Cloud9 vs Immortals

What a peculiar way to start off the day. Cloud9 vs. Immortals should, in theory, be as big of a beatdown as it gets. In actuality, though, it'll probably be a lot closer than most folks expect. And, in all fairness, that's not a good thing if you're a fan of either Cloud9 or the North American region. Have Immortals improved? Undoubtedly, but they would've never been able to look so (relatively) clean and solid had the upper echelon of the LCS not regressed so darn much.

Cloud9 are struggling, and they are in no way as dominant or brimming with potential as was the case back in Spring. Team SoloMid are also wholly inconsistent and were just a single second away from losing to Immortals yesterday. 100 Thieves? They're great, but their loss to Counter Logic Gaming yesterday definitely hurt their stock quite a bit. That's what happens when a top-tier challengers fails to get even a single kill on the board against the least capable team in North America. It's been chaotic across the board and it's hard not to be worried for what's to come. And, well, let's not even talk about Team Liquid -- they look like a shadow of their former selves without Alphari in the line-up.

All in all, it's a strange time to be an LCS fan. We all love a good upset, but the current state of affairs tells us one thing and one thing only: no one's all too consistent and, by proxy, invincible. Each and every single team can lose at any point, should they underestimate their opponent and make a blunder or two in the most crucial moments of the game. Still, it's impossible not to side with Cloud9 on this one. They've done more than enough to warrant our benefit of the doubt, and a couple of egregious blunders shouldn't hurt their stock too much. We're still at the very start of the split, so there's ample time for them to get on the same page and mount an offensive.

That said, they're staggeringly inconsistent, so don't expect a dominant showing against Immortals.