It has been a historically bad first half to the group stage for Cloud9 and the entire North American region at League of Legends Worlds 2022.
The team going 0-3 in a group featuring T1, Edward Gaming, and Fnatic were not on many people’s Pick’Ems, but with reality setting in, the team now has to turn things around quickly. They cannot afford to lose a single game going forward. On the bright side, however, C9 is still completely in control of their own destiny as not only can they still qualify for the knockout stage, they can technically still get out as the number one seed.
Here is a breakdown of all the scenarios in play for Cloud9 as they wrap up the group stage with three games on Thursday, October 13.
It's time @100T_Esports @EvilGeniuses @LCSOfficial pic.twitter.com/lsV9dX1bkG
— Cloud9 League of Legends (@C9LoL) October 9, 2022
Cloud9 goes 3-0
The good news for the C9 faithful is that if C9 does go 3-0, they are guaranteed a tiebreaker to get out of groups. They cannot outright qualify with a 3-0 record but they also cannot be eliminated after the six-game double round-robin.
In the eight different scenarios where C9 goes 3-0, six of them will give them a one-game tiebreaker for the second seed. However, there is a crazy scenario where the entire group can end 3-3 giving flashbacks to Worlds 2021 where a single-elimination four-team bracket would decide who gets out of Group A.
Cloud9 goes 2-1 or worse
Unfortunately being 0-3 heading into the second round robin in a group that has three 2-1 teams means that anything outside of a perfect 3-0 day will effectively end C9’s run at Worlds 2022. But they can definitely still play spoiler even after elimination as any win they pick up during the second round robin will most likely put the team they beat in a poor situation. Cloud9 can also drag a team down with them. At this point, winning any game in this group can provide C9 an opportunity to save face for the entire region.
Although a 2-1 record would not be good enough to advance, a 2-1 record would give them an outside shot of securing third place in the group which would not be the worst outcome considering the circumstances.
1-3 or an 0-3 finish on the last day of the group stage will guarantee they finish last in their group.
Published: Oct 11, 2022 12:02 am