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There aren’t many better ways to open up the group stage of the League of Legends World Championship than with a classic rivalry. And frankly, you’d be hard-pressed to find one better than the one between Fnatic and Cloud9. The two “legacy organizations” will open the main event of Worlds 2022 with their first meaningful competitive match against one another in four years.
Fnatic and Cloud9 have deep roots in competitive League, and considering their rivalry was first born at Worlds 10 seasons ago, it’s only fair that it’s set to be rekindled this weekend.
Fnatic and Cloud9 first faced off at Worlds 2013 in the quarterfinal round, and things were very different back then. Cloud9 were seeded directly into the knockout stage thanks to NA’s performance at All-Star Weekend earlier that season. Since the quarterfinals were only a best-of-three format, Fnatic needed just two wins to eliminate Cloud9 in their first-ever meeting.
This year, the Worlds format may have evolved, but Fnatic still had to take the more difficult road to get to where they are. The team had to win seven of eight games to advance out of the tournament’s initial phase in 2013 and won four of five last week to make it to groups this season.
For the second straight year, Fnatic find themselves as the true underdog in their Worlds group. When standing next to T1, Edward Gaming, and Cloud9—three teams who have won their domestic regions at some point in the last year—Fnatic face possibly the most lopsided draw among all major region teams at the group stage (save Evil Geniuses, who also drew three other recent major region champions).
Related: Here are all groups for the League of Legends Worlds 2022 group stage
Beyond the Fnatic/Cloud9 rivalry, Group A is filled with endemic teams that have all had historic runs at Worlds in the past. Three of the four teams in Group A have won Worlds in the past, with EDG being the most recent winner (2021) and Fnatic being the most distant (2011).
In total, Fnatic and Cloud9 have faced off against one another in 11 individual games (Fnatic hold a 6-5 edge, but that needle is pushed to 10-7 if you count IEM tournaments and Rift Rivals).
And if anything, fans should consider themselves lucky that they’ve actually gotten to see Cloud9 and Fnatic play that many games against each other over the past 10 seasons. Professional League’s current international format, which only promotes two tournaments per year, often stymies international rivalries.
This week, European and North American fans got to witness the only best-of-five between their two regions since the last time Fnatic and Cloud9 played in 2018. While EU and NA have faced off in best-of-one matches over the last four years, this week’s EG/MAD Lions bout was the first full series between the two regions since 2018.
For Riot Games, the lack of EU/NA best-of-fives is only a symptom of the disease that is the oft-criticized, arguably outdated Worlds format. The two regions have only played eight series against each other in the game’s history, with half of them taking place at the 2011 World Championship and featuring teams that no longer exist—looking at you, Against All Authority and Epik Gamer.
Related: Here’s every single NA vs. EU best-of League of Legends series over the years
That first edition of Worlds featured a double elimination bracket, an engrained piece of esports tournaments that League fans have been dying to see added to the Worlds equation for well over a decade.
While embracing double elimination at Worlds would be an obvious step in a direction toward bringing about more potential EU/NA best-of-fives, the other solution lies in the potential expansion of the international schedule. The Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship hold some amount of prestige due to their relative exclusivity, but that exclusivity translates to a lack of inclusivity for fans who are looking to see more matches between some of the game’s biggest draws. More tournaments throughout the year would obviously make way for more rivalry matches.
The other solution that’ll bring about more western best-of-fives—and this is the one the fans don’t want to hear—is for more EU and NA teams to make it out of groups at international tournaments. Since Worlds 2018, when three of the four teams in the semifinals were of western origin, Korea and China have faced off in six best-of-five series in opposition to the two posted by the EU/NA rivalry. More teams from the east have been making it past the group stage at events; don’t be surprised when they’re facing off against each other more frequently in the ensuing brackets.
Still, European and North American fans get up for these best-of-ones, and when they’re featuring two classic teams in C9 and Fnatic, it’s hard not to get excited. Despite the lack of extra games, best-of-ones can still make for some of the best competitive League. The best individual game of the 2021 season was the Group A tiebreaker played at Worlds last year between C9 and Rogue. And with EU/NA matches slated in two of the four groups at Worlds this year, it’s highly possible more chapters get written in the rivalry’s legend, starting with Fnatic and C9 tomorrow.
Fnatic and Cloud9 will reignite their classic rivalry when the Worlds 2022 group stage begins on Oct. 7 at 4pm CT.
