Team Dignitas vs Cloud9

To start off the week in North America, we have a fairly uninteresting clash between Cloud9 and Team Dignitas. Then again, maybe "uninteresting" is putting it mildly. A fight between the defending champs and one of the worst teams in the region isn't something you can get excited about, and it's easy to understand why. Still, there's always a reason to tune in, and if Dignitas steps up (much like they've done in the past), this might end up being a lot more exciting than people expect.

Well, one can only hope.

For Dignitas, their remaining games are only there to save face as they're currently sharing ninth place with Immortals -- hardly worth writing home about. They're bad in every sense of the word, and even though certain elements of the team deserve praise (like their above average bottom lane duo), they're just not good enough as a whole to leave much of a mark. Granted, they have moments of brilliance here and there but they're too few in number to actually warrant anyone's benefit of the doubt.

Cloud9, on the other hand, need this win, but not for the reason you'd expect. They're pretty much a lock in the playoffs but they're lacking momentum and hype. After dropping multiple games over the last couple of weeks, their aura and overall stock took quite a big hit. They're no longer considered as this unassailable, infallible giant of competitive League, but rather a struggling team with a ton of talent that has a severely wrong read of the meta. Now, granted, there are worse positions to be in, that's for sure, but seeing how they're the defending champions, they need as much momentum as possible coming into the playoffs. It's hard to even imagine what the C9 bunch is currently going through -- imagine losing so much (and in such one-sided fashion) after dominating the region for six months straight. This is a position they haven't found themselves in (at least not in 2020), and it'll be interesting to see how well they'll adapt now that their backs are against the wall. They're still the same Cloud9 we all know and love, but they haven't been as clean or commanding for whatever reason.

Obviously, they're better than Dignitas in every way, shape, and form, so we're going to side with the boys in black and blue on this one as it's the only logical choice. Still, it's not a matter of getting the win any longer but rather of making a statement. Cloud9 need to dominate and fortunately they're more than equipped for the task at hand.