Team SoloMid vs Cloud9

The 'el clasico' everyone loves — a match-up that is seemingly as old as time immemorial. TSM and Cloud9 clashing off in 2022 might not be as exciting as it was in the past, but it's still a reason to tune in. What more could we ask for?

To make things even more interesting, the boys in black and white still have a shot at making playoffs. The odds might be stacked against them, but at least their fate is in their own hands. The fact that they've taken down a surging CLG yesterday means that they're not to be trifled with. They might not be this layered, unassailable threat, but they can still pack one heck of a punch (from time to time, at least).

Cloud9, however, are still a cut above. They're one of the most capable teams in North America and they have an incredibly high skill ceiling, too. In fact, no one should be overly surprised if they end up claiming one of the three highly coveted World Championship spots at the expense of either 100 Thieves of Team Liquid. They still have a lot of work to do, but at their best, Cloud9 can definitely tango with the LCS pantheon — and even win out from time to time. They are sublime whenever they get on the same page and execute to the best of their ability and, frankly, we've been seeing these moments of brilliance a lot more often as of late.

Well, they can still slip up from time to time — one needn't look any further for proof than last week — but have nonetheless been great and impressive on most occasions. And, needless to say, they're head and shoulders better than TSM FTX. It's not even close, to be fair, which doesn't mean they'll just run circles around their opposition and cruise to a win — the boys in black and white have nothing to lose which means that they'll throw the wildest haymakers, hoping that at least one of them ends up connecting.

Cloud9 should definitely be able to win, but it's probably not going to be as commanding or lopsided as the oddsmakers would lead you to believe.