Worlds Wrapped: Quarter Finals

Worlds Wrapped - C9 vs GEN.G

The last quarter final saw the last hope of the West take on another LCK juggernaut, as C9 and Gen.G took to the rift.

A hard-fought game 1

Some dynamic team compositions were locked in for game 1, as C9 opted for a team fighting comp with an emphasis on setting up Perkz’s Yasuo while Gen.G replied with an Aatrox mid:

The game started off well for Gen.G, who were able to pick up first blood and the first Rift Herald while punishing C9’s poorly executed tower dive with their double TP advantage:

This sequence of plays granted Gen.G a 3k gold lead and moderate control over the game, but C9 fought back with an ace and subsequent Baron thanks to some brilliant plays by Fudge:

C9’s Baron buff enabled them to collect a lot of standing gold on the map and the Cloud Soul, which synergised well with their ultimate-centred composition. However, given the relatively even state of the game, they were unable to create any meaningful advantages and allowed Gen.G’s late-game comp to continue scaling. By the time the Elder Drake spawned, Gen.G’s Aphelios, Lulu, Aatrox and Kennen had reached their power spikes and became too much for C9 to handle, allowing Gen.G to secure the Elder Drake without contention and eventually the game.

Gen.G stomp in game 2

With C9 on the blue side, they reverted to an NA classic in Malphite to synergise with the Miss Fortune ult, as well as drafting Poppy jungle to counter the many dashes in Gen.G’s comp:

However, they were never able to utilise their composition’s strengths as they were completely obliterated by Bdd and Clid in the early game. Not only did Bdd manage to secure first blood in the mid lane, he utilised his TP advantage to make a great tower dive in the top lane to punish Malphite’s vulnerability during the laning phase:

Gen.G continued to snowball their gold advantage with clinical execution, earning them a 2k gold lead by the 7 minute mark. C9 were able to retaliate by taking the Rift Herald, but even their attempt to use its charge was in vain:

The gold lead was quickly becoming insurmountable, as Gen.G played the map beautifully and were able to secure multiple towers and drakes. C9’s backs were well and truly against the wall, and made a last ditch effort to come back into the game with a double TP play, but it was too little too late as Gen.G went up 2-0 in the series and earned themselves match point:

Bdd locks in his signature Zoe

On the cusp of making it to the semi-finals, Bdd locks in his signature Zoe while Clid once again secured the Lee Sin that worked so well for Gen.G in game 2:

However, for the first time in the series, C9 had an excellent early game with some proactive plays and roams around the map:

This earned them a solid 1.5k gold lead by the 10 minute mark, and were able to convert this into a Rift Herald and the first tower. Both teams then split the map, as C9 dedicated all their resources on the top side of the map while Gen.G focused on the bottom side of the map to take two early drakes. Questionably, Gen.G then opted into a 4v5 on the top side of the map despite the fact they were clearly splitting the map and had no favourable presence on the top side:

Nevertheless, Gen.G got an early mountain soul point and managed to secure it with some exceptional Zoe play by Bdd, who weaved in and out of the fight, stole multiple summoners, and had pinpoint accuracy with his skillshots:

Cloud 9 still had the gold lead, but were now facing a Gen.G with momentum and a Mountain Soul which would severely limit the impact of Miss Fortune and Syndra’s burst damage. Clid then managed to find an absolutely sensational flank on Lee Sin to secure Gen.G the Baron, which caster Kobe appropriately described as pure “artwork””:

Gen.G had everything going for them to close out the series and would only need one more team fight to advance to the semi-finals, which they found as they caught out Blaber making his way to secure vision around the Elder Drake:

Summary

C9 proved they could go toe-to-toe with Gen.G in moments throughout games 1 and 3, but these moments were too few and far between; Gen.G were undeniably the better team today with some brilliant mid-jungle synergy and phenomenal individual performances. 4 teams now remain in the tournament, and with 3 of them being from LCK, it’s clear Korea is back to being the titanic region the rest of the world is trying to catch up with.

Next weekend, T1 face DK while EDG play Gen.G for a place in the 2021 Worlds Final; don’t miss it.