Cloud9 has officially been eliminated from advancing at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational on the final day of the Rumble Stage. With no chance for a tiebreaker after MAD Lions defeated Royal Never Give Up, C9’s miracle run hopes were squashed before they played their first match of the day.
With MAD's win against RNG, @Cloud9 are eliminated from #MSI2021 Knockout Stage contention. pic.twitter.com/JvT8wDktLk
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) May 18, 2021
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Cloud9’s story at MSI 2021 can be summed up in a single word: unlucky. Despite multiple good showings and upset wins throughout the event against tournament favorites RNG and DWG KIA, C9 often failed to close out leads or pick up wins when it counted. After a 1-4 start to the first round-robin of the Rumble Stage, Cloud9 dropped a crucial game to the then-winless Pentanet.GG. This meant their road to playoffs relied on MAD going 0-2 on the last day and them sweeping their remaining matches.
Cloud9 entered the tournament as a dark horse with the potential to go far, though an early loss to DetonatioN FocusMe put the team’s consistency into question. However, they qualified for the Rumble Stage alongside DWG KIA off the back of a 3-0 sweep on the last day of their group. After Tuesday’s results, they’ll be going home in fifth place with their remaining matches having little impact on the standings.
Since the event was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year marked Clou9’s first MSI attendance as an organization. The last time a representative from the League of Legends Championship Series advanced into the bracket stage of an international tournament was when Team Liquid qualified for playoffs at MSI 2019.
Despite being eliminated, Cloud9’s final match of MSI will be against MAD Lions at 11 a.m. PT. After that, Cloud9 will return to the LCS at the start of the Summer Split on June 4.
