Joanna Duda
ESL
Intel Extreme Masters returns to Cologne on December the 18th to the 20th with a League of Legends tournament featuring six teams from around the world. One of the competing teams will be Cloud9, who won the North American fan vote.
Cloud9 are no strangers to Intel Extreme Masters as they took home the San Jose trophy last year. They also participated in the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice, Poland early this year but were eliminated in the group stage after losing to GE Tigers and yoe Flash Wolves.
A rollercoaster of performances
The team’s performance in the NA LCS Summer Split was a bit of a rollercoaster. They finished low in the table compared with the expectations of them taking the seventh slot with a 7-12 score, but that was enough to try out in the regional qualifiers for Worlds 2015. That’s when Cloud9 rose to the occasion, and storming through the qualifiers and defeating all opponents (Gravity, Team Impulse and Team Liquid) along the way, thus securing a slot at Worlds.
At Worlds 2015, Cloud9 was the closest of the North American teams to make it out of groups. They started off perfectly, winning their first three matches against Fnatic, ahq and Invictus Gaming. However, it all went downhill from there as they lost the next three matches against their group opponents. Cloud9’s last chance was a tiebreaker played versus ahq and the Taiwanese team proved to be superior, ending Cloud9’s run at Worlds.
New roster, new playstyle?
Cloud9 has undergone some roster changes since Worlds ended. The team acquired Rush, who was previously a jungler for Team Impulse, while Hai was moved to the support role.
Top: An “Balls” Le
• Member of the original roster
• 2015 Worlds statistics: Games: 7 | Wins: 3 | Losses: 4 | Win Percentage: 42.9% | Kills: 20 | Deaths: 29 | Assists: 27 | KDA 1.62
Jungle: Lee “Rush” Yoonjae
• Previously jungler for Team Impulse
• 2015 NA LCS Summer Split statistics: Games: 19 | Wins: 12 | Losses: 7 | Win Percentage: 63.2% | Kills: 75 | Deaths: 56 | Assists: 190 | KDA 4.73
Mid: Nikolaj “Incarnati0n” Jensen
• Member of the original roster
• 2015 Worlds statistics: Games: 7 | Wins: 3 | Losses: 4 | Win Percentage: 42.9% | Kills: 26 | Deaths: 21 | Assists: 33 | KDA 2.81
ADC: Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
• Member of the original roster
• 2015 Worlds statistics: Games: 7 | Wins: 3 | Losses: 4 | Win Percentage: 42.9% | Kills: 20 | Deaths: 19 | Assists: 34 | KDA 2.84
Support: Hai “Hai” Du Lam
• Member of the original roster, previously jungler and mid laner before that
• 2015 Worlds statistics: Games: 7 | Wins: 3 | Losses: 4 | Win Percentage: 42.9% | Kills: 15 | Deaths: 27 | Assists: 40 | KDA 2.04
See the new roster perform in Cologne!
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne will be the first LAN trial for Cloud9’s new roster, and we are looking forward to seeing how they will perform on the international scene.