Team Liquid vs C9 A Battle For The Top

This Saturday we will see the first quarterfinal matchup of the NALCS. After what was a long day of tie breakers in the final day of the regular season, we have the 4th seed Team Liquid facing off against the 5th seed C9. Memes aside it’s hard to believe where both teams ended the regular season. C9 looked like one of the more dominant teams throughout the split then faltered towards the end. Team Liquid a roster put together with intentions to compete at the international level has struggled to be consistent. These two teams will face off to earn a spot in the semi-finals and come one step closer to representing North America at MSI.

Now it’s time for the bold prediction. Putting regular season results aside and the fact that the league reverted to best of 1s, it’s difficult to create a good evaluation of these teams. Going based purely off player history and dealing with high pressure situations it seems as though the Team Liquid roster holds the edge over Cloud 9. Although not a huge advantage, history is definitely on the side of the Team Liquid players. The veteran roster have all been in very high pressure matches and have been able to come out on top. Impact a former world champion, Doublelift a 2 time NALCS champion, Pobelter and Xmithie former champions on CLG and so on.

As for the C9 roster we have seen Jensen have breakdowns during these tense moments where everything is on the line. This will be rookie top laner Licorice’s first ever playoff series and best of 5. There is no telling how Licorice will perform as his counterpart in the toplane always manages to improve in the postseason. I feel as though this will be a close series that will ultimately be swayed by the top lane matchup. Team Liquid’s win condition will be playing through the botlane where they have found their most success. For C9 to be victorious they will need Licorice to be able to win out top. Jungler Svenskeren will also have to succeed in getting Jensen ahead. Sneaky has always been a reliable carry for C9 and will without a doubt keep them in this series. Ultimately I feel as though this series will end 3-2 in favor of Team Liquid with one final play deciding the series. This is going to be a series you won’t want to miss.

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