The Golden Guardians found a comeback victory over Cloud9 to close out the first day of week two in the 2018 North American LCS Summer Split.
The Guardians drafted a gold-funneling composition centered around marksman Matthew “Deftly” Chen’s Kai’Sa. Their whole gameplan was to donate mid lane and jungle farm and experience to him to let him take over the game, with Son “Mickey” Young-min’s Yasuo as a backup plan. The rest of the team played supportive champions like Braum and Alistar to further protect Deftly and allow him to shine.
To counter, Cloud9 sought to dive onto Deftly with the combination of Eric “Licorice” Ritchie’s Shen and Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen’s Evelynn.
Early into the game, it seemed as if the Guardian’s strategy had fallen flat. Cloud9 mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer carved out an experience lead over Deftly, despite only having mid lane to farm. This allowed him to exert immense pressure on the map, even netting a solo kill on Deftly. Cloud9 took four dragons, including three Infernal Drakes, and two Barons off the back of his presence in the mid lane.
Unfortunately for C9, the game went downhill from there. Deftly was left untouched in fights, and he shredded Cloud9. After securing the third Baron buff of the game and two kills, the Guardians outraced their opponents to finish the game.
This victory marks the second win for the Golden Guardians, who won only four times over the course of the Spring Split. They took down defending champions Team Liquid in the fastest game of the split last week, and followed it up by demonstrating they could play the late game, beating Cloud9 in the split’s longest match so far.
For Cloud9, question marks over the team’s ability to close out matches are continuing to rise. Even in the team’s loss, however, Goldenglue was phenomenal and should be a pillar for the team.
Golden Guardians will try to tighten their hold on the NA LCS tomorrow against Echo Fox, while Cloud9 will look to bounce back against 100 Thieves.
