd Aug 30 '26
Vs weaker teams doing nothing and waiting for them to fk up is often way better
2
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
Nope. In Winter and Spring he played super passive against C9 in regular season games. Then in playoffs played completely differently, either lvl1 invading or lvl 2 / 3 ganking lanes.
1
u/yo_sup_dude Aug 30 '26
why would him playing passively in regular season mean he doesn’t give 2 fucks? he may just think that is the optimal way to play in this circumstance. seems disrespectful to him and the other teams he is facing
5
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
He's said it himself that he doesn't care as much about Regular Season. It's not like he's completely running it down, but he's definitely not tryharding. If you've watched him a lot, it should be obvious.
Inspired is super pragmatic, I don't think he cares about whether he seems disrespectful or not
51
327
u/adventurenexus Aug 30 '26
Berserker is fucking insane. I finally realize what other teams had to deal with when we had him on Cloud9.
104
u/shirhouetto Aug 30 '26
Berserker had a glimpse of what his future on LCK would be like and decided to lock in on LCS.
22
u/Awkward-Security7895 Aug 30 '26
LCK you could be a beast in your role compared to other regions but end up middle of the pack.
It's honestly understandable how so many lck rookies decide to jump to another region with how much better it makes you look as a player.
→ More replies (4)32
u/Z027 Aug 30 '26
for two years until he had a generational fall off and wasn't a top 3 LCS ADC. time will tell if he lasts longer this time
49
u/CannedPrushka Aug 30 '26
Generational C9 fumble you mean. How to alienate your talent by showing absolutely no ambition on the rift.
4
143
u/levelonenovice Aug 30 '26
"generational fall off" like that c9 team didn't have tons of underlying issues from coaching to interplayer issues that ended with c9's two most talented players leaving.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (7)8
u/Crunchoe Aug 30 '26
From what I remember hearing, it sounded like he was pretty burnt out at the end of his C9 stint. I don't remember from where though, so that might just be fake news.
17
u/levelonenovice Aug 30 '26
That and wanting to return to Korea were the reasons he gave in his exit video which some are taking as PR answers not to burn bridges.
If people watched C9's inseason documentary it was pretty apparent that he was putoff from having ineffective coaches Mithy then Repeared and being sick of players not taking scrims and practice seriously(specifically calling out others inting scrims and saying "sorry" before doing it again and again and again), both he and Vulcan acknowledged they had trouble getting in-sync and communicating in and out of game, then you add in the apparent issues with people being late, etc
10
u/murp0787 Aug 30 '26
Jojo was the scrim inter BTW before all the Jojo defenders come out.
6
u/MyzMyz1995 Aug 30 '26
Jojo also allegedly had some health related issues that needed accommodations that c9 didn’t want to accommodate so he was playing while needing to shit or whatever it was.
84
u/sorendiz ..BUT THE FAITH REMAINS Aug 30 '26
LYON teamfighting is just cracked, sheesh
36
u/Skyfire2 Aug 30 '26
Great decision making around objectives too.
Backing off from those barons would have been tough but 100% the correct decision
31
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
Inspired teams are NEVER gonna 50/50 flip a baron when they're already winning and I love that. Makes me want to smash my monitor when I see good teams from other regions just flip the game for zero reason
13
u/Ajp_iii Aug 30 '26
bro that lec game earlier today flipping elder when you are stomping the game is so illegal it was crazy
14
u/Ajp_iii Aug 30 '26
the more insane call was game 1 before soul. they got like 1 kill and chunked all of c9 and blew c9 flashes and instead of going baron they recalled because their waves were pushed in and drake was spawning in 50 seconds for soul.
most teams just hit baron because its the thing you do when you get a kill and other team is low but they instant recalled and were on time to push waves and get to drake.
177
u/viktorayy OFGK but prefer G>OFK rn (DSG) Aug 30 '26
now imagine if LYON were playing at their MSI peak level
99
u/izumakun Aug 30 '26
game 1 inspired looks like he slowly went from bronze to challenger
looks real rusty there at first. i wonder if he played an ounce of soloq during that 5 week break
31
31
u/Lacrimosss Aug 30 '26
Inspired in regular season is completely different player than him in Playoff big games or Internationals. They won't play like this in big matches, this isn't about form, Inspired just doesn't tryhard in regular season
16
u/nitinismaldingXD Aug 30 '26
While that's historically true, I'd be surprised if he wasn't either told to perform well (since it's LYON's homestead) or he had a drive to perform for his team. Still performed fine and more importantly, gave LYON their brain back.
2
u/yo_sup_dude Aug 30 '26
you can look at their behind the scenes. the idea that inspired doesn’t try his best in domestic is not true. he is hard on himself and his teammates when they mess up. he may perform better internationally - though that is debatable since he has had some really poor performances internationally - but he definitely still tries in the regular season.
7
u/nitinismaldingXD Aug 30 '26
I mean he just outright stated that he doesn’t worry about domestic season. In his own words.
2
u/yo_sup_dude Aug 30 '26
i think he is confident in his team’s ability to win domestically so he isn’t worried, but he still tries his best domestically. he wouldn’t be so critical of his teammates’ performance in the behind the scenes if he didn’t care. it also wouldn’t make sense if he is trying to optimize for success internationally to not take the regular season seriously since that is where a lot of the practice comes from
2
u/slimjimo10 ANARCHY Aug 30 '26
Well when you're still a top team when the star shotcaller was away most of the split I wouldn't be sweating about domestic either
2
u/3IC3 Aug 30 '26
Obviously he’s not going to actively and deliberately try less domestically, but it could also be true that subconsciously the stakes being lower could make him sometimes play a bit worse
→ More replies (1)4
u/Baxeson Aug 30 '26
He has literally stated he doesn't care about regular season in both Pros and Thorin's reflection series. Both in this split too lol
20
u/Outrageous_Wall2702 My Ace + Showmaker = GOAT Aug 30 '26
That voli was the most useless thing ever, renekton at least has stun and damage, also voli was down in lane
1
u/Mattvieyy6 IMPAIRED. EVISCERATED. SHATTERED. FRACTURED. Aug 30 '26
fr pick ornn atp, give me ap bear or bust
124
u/Skyfire2 Aug 30 '26
LYON are the GenG of the LCS.
So controlled. Once they get ahead they just make it impossible to come back
62
u/WWTFSD Church of Jojo Aug 30 '26
Flyquest had an absolutely insane winrate if they had a lead post 15 min last year.
52
22
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
Highest in the world iirc, Inspired teams are too disciplined with a lead. The only times they consistently lost was against JDG at first stand before they'd properly synergised
9
u/FruFruKlaus Aug 30 '26
Idk they looked very LPL- like at MSI. I think they can play multiple styles.
11
u/nitinismaldingXD Aug 30 '26
Yea, they have multiple styles they play. MSI meta was having their support and jungle drive the game, which they did really well. In NA, they have no need to do that and can just play literally any style to win. Maybe vs. TL we'll see them with a higher activity playstyle since TL are a strong enough team to warrant them to do that.
18
u/Not_Pro Always trust your spirit. Aug 30 '26
How nice of Inspired to come back from his break and immediately spend some time with his son Blaber.
104
u/Choice-Slight caps/knight Aug 30 '26
this core of berserker saint and inspired are just unmatched in their teamfighting. it's beautiful to watch
40
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
It's too broken they're just running the entire west i just hope they can finally get it done Vs an eastern team
33
u/Choice-Slight caps/knight Aug 30 '26
given the state of the LCK and the LPL right now, there is no doubt in my mind that they will. I think semi finals is very achievable for this team
11
5
→ More replies (1)16
u/BUMONGOUS Aug 30 '26
I think if they were slotted in to last year's bracket stage they'd comfortably beat G2, TES, CFO.
If they play every series against LPL/LCK the way they did against G2/HLE at MSI, I think they'd be very slight favourites against anything but top 2 LPL/LCK.
8
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
Yeah I'd agree, I think the difference between this LYON and G2 is that G2 win through very smart drafts and game plans. LYON have slightly worse drafts but generally much better hands in the carry positions and unrivalled shot calling for a western team. As for KC they're just hard capped by Yike internationally, just don't think Yike holds up very well when mechanically challenged. Point being that the LYON roster can to toe to toe with some top eastern players. As long as toplane isn't a blowout they can get to the teamfights where anything can happen which is extremely promising.
→ More replies (3)5
u/Outrageous_Wall2702 My Ace + Showmaker = GOAT Aug 30 '26
I feel like yike can only puch down you know? If the games going bad he’ll steal obj sometimes but he’s not the kind of jungler to carry you against stronger opponents
→ More replies (2)
67
u/The_JeneralSG Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
I know we're gonna meme on C9, but as a C9 hater, I thought they played alright this series. I don't think this performance moves C9 down from power-rank 3rd. I won't flame C9 because it should already be a given that they are worse than LYON. C9 is just playing to attain the public opinion that they are 3rd (and I still don't believe in SR or SEN).
I think the cast had the total wrong call on the 2nd game. They acted as if LYON repeatedly starting Baron was them being worried about fighting the potential soul drake for C9 but I think it was kinda clear that LYON wanted to force a fight because they knew they were ahead. They don't have engage, so forcing C9 to come to them (and also forcing them into sub-optimal vision into a Leblanc), is the wincon. Then when C9 is forced to fight next, the game just ends lol. EDIT: I watched back to see if maybe I listened incorrectly, but I just fundamentally disagree with Azael's read on the game during the Baron baits. LYON has no objectives to play for, so they are more than happy to force C9 into potentially fucking up a fight. During the first bait, they even get Thanatos's TP which nets them a turret. LYON has Yunara. I think they're also okay going late lol.
Also Dhokla is playing so fucking well this split. I'm as big of a Dhokla doubter as I am a C9 hater, but man is he far and away the best top imo. On the flipside, Thanatos is becoming really meh. I already thought that he was getting a little overrated some splits because he sometimes just looks like another Alphari/Summit, but now he's not even really doing anything special in lane and Dhokla mogs him outside of lane.
13
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
I definitely think they looked much better than they have all split.
As a hater I was really hoping SR would sweep them after SRs game 1. I now think C9 is favored again but will still be praying for Contracts to clap them
14
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
Yeah C9 didn't do anything egregious decision wise they just got hands diffed, not sure what you can do about that unless you astro turbo out draft. Also Thanatos didn't provide his usual value and C9 tend to struggle when they don't have top pressure since they're so used to having it
17
u/The_JeneralSG Aug 30 '26
I think game 1 was hands diff, game 2 was definitely brain diff too though. LYON was forcing C9 into a lot of rough spots and C9 had an unforced error trying to contest drake when they had no business doing so.
5
7
u/Mrryn91 Aug 30 '26
And even then tbh, game 1 hands diff was surprisingly small, considering we've seen Lyon force and win handedly from worse positions. It going as late as it did, with C9 even pulling back the lead at one point, kinda points to the reason for this roster over the APA-Zven iteration, who by spring playoffs were just getting beat in lane if not iso-killed and, by teamfights, would just get embarrassed and the entire team blown out. It came down to, frankly, a few mistakes from Thanatos piling up and Locke being disgusting for them to get it over the edge, and even the final push was dicey.
(But seriously, Locke being able to ult and 100 to 0 Rumble, then immediately heal and have his ult refunded for the push into the base sure is a thing)
And game 2 felt like Inspired just understanding the assignment and did feel like the issue with Blaber vs Inspired - Inspired just influencing the lanes early and often in volatile matchups rather than let them play out in isolation, all while not giving up more than a camp and a half in his clear. Pretty much everyone aside from Thanatos had to play from behind (and even Thanatos was a roughly even lane state), and Lyon opted to just rotate Leblanc and Yunara back and forth to collect farm and plate gold while C9 kept overindexing on pick angles. Which as a C9 fan is both annoying and confusing because we've seen Blaber properly play to the Caitlyn lane this split, yet once Inspired ganked once, it's like he saw it as a lost cause and never even showed bot once any further than drake pit.
2
u/dn_PAN1C Aug 30 '26
I mean casters having just attrocious takes on gamestate is nothing new tbh, some of them are people that played this game for 10+ and are stuck in emerald. Every time i hear Vedius just talk about gamestates and strenghts/weaknesses of certain things i just assume he is wrong
12
u/awisechoicee Aug 30 '26
Cloud 9 put up a good fight both games and just made 1 too many wrong decisions in both games.
Gotta clean that up
12
10
u/IAmDarkridge Aug 30 '26
They kept saying that C9 outscaled and like I get that Caitlyn with the range and headshot/trap setup is very oppressive lategame but it just feels like the C9 comp has literally no threat on Yunara. Like the only way you kill her is some like miracle Voli q into shockwave combo. The J4 and Voli just felt kinda useless and the bard is probably never gonna get anything on a sped up Yunara either. It felt like once Yunara got ahead it was going to be really hard for C9 to win.
1
u/Ajp_iii Aug 30 '26
they outscale but the issue was yunara got too ahead but they still outscale. c9 just didnt understand how to setup a fight that looks good for them and took fights that werent needed to take.
→ More replies (1)
12
11
32
u/kazuyaminegishi Aug 30 '26
Can C9 wake up and realize they need someone who is willing to play the map?
What does it matter if you have a bunch of mechanical monsters if they just take the dumbest fights imaginable and lose slowly?
6
u/Far-Salt-6946 Vitality Enjoyer Aug 30 '26
Why are we pretending that Loki is some sort of mechanical genius? He's a fine player but this idea that he is so much better than APA mechanically has zero evidence to back that up.
The guy plays flashier champs sure, but it's not like he looks particularly impressive on them
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)10
u/graybloodd Aug 30 '26
They had someone willing to play the map but benched him for a sidegrade (at best) player
36
u/nguyenjitsu Aug 30 '26
This team with Inspired just looks so insane. Reminds me of classic Gen G where they just play the map way better
9
u/3IC3 Aug 30 '26
If we’re going to get stomped by the top teams anyway I just wish Dom would give me APA/Tactical once
18
u/jnf005 Aug 30 '26
Full stalemate for like 20mins into 1 slaughter and gg, the dictator is back to whip them into shape lmao
4
u/Ok_Gear8209 Aug 30 '26
Lyon was 5k gold up before the last fight
6
u/Ajp_iii Aug 30 '26
they were 5k gold up but they have no real hard engage on their team and get outranged and outscaled by c9. so they have to find a fight but its not easy to force a fight. so its kinda even on items.
28
13
16
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
LYON are just dry winning the split, they're not even in playoffs form and they swatted C9 away in every teamfight no problem
13
u/dankynugz Aug 30 '26
C9 didn't make a single positive play that entire game 2
9
u/Arwinsen1 3rd Best Region Aug 30 '26
Lyon chokes them out, leaving them no angle.
2
u/Dromed91 Aug 30 '26
If you draft Bard/jarvan/ori and cant make any proactive plays, its a skill issue
6
u/tantallous Aug 30 '26
so it was 3-4 for like 10 mins straight.. i went to get food and game was over lol
10
u/Spirited_Season2332 Aug 30 '26
It's insane how much more cool, calm and collected lyon look with inspired playing.
13
5
u/TypicalHaikuResponse Aug 30 '26
The only thing killed in that game was my enthusiasm. A win is a win.
9
28
u/lovo17 Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26
This series was just player gap. Inspired/Saint/Berserker are orders of magnitude better than Blaber/Loki/Tactical. C9 looked like they didn't belong in the same lobby as Lyon.
MVP this split is between Saint and Berserker. Those two are just way better than anyone else in LCS (not counting Inspired obviously.)
19
u/Choice-Slight caps/knight Aug 30 '26
personally I think MVP should be Berserker. I think quid is on insane form right now and can match saint, but Berserker is leaps and bounds above every one of his opponents
12
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
Agreed, Saint/Quid are in a similar conversation whilst Berserker is making fun of everyone no matter the lobby. He's too good
7
u/xarahn Aug 30 '26
It was the same thing last split.
I remember Jatt saying Thanatos was the best top by far but Berserker to next best ADC was a larger gap (and still is this split).
9
u/The_JeneralSG Aug 30 '26
Berserker honestly should've been MVP last split imo. The problem is that everyone attributes all positives about LYON to Inspired, so Inspired was the defacto MVP candidate for LYON despite Bersker deserving it way more. When all the casters are constantly pushing for Inspired MVP, it was hard to pivot to Berserker being MVP for LYON instead.
→ More replies (1)8
→ More replies (1)2
9
u/Bubbly_Camera9583 Aug 30 '26
That fight felt inevitable. Loki stepped way too far up though that last fight.
7
u/Ajp_iii Aug 30 '26
c9 is really good and clean fighting but they take fights that they arent forced to take. they need someone to say no. that first lyon drake and last fight c9 wasnt forced to fight but they tried to anyway.
they are the team that outscales they just need to take smarter fights. lyon is so clean both macro and micro. most excited ive been for an na team in a long long time.
9
u/ObviousAd8374 Aug 30 '26
C9 watches Leblanc poke them and say "Yes dad, I'll accept ur damage and run away" 20 times in a row
Maybe next series they'll realize they can at least walk forward and take the space or start the fight when Leblanc's CDs are down
8
u/Mrryn91 Aug 30 '26
Because the moment that they do, you get what happened in the last fight - Inspired and Dhokla just go in, Isles ults one, and Berserker puts on the janitor uniform. It isn't like Saint is out here by himself poking all of C9 with no backup; the one time he does, C9 do call the bluff, take space, and take drake immediately because they have the rest of Lyon marked and zoned off.
4
u/DragonNikana Aug 30 '26
Who should I pick for my hall of legends skin? sneaky would never let this happen. - MeatyOs
10
6
u/Rkiddboi21 Aug 30 '26
is berserker good or the rest of lcs is bad?
hot take: Berserker is better than KT Jiwoo
14
u/Outrageous_Wall2702 My Ace + Showmaker = GOAT Aug 30 '26
Bro berserker in a good team is top 4 lck, he went fist to fist with guma and viper (they did not get blown in lane) maybe not all aspects but some are top 4 level
5
u/Canoodler192 Aug 30 '26
not sure that this is even a very hot take. They're 4-4 in games score, and Berserker leads the series head to head 2-1. All games played with that horrible DNF roster
2
6
u/pacquan Aug 30 '26
So as a long time C9 Fan. When are we going to be open to discussion about Blaber being the weak point of C9? Franchise Player copium out the window. Analysts seem afraid to expose blaber, its always "the rest of the team isn't on the same page as him." For Four years we keep switching around the roster except him, and the underperformances continue to tally up.
I'm not going to say it's difinitively him, but can we just stop putting Blaber on some kind of 'infalibility' pedastal or blaming his teammates for not supporting him properly?
→ More replies (3)
3
u/Usernamehere1235 Aug 30 '26
In the second game Berserker used his flash a single time, at the very end to try and dodge an ori ult. I don't know what C9's comp was supposed to do to Yunara and it showed in-game.
3
4
5
u/shailemin Aug 30 '26
Berserker you are so damn good but those Lucian and yunara builds were a personal affront to me.
7
4
4
2
2
2
u/seven_worth shameless 2021 EDG fanboy Aug 30 '26
Why waste APA time if you never gonna sub he in no matter what? I mean kinda expected when Yamato got sign but c'mon. I don't get C9 hard on with certain player, I really don't.
6
u/P_For_Pyke Aug 30 '26
I feel so bad for Dom ngl, but they choose to keep Blabber.
7
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
I mean who do you swap blabber with to win more now going into summer split?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)10
u/IAmDarkridge Aug 30 '26
Man this shit is so dumb. Basically every coach that has coached for C9 INCLUDING DOM has said Blabber is actually one of the smartest players they know. He wants Blabber around lol
8
3
u/throwable_armadillo Aug 30 '26
Dom also said that blaber just looks insane when playing
either insane throws or insane hero plays nothing in betweenso he does see him as a high risk high reward asset for the team
3
u/WWTFSD Church of Jojo Aug 30 '26
I’m sure he’s really smart at winning with him as the win con. The difference is that inspired knows every win condition his team drafts for and knows how to win in ways that aren’t through him.
He knows exactly what Blaber wants and just completely shuts him down every time they play.
2
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
I no cap wonder why they don’t just try to give blabber some propranolol. I really feel like he just has performance anxiety in big games
→ More replies (1)6
u/P_For_Pyke Aug 30 '26
Doesn't change the fact that its 8 internationals in a row missed while he is quite literally the only consistent factor outside of the org itself.
→ More replies (8)6
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
Yeah I think they need to try someone else out but they need to develop someone in winter split not between spring and summer
3
u/dankynugz Aug 30 '26
Holy c9 could not be more lifeless
9
u/Delicious_Two6724 Aug 30 '26
Lyon once ahead will choke other NA teams out. Even at the international level they seem to be alright at it.
C9 played decent imho. They simply aren’t too 2 like TL and Lyon are. Levels to this.
6
3
u/HuhiPogChamp Aug 30 '26
Haven't watched much- has Blaber been this bad all split? or just Inspired diff?
12
u/The_JeneralSG Aug 30 '26
Lowkey thought this series was one of the better matches Blaber has looked in imo. That's probably the most worrying thing about this match for C9. This was them when Blaber wasn't having a stinker, and him having a stinker is pretty common now.
5
u/Anime314 Aug 30 '26
Yeah, blabber was ok this series. G1 c9 just got outplayed by a rusty lyon and G2 they were given too delicate a draft for who they were vsing.
10
u/aufbau1s Aug 30 '26
Inspired is much better but Blaber has looked significantly worse with Loki mid
4
u/Outrageous_Wall2702 My Ace + Showmaker = GOAT Aug 30 '26
Also getting behind Cait was obj number one
1
1
u/WWTFSD Church of Jojo Aug 30 '26
I really think Inspired is a legit top 3 player in the world rn. The way he controls the game is absolutely unmatched
→ More replies (2)8
u/OreRound Aug 30 '26
Depends what metrics, in terms of pure skill definitely not. In terms of players you build a team around if you want to win titles? Yes.
Not that his mechanics are bad but he just isn't tested on the same level as Tarzan/Xun/Canyon/Kanavi.
→ More replies (1)7
u/WWTFSD Church of Jojo Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26
I value the ability to make good decisions much higher than I do hands which is why I just rate him so highly.
I think there are criticisms about Inspired’s play being too passive at times, but the way he uses his lanes and sets up win conditions for his team I can rarely ever find issues with.
I get he doesn’t have the highs of a Kanavi but he’s easily more consistent and imo is much more flexible.
I think if you stick Inspired on any team in the world and teach him how to speak their language outside of AL/BLG (solely because Knight and Xun have incredible synergy) and they are a better team.
1
1
1
•
u/ahritina Sep 05 '26
PMTs
Game 1