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Cloud9 defeated Team Liquid 3-2 in the 2021 LCS Mid-Season Showdown finals to win its third North American Spring Split title.
C9 dominated the early game as always, highlighted by five successive first bloods onto Team Liquid's star top laner Barney "Alphari" Morris. The tie between the two North American heavyweights was quite even until the very end, and the series had to run down to five games to decide the winner.
Cloud9's Luka "Perkz" Perković was the fans' prime focus. He was lethal throughout the final series with an impressive KDA scoreline of 27/5/24. Winning his first LCS title with C9, the veteran Croatian mid-laner became just the second player to win the LEC and LCS split.
Perkz's teammate and C9's bot laner Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen was the first League of Legends player to reach the milestone.
Being the regional champions, Cloud9 will now represent North America in the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational held in Iceland from May 6.
Perkz leads Cloud9 to win the first LCS Mid-Season showdown, secures ticket to Mid-Season Invitational
Cloud9 came into the finals as firm favorites. On the other hand, Team Liquid once again had to start its academy jungler Jonathan "Armao" Armao because regular starter Lucas "Santorin" Larsen was still recovering from his migraine issues.
Despite starting on the backfoot, Armao outperformed everyone's expectations. He turned out to be a key figure for Liquid, winning two out of the first three games. After a shaky start, Cloud9 slowly started to take control of the Summoner's Rift from game 4.
The final game of the series was all about Cloud9. A brilliantly executed lane swap gave it a positive advantage from level 1. Perkz was successful in stealing pivotal ults from Team Liquid's Cho'Gath, Rell, and Hecarim.
The perfect pairing of his Sylas and Zven's Tristana turned out to be the deciding factor in the fifth game.
The final game of the series was one-sided, and TL's nexus was down in just 27 minutes. Perkz was deservingly awarded the Player of the Final Series.
By becoming the first-ever Mid-Season Showdown champions, Cloud9 will be the NA representatives at the MSI 2021.
