Cloud9 did their best but ultimately, it wasn't enough against Gen.G Esports
In our last quarterfinal match of the week, Gen.G Esports faced off against Cloud9 with the hopes of the entire LCS on the shoulders. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be for the NA squad as they came crashing down against the LCK second seed in three straight games. This also comes after Luka "Perkz" Perkovic posted a tweet, firing shots at Gen.G just a day before the match. Safe to say, it did not age well.
As for Gen.G, they will now go on to the semifinals and go up against EDward Gaming, who took out Royal Never Give Up the other day. With their victory, Gen.G also ensures that there will be three LCK teams in the semifinals with the possibility of there being another all-LCK grand final at Worlds 2021. Their run this year also makes it their best performance at Worlds to date with their last two outings ending in the group stage in 2018 and the quarterfinals last year.
Game One
Gen.G started the first game on the front foot, not allowing C9 any time and space from the get-go. Their early game pickoffs worked to great effect as this allowed Gen.G to take out the outer and inner turrets of C9's top lane to open up the map. While C9 were severely behind, they still managed to keep the gold deficit at a minimum whilst securing other objectives as well.
As Gen.G tried to push down the mid lane, it was C9 who came out swinging. The NA squad initially lost Lee Sin at the very start of the team fight but still were able to hold out and team wipe Gen.G with both Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami and Perkz combining beautifully. This also opened the doors for C9 to take the Baron. With that massive engagement going C9's way, they managed to bring the game to level grounds. The game was evenly matched for the most part with Gen.G having a slight advantage but it was Bdd who came up with the clutch play, sacrificing himself in the top lane and buying his team time to push C9's bottom-side base.
This opened the floodgates for Gen.G as even with a man down, took the fight to C9 and wiped out Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen as well as its structures. After taking down their first dragon of the game as well as their second Baron, Gen.G headed towards C9 top lane to end the game. It was a methodical push, breaking all of C9's structures before heading straight for the Nexus and the 'GG' call.
Game Two
The second game went a lot smoother for Gen.G as they kept C9 at bay for most of the early game portion. By 15 minutes, Gen.G had six kills while C9 had zero. Both teams soon clashed in the bottom lane where Gen.G eliminated four of C9 with extreme ease. Transitioning into the mid-game and it was C9 who were trying to mount a comeback. However, their push attempt onto the top lane at 22 minutes didn't end well as even though Perkz got himself a double kill, his entire team got wiped.
Before you know it, Gen.G was marching down C9's mid lane and went straight into their base. It was a quick and precise siege from the LCK team as they destroyed both top and middle structures within seconds before heading straight for the Nexus. There was very little C9 could do at this point as they were still outnumbered, having to resign into watching the Nexus fall.
Game Three
With their backs against the wall, C9 had to come up with something to keep their tournament hopes alive. They decided to stick with the Miss Fortune and Leona combo again, one that has had a decent record at Worlds so far. Gen.G went for the same roaming Lee Sin alongside Jhin and Rakan for the second game in a row. Game three started differently with both teams trading kills from very early on. By 15 minutes, C9 were up by seven kills to four with a decent gold lead. Unfortunately, they could not get any objectives around the map.
This was where Gen.G excelled as even though they were behind, they still somehow managed to capture three dragons for themselves when transitioning into the mid-game by 25 minutes. Every team fight that happened after that just ended in disaster for C9 as they would constantly lose multiple members. It eventually proved too much for the NA team as Gen.G were just on another level.
C9 carried the dream for the entire region and sadly, it ends here as they bow out in the quarterfinals once more. Gen.G, on the other hand, will be creating history for themselves by making it to the semifinals for the first time. They will have their work cut out for them though as they will be going up against EDward Gaming.
Worlds 2021 Semifinal
Wrapping up the quarterfinals, we now have a few days to catch our breaths before more action unfolds on the Summoner's Rift next weekend. The semifinals will be played on Saturday and Sunday with DWG.KIA and T1 playing first, followed by EDward Gaming and Gen.G Esports. With the LCK dominating the headlines, it mustn't be forgotten that it is Asia that is dominating Worlds yet again, proving just how much of a challenge they are to the rest of the world.
