C9 book their ticket to 2023 LCS Spring Playoffs finals and earn NA’s first spot at MSI

The regular season's first seed has a lot to look forward to over the next few weeks.

Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games via Flickr

North American League of Legends fans, one of the LCS’ most historic teams is headed back to MSI.

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Cloud9 has not only advanced to the grand finals of the 2023 LCS Spring Playoffs in Raleigh, North Carolina, but has become the first of two LCS teams to qualify for this year’s League MSI, set to start on May 2 in London, England.

The other representative of NA at the first international tournament of the year will be determined after the conclusion of the loser’s finals next Saturday.

The first seed from the regular season earned these feats through a dominant sweep over FlyQuest in the winner’s finals of the Playoffs bracket, a team many fans are anticipating that they’ll meet once more in Raleigh.

In all three games of the series, C9 stormed the opposition as a cohesive unit, taking complete advantage of a FlyQuest squad whose mispositioning was their downfall.

This year’s MSI features a new structure, where the top two teams from the LCS and the LEC will be added into the mix, rather than only having one representative each from the two League regions. C9 were unable to qualify for the international tournament last year, with Evil Geniuses having represented NA.

G2 Esports from the LEC is the only other team to have qualified for MSI at this time, though it is not yet clear where they will begin their run. As the regular seasons conclude in regions around the world over the next few weeks, the rest of the teams heading to MSI will be made clear.

Golden Guardians and EG will meet tomorrow to finally cement the three League teams heading to Raleigh in just an arms reach of an LCS title, with the winner of this match going on to meet FlyQuest on April 8.

The grand finals of the Spring Playoffs will then be held the next day, where C9 await their currently-unknown opponent and second representative for the LCS at MSI.

Author
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Ethan Garcia
Ethan Garcia is a freelance writer for Dot Esports, having been part of the company for three years. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University and specializes particularly in coverage of League of Legends, various Nintendo IPs, and beyond.