What Led To The Fall of Cloud9 in the 2020 LCS Summer Split?

For the longest time, Cloud9 has been top of the LCS throughout 2020. However, the American super-team showed signs of weakness in the Summer Split.

 

Cloud9 had a fantastic start to the 2020 LCS Summer Split. The team won its first nine games and matched the incredible pace the team achieved in the spring split, where Cloud9 completely steamrolled the remainder of the league.

 

Something seemed very off with the team after being showcased in the first round-robin in the Summer Split. This all led to the team experiencing some shocking losses and having its first 0-2 week in over two years.  

 

Although Cloud9 has secured a place in the playoffs, it looks as if its challengers, Team SoloMid and Team Liquid, may be severe competition that could stop Cloud9 from taking home the LCS trophy. The two teams are looking to be quite strong in the league, and have both beaten Cloud9 while in the split's second half.

 

What Are the Reasons for Cloud9’s Downfall In the 2020 LCS Summer Split?

 

Both fans and analysts were shocked at Cloud9’s first losses of the Summer Split. Nonetheless, these losses weren’t taken very seriously by the whole community.

 

At that stage, it looked as though Cloud9 was testing new strategies and compositions. It seemed like a way to prepare for the tougher competition that the team was likely to face on the international stage later this year. However, the team's performance still started to worry fans.

 

Yasin ‘Nispy’ Dinçer explained why he thought Cloud9 was currently struggling in an interview with InvenGlobal. The mid-laner explained that he believed its lack of aggression caused the reason for the team's results. Nispy also claimed that the team wasn’t playing as insane as it usually does.

 

One portion of Cloud9's lack of performance could be that there are differing opinions within the team of what's right for the team and what's good in the current meta. The team's responses to their opponents' picks haven't been as good as it used to be.

 

One of the team members also claimed that a reason for the team's downfall could be that everyone fights more in scrims than when playing in the LCS matches. This may be part of why the Cloud9 team has a bad read on the meta.

 

Cloud9's current performance is different from what everyone is used to seeing. The lack of confidence is coming through while performing on the Rift.

 

Nonetheless, the team is still seen to be the favorites by many to win the split. However, this is highly dependent on if the team is able to find its rhythm again. The potential of Cloud9 is still a powerful team to beat even though the competition within the LCS has drastically increased during the 2020 Summer Split.

 

Cloud9 is still looking to gain back a good portion of their confidence in the final week of the summer split. This is where the team is going to be placed against Counter Logic Gaming and Dignitas.