It was celebration for FlyQuest, who booked their spot at Worlds after a 3-1 victory over Cloud9 – this win marks their first appearance at the League of Legends world championship in four years. For Cloud9, it’s back to the drawing board as they prepare to face the winner of Dignitas vs 100 Thieves.
Fans were eager to see these two LCS squads do battle after an entertaining best-of-three in the final week of the Summer Split regular season, which saw C9 2-0 FlyQuest. FLY was confident after that series despite the defeat, and Inspired, in particular, felt confident, as he stated during the Pros LCS podcast.
How FlyQuest booked their Worlds 2024 place
Image via Riot Games
Cloud9 came out of the blocks like a house on fire, displaying stellar lane swap macro as they raced out to an early lead against FlyQuest in game one. C9 was ruthless and did not allow FLY to take a single inch of the map without paying the price for it. That was until Vulcan made a crucial mistake, overstepping in the FLY jungle, leading to C9 getting caught. FlyQuest was able to get as far as the nexus being exposed. However, a botched game-ending play saw Cloud9 hold the line and secure Elder and Baron, allowing them to brute force their way down mid to secure the win.
C9 looked to have shaken off the potential throw with another early solid game performance. They controlled the game, with Bwipo having a rough one in games one and two. That being said, it only took one team fight victory for FlyQuest to turn the game on its head. C9 got chunked out in the mid lane after an engage onto jojopyun, which saw the scaling Corki eliminated from fighting before the team fight began. From that point on, FLY was able to close out the game comfortably, making it a tied series.
In games three and four, FlyQuest was far more controlled. It begs the question if the first two games took a toll on Cloud9, who had excellent early games but consistently threw the game away. Even in game three, Cloud9 didn’t have a lead per se, but they had every chance to win. Crucial mistakes gave FlyQuest the lead, and they never looked back.
FLY has a date with TL on the cards
With this win, FlyQuest secured their second-ever appearance at Worlds 2024. They weathered the early Cloud9 storm, took the first game on the chin, and bounced back to secure an upper-bracket finals date with Team Liquid. It’ll be exciting to see these teams go at it once again. The major problem with the single round-robin format was that we haven’t seen FlyQuest take on Team Liquid since the Summer Split regular season’s opening series, which was over two months ago. Quad has gone from strength to strength since his first outing with TL and was recognized in this series for his excellence, picking up player of the series and putting C9’s jojopyun to the sword.
C9 must remain focused
For Cloud9, it’s back to the drawing board to prepare for the 100 Thieves and Dignitas winner. C9 can’t afford to be down on themselves for too long. They did have strong early games and will need to identify where things went wrong in games one and two, even if they did end up winning the first game. With all due respect to 100 Thieves and Dignitas, they are not on the same playing field as FlyQuest or Team Liquid, and C9 will still be the overwhelming favorites regardless of who they face. While this organization is striving for championship glory, it needs to focus on securing the third and final spot at Worlds 2024. Cloud9 has attended worlds ten out of eleven times since entering the LCS and has made an LCS finals appearance every year. They will have to play much better to keep that record alive.
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