After a disastrous Week 1, Cloud9 picked up its first win of the 2017 North American League of Legends Championship Series summer split with a 2-0 win over Phoenix1 on Friday in Los Angeles.
Cloud9 (1-2, 3-4 match record) came out of the gate swinging in Game 1, picking up multiple kills in the bottom lane. C9's strong teamfighting composition had plenty of pick potential thanks to support Andy "Smoothie" Ta's Thresh, who punished the apparent lack of cohesion in P1's bottom lane duo. Cloud9 took its early game lead and snowballed heavily in the mid game, taking a 4-for-0 teamfight at 17 minutes to establish total control of the game. With a 10,000-gold lead at 21 minutes, Cloud9 looked unstoppable as it cruised into P1's base after a free 24-minute Baron kill, with Smoothie landing Death Sentences on key targets to finish with a 0/0/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 75 percent kill participation and Player of the Game honors. Phoenix1 managed to dodge a perfect game by taking the Rift Herald earlier on, but that's all C9 gave up as it took a nearly-perfect win in 29 minutes.
Game 2 saw Phoenix1 change up its roster with substitute jungler William "Meteos" Hartman coming in with a Gragas pick, which worked well for Phoenix1 (0-3, 2-6 match record) in the early game. While C9 picked up first blood in the top lane, P1 managed to take a small mid game lead through strong teamfighting. The game was neck-and-neck up until 20 minutes, when P1 managed to jump ahead with a 2-for-0 fight that led to a Baron kill at 24 minutes. A nearly 5,000-gold lead at 28 minutes evaporated when C9 came out on top of a messy fight, picking up a 2-for-0 and swinging momentum back in its favor. Taking a 32-minute Baron on the back of a 1 vs. 1 outplay by top laner Jeon "Ray" Ji-won's Renekton, Cloud9 pressed its advantage with a massive 4-for-0 teamfight win, flooding into P1's base to finish the 35-minute win and complete the 2-0 sweep.
Cloud9 next take to the Rift on Sunday when it battles Echo Fox at 3 p.m ET, while Phoenix1 will look for its first win of the summer against a struggling FlyQuest side on Sunday at 6 p.m ET.