Cloud9 handed upset loss by Golden Guardians in LCS Summer Split

Week two of the LCS’s summer season closed out with a massive upset.

After a string of dominant performances, Cloud9 lost its undefeated status at the hands of the Golden Guardians. This advances both teams’ records to 3-1 on the season and could mark the beginning of a shakeup to the upper echelon of the LCS.

The game started with Golden Guardians jungler Juan “Contractz” Garcia invading Cloud9’s blue buff, clearing out camps, and leaving rival jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen with little opportunity to farm. Svenskeren countered this by partnering up with top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie to kill Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell.

The Golden Guardians turned their attention to the bottom lane from there, with Cloud9 meeting them head-on. Cloud9 initiated a team fight and managed to score two kills to set up a hard push mid. Sporting a gold and kill lead at 15 minutes, Cloud9 was seemingly positioned to win the game handily but the Golden Guardians would not go down without a fight.

Golden Guardians mid laner Henrik “Froggen” Hansen kept his team in the game with his signature Anivia. Cloud9 scored a pair of picks in the jungle and used that advantage to make a baron play. However, with many of their key ultimates still on cooldown from the previous fight, the Golden Guardians attacked the pit and scored an ace to swing the momentum.

Froggen, Hauntzer, and bot laner Matthew “Deftly” Chen were in complete control and started looking to knot up the win. For the first time in the season, Cloud9 looked lost.

At 32 minutes, the Golden Guardians secured an uncontested baron buff and began their final siege. From there, they scored an ace inside the Cloud9 base to claim the win.

Following Cloud9’s loss, OpTic Gaming advanced into first place in the LCS with a 4-0 record, with Cloud9 and the Golden Guardians sharing second place at 3-1. The LCS returns on Saturday with Cloud9 facing OpTic and Golden Guardians taking on 100 Thieves.