Weird can only get you so far in professional League of Legends, and Phoenix1 learned that the hard way in today's match against Cloud 9. Despite Phoenix1 pulling out a myriad of their usual strategies - Zig's Kled, Ryu's LeBlanc, subbing in Meteos and Stunt - it just didn't seem to matter against Cloud 9's skillful play, and they gave up the ghost after only three underwhelming games.
Simply put, Cloud 9 had P1's number. They had counterpicks ready for P1's oddball champs, played the early game well, and were able to adapt to Phoenix1's shenanigans in every game. Clearly, they'd done their homework. Phoenix1 meanwhile looked as though they were going into the matchup expecting the strategies that got them past Dignitas - the sixth place seed - would also get them past the second-best team in North America.
When Ryu and Arrow inevitably failed to get a lead, P1 ended up scrambling for whatever gold they could find. C9 was all-too-happy to pounce on the disoriented Phoenix1 squad, taking solid fights that usually translated into Barons or towers. Once they had an objective lead, it was seemingly child's play for C9 to close it out.
An excellent example of this was game 1. Despite Ryu's LeBlanc being difficult for Cloud 9 to handle, they managed to forge ahead of Phoenix1 in the tower and drake department quite early on. While Phoenix1 were eventually able to bring back the objective game, a single pick onto Shady in the blue-side jungle meant that Cloud 9 could immediately run for Baron. Phoenix1 attempted to contest, but it was all-too-easy for Cloud 9 to pick them off and secure the buff afterwards. With the gold mounting against them and facing down an Exalted C9 squad, Phoenix1 could pose no further threat for the remainder of the game.
Though their initial strategy was thwarter, Phoenix1 still had an excellent draft in phase two with Rengar for Inori, Varus for Arrow, and Zig back on his pocket Kled. Cloud 9 however had an answer for P1's relatively immobile composition - Jarvan IV. Ray was able to hold down the top side of the map against Zig with the Exemplar of Demacia and lock down members of P1 for Contractz to blow up. The two actually secured every single kill for Cloud 9, with the exception of the one stolen away by Sneaky at the last second.
P1 subbed in Meteos and Stunt for game 3 and stole away the Jarvan pick, but by that point it almost felt like too little, too late. Meteos's Elise gave them a slightly better early game than before, but Jensen's Ekko swiftly snowballed out of control against Ryu's Syndra. With Sneaky's Enchanted Crystal Arrows to give them initiation, C9 were able to secure multiple picks against Phoenix1, ramping up the tempo of the game and keeping P1 from ever being able to catch up. It only took 25 minutes for Cloud 9 to close out the final game - truly a dominating performance.
