Golden Guardians vs Cloud9

It's no secret that Cloud9 heavily underperformed at the most recent Mid-Season Invitational. In fact, we're putting it mildly here: they failed in every sense of the word, despite having all the right tools to go deep and compete with the best teams in the world on even footing. They struggled with the most basic things, and we'd be remiss if we didn't say that they let millions of fans down in the most dispiriting of ways.

Be that as it may, they're still in a league of their own. With some of the best players in North America, they're all but guaranteed to once again reach the very top of the region. There's no obvious weak link here, and even though they'll enter the 2021 Summer Split with K1ng instead of Zven -- a most baffling decision -- it's hard to envision a world in which they struggle all too much against the vast majority of their peers.

And, fortunately, they'll have the absolute best opponent to warm up: the Golden Guardians. By "best" we mean least capable, as GGS are, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst team in North America. Cloud9 need an easy target, an opponent they'll blow out of the water and therefore accrue a bit of much-needed momentum. Even if they fail to mount an offensive and get on the same page, they should still be more than capable enough to outclass GGS and get their hands raised. They're better across the board and their individual prowess should net them the win with ease.