Cloud9 vs FlyQuest

Finally, to close out the Western League of Legends finals weekend, we have the highly anticipated clash between Cloud9 and FlyQuest. If you've just joined us for whatever reason, you're probably surprised that there's no Team Liquid in sight. Heck, one could argue that Team SoloMid also had the potential and talent to reach this point, and yet they didn't.

This is, in many ways, a surprising match-up, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining or thrilling. These two teams truly are the best North America has to offer, and they've earned their spot in the finals through sweat and tears. Cloud9, to be fair, didn't find much of a challenge over the last three months, but FlyQuest certainly went through thick and thin to get to this point. They won some, lost some, jumped around in the standings, and right when you thought they were about to end their Spring Split run after dropping a close 1-3 series to Evil Geniuses, they somehow found the strength and resiliency to fight back.

Their games against the Golden Guardians, Team SoloMid, and the runback against Evil Geniuses were simply awe-inspiring. They weren't perfect. That's a fact. You could also argue that they didn't exactly display a lot of flexibility, given how they always got their hands on a couple of de-facto FlyQuest drafts. Still, they persevered and thrived regardless of the circumstances. When IgNar got Rakan, they dominated. When he didn't, he didn't hesitate to go for a much more risky Leona or Blitzcrank. Santorin has been omnipresent, and ever since they incorporated Solo into the team, they've been far more consistent and even across the map. Solo isn't the kind of dude who needs a lot to get going. In fact, you could argue that he doesn't need anything at all. You can just leave him on an island and he'll still find a way to remain relevant. That's a deceptively rare talent, and FlyQuest need it badly seeing how they have a mindblowing mid laner and an equally dangerous bottom lane duo -- top lane is last in line when it comes to gold allocation and resource sharing.

Speaking of mid lane, to say that PowerOfEvil has been dominating beyond measure would truly be an understatement. His damage numbers are spectacular in every sense of the word. Heck, you could even make an argument for him being the best mid laner in the region, perhaps rivaled only by Cloud9's own Nisqy, although they differ wildly in terms of playstyle and the way they spread their individual lead in the game. PowerOfEvil has been the driving force behind FlyQuest's success and ever since they started their phenomenal lower bracket run, he's been upping his game match after match. If FlyQuest start off well, he's bound to be their biggest and most important catalyst. They need to give him priority in the draft and get him on a scaling pick. He'll cover the rest.

Finally, we have WildTurtle -- a name everyone's well-acquainted with. Much like the rest of the team, WT is having a renaissance of sorts. He's still the same old Jason, the guy who's going to flash forward, throw out his ultimate willy nilly and engage like he's a tank, but for the first time in his career, he has teammates that'll follow suit. That's the exact same way IgNar and PowerOfEvil want to play, and watching them fight and engage in unison has been a thing of beauty. He still treads the line perhaps a bit too often, but he's getting away with it more often than not, in no small part because of the support from his team.

There's a lot to like about this FlyQuest line-up, and it's fair to say that they've realized a lot of their inherent potential, and perhaps even went beyond what people expected. Still, they have their toughest test yet, and one could argue that it's an unassailable, indomitable obstacle.

Cloud9 are the heavy favorites. There's no other way to put it. They've steamrolled through every single opponent that was put in front of them, and they did so with staggering, almost mind-blowing ease. It is as if they're from an entirely different region, just taking a break in North America for a little while, before they depart and return to whence they came. That's Cloud9, and that's been their incredible 2020 Spring Split run. There's not a team in sight that can actually challenge them and put a dent in their armor.

They've been nothing short of mind-blowing over the last three months, and they just need to win three games tonight and they'll make history. Six long years have passed since the organization last held the LCS trophy, and it's about time they returned to their former glory. All sings are pointing to it happening. They've won MVP of the Split (Blaber), Coach of the Split (Reapered, for the fourth time), and even their Academy team (coached by the legendary veteran and former LEC champion Reignover) dominated over Evil Geniuses mere days ago en route to winning the Academy league.

History is within spitting distance, and the fact that Cloud9 will play from home means there's no pressure, no one's actually watching, cheering, screaming -- they can treat this like a set of scrims, which means we should see them in top form.

Still, with all of that said, FlyQuest are looking mighty strong. Perhaps even alarmingly so. After watching them beat the Golden Guardians, Team SoloMid, and Evil Geniuses, it's hard not to feel at least a little bit worried if you're a Cloud9 fan. Now sure, there's no reason for concern as the boys in black and blue always found a way to win, but this Best of 5 might not be as easy or one-sided as some people expect.

So on the one hand, you can make a case for Cloud9 having the upper hand primarily because they had the luxury of watching FlyQuest go through the lower bracket. On the other, so did many teams before them and yet they failed to contain PowerOfEvil and IgNar.

In the end, we simply have to side with Cloud9 on this one. It's the only logical choice.