Cloud9 qualifies to 2019 World Championship, extends Worlds streak

By reaching League of Legends’ LCS summer split finals, Cloud9 have qualified for the 2019 World Championship. Attending the tournament will mark the seventh consecutive year that the organization has competed at the year’s biggest League of Legends tournament. 

Both Team Liquid and Cloud9 have secured qualification by reaching the LCS finals, as the winner of the LCS Summer Split will automatically qualify for the tournament and the second-place finisher will qualify via circuit points accrued through the spring and summer splits combined. 

Under the ownership of Jack Etienne, Cloud9 has been one of the most successful North American League of Legends teams internationally. Since acquiring their League of Legends roster, they have attended every single World Championship tournament from Season 3 all the way to the the 2019 World Championship being held later in the year. 

Not only have Cloud9 gotten to the tournaments, but they have been largely successful at them. With the exception of the 2015 World Championship. Cloud9 have made it out of the group stage and into the top eight on every occasion. The team notched four top-eight finishes between 2013 and 2018, with a top-four finish coming in 2018.

That year, Cloud9 made history by being the first North American team to beat a Korean team in a best-of-five series at an official Riot Games event. They did so in emphatic fashion by sweeping the LCK’s Afreeca Freecs 3-0. They would go on to be defeated by Fnatic in the semifinals, but was still a monumental achievement. 

2018 was the year that Cloud9 would spend time developing rookie players Eric “Licorice” Ritchie, Robert “Blaber” Huang, and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam. That development of talent didn’t initially bring success as they were in 10th place in the LCS. From there they began their heroic rise, as they fought from last place to the gauntlet, won the gauntlet, fought through Worlds’ wild card play-ins, then came out of their group and finally made it to the semifinals. 

Attending Worlds 2019 will continue a legacy of international success for the organization. Every Cloud9 fan will be hoping that they can carry on improving and go one step further to this year’s grand final.