Royal Never Give Up vs Cloud9

What an absolutely stellar match-up, one that is steeped in narratives and history! Royal Never Give Up vs. Cloud9 is all but guaranteed to deliver in all the right ways, so if you have the time, make sure to tune in! Prediction-wise, we simply have to side with the LPL champions on this one, but it's not as clear-cut as the odds make it out to be. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

We know for a fact that Cloud9 have all the right tools which are necessary to compete on even footing. They might not win a Best of 5, but a single game? That's well within the realm of possibility. Now, we're only talking about the Cloud9 from a couple of days ago — the clean, commanding, in-your-face kind of C9, rather than the one that showed up at the very start of the tournament. When they draft to their strengths, give enough agency to Perkz and Zven, and get Vulcan on an engage champion like Alistar, Cloud9 are more than capable of rubbing shoulders with the who's who of competitive League. Heck, they even stand a chance of winning which, by NA standards, is quite a commendable feat!

Unfortunately, they're up against Royal Never Give Up -- a team that is by no means perfect, but is nonetheless head and shoulder above everyone else at the tournament. And sure, maybe we had some doubt coming into the Rumble Stage but all of that has been dispelled after seeing them outclass the defending World Champions DWG KIA in the opening match of the day. It was exceptionally close up until it simply wasn't (the RNG special). Their teamfighting and decision-making are second-to-none, and the fact that they found so many openings and capitalized without breaking a sweat against the one team most folks thought would win it all is simply astounding. It's not just the win that matters but rather the fashion in which it all goes down. As a result, RNG have about as much hype and momentum as humanly possible right now -- and it's all well deserved.

How they'll fare against Cloud9 is anyone's guess, but they're favored for a reason. It's hard to really imagine a world in which Cloud9 somehow get their hands raised, although they definitely have a puncher's chance. Heck, Perkz and Zven are all they need to compete on even footing. Still, based on everything that we've seen thus far from the boys in black and blue, they always tend to make a mistake or two along the way. Now, these mistakes might not be all that great in size but RNG only need an inch to take a mile. They're like an unstoppable force of nature, a titan that decimates and annihilates everything in its path without much effort. Well, at least when they play to the best of their ability.

All of that said, this *is* a Best of 1 which means it's always a 50/50 kind of deal. If the NA champions put their best foot forward they might even pull off an upset, although the thought of it happening still feels quite remote. (to say the least) Regardless, both teams will surely throw down like there's no tomorrow, so make sure to tune in — we're bound to be entertained beyond measure!