GAME 1

Predictions were definitely wrong about how the first game would go, but it is some consolation that it would have worked better than what C9 did do. Instead of going to the aggressive/carry junglers that Contractz has been practicing all Worlds, C9 dropped him into a much more passive jungle position on a tank Jarvan. Sadly, this is the Contractz that we recognize from so many NA splits, a Contractz not realizing his full potential and underutilized.

C9 also tried to be a bit cheeky with Jensen on an Aurelion Sol pick, a champ he has never played professionally. Though no one on C9 did particularly poor, the team cohesion was missing from the pick, and the damage they needed to get through WE just simply wasn’t there. It was only made worse by Impact making some very suspect calls – such as diving onto Mystic for a taunt that put him at ground zero of the entire Team WE lineup. It was a long game, nearly an hour, and one that felt like C9 trying to blast through a steel wall with firecrackers.

GAME 2

Innovation has time and again led the Worlds’ teams to victory. If a relative unknown like Misfits could put even SKT on the ropes with it, there has to be something to it, and C9 finally pulled out some of the ingenuity we saw in the Play-in Stage. To counter Mystics Kog’Maw – a constant irritation and backline turret – C9 slotted in a surprising and as of yet unseen to Worlds Singed. The pick caught Team WE completely off guard, and like SKT before them, they started to make silly mistakes, at one point even chasing Singed as he kited and taunted the team – which even a beginner at League knows you do not do.

Even though WE’s 957 was doing admirable work in trying to guide the team and even pulling out another flank teleport, it simply wasn’t enough to bring WE back from the deficit that Singed dropped them into. Ultimately, it was a creative counter to WE’s comfort pick that won the day for C9. It was a risky move, but one that was strongly rewarded.

GAME 3

Team WE did not learn their lesson from Game 2, and Game 3 saw Impact back on Singed in what was an almost embarrassingly dominating win at just 25 minutes. It was an added benefit that not only was Singed a frontline monster, but he was also a rather clever Cho’Gath counter. The moment 957 flashed in for a Feast on Sneaky, Impact hurled and slowed him away from the team, which then positioned C9 nicely to collapse and destroy Cho.

But it wasn’t just Impact on Singed. It was as equally Sneaky with a 100% kill participation and with Team WE foolishly choosing Caitlyn to try and draft an early game powerhouse. Fnatic tried it, and WE followed suit, failing just as obviously. At Worlds, Caitlyn’s reputation as the early game champion simply hasn’t held water. Compared to the utility of Tristana or shredding power of Kog’Maw, she just hasn’t kept up. It was a foolish call to put Mystic on her, but one that probably couldn’t have saved Mystic from Singed no matter the champ.

GAME 4

Contractz showed far too much of his over eagerness this game, and it cost C9 dearly. Like their game against SKT, Contractz constantly pushed too aggressive, too far forward, and too foolishly. It first cost him his life in WE’s jungle, then in their mid lane, and later, in fight after fight. It wasn’t just Contractz, though. The greed to push in and take this final win to make it to the semi-finals was simply too strong. Even as Impact dominated the top lane, up 20 CS after the first 10 minutes, it wasn’t enough to bring back the deficit that his team delivered.

It didn’t help that C9, who had been drafting so well previously, simply handed WE nearly all of their comfort picks. Kog’Maw, Taliyah, and Jarvan are all very strong in the Chinese meta, and C9 seemed almost lazy with their drafting. They allowed WE to not only set the tempo of the game, but to relax onto comfort champions when they should have been posturing to put them into more stressful champions.

GAME 5

C9’s drafting had been so on point, but by Game 4, and continuing into Game 5, it made less and less sense. Game 4 was a huge misstep with the comfort picks going to team WE, but then C9 simply gave away Galio in Game 5 – a champion Jensen showed he could play to huge success in the Play-in Stage. Even more confusing, C9 opted into a Caitlyn. This was a champion they had very recently crushed in lane and in game, and for some reason they thought they could do what no Worlds 2017 team had done and make it a winning pick.

Beyond this, it felt like the coaches for WE and C9 were in completely different mindsets. Team WE wisely let Mystic go time and again to what made him happy. He saw failure on Kog’Maw, but he also saw success. It was something he did well, and the leads he built up in this game were huge because of it, but C9 spent all of Worlds showing their diversity and then failed to bring it out in the final two games. Contractz was denied every game from the assassin/power junglers he had gravitated so heavily to. It was confusing to see them show so much creativity and have so much success with the versatility of their picks, and then when it mattered most they simply picked champions that seemed to fit the meta, but not the players, and that was what cost them their spot at Worlds.