The finals of the 2020 Spring Split is upon us, and with that we have another Win Condition. From losing in the winner’s bracket and playing through the most Bo5 series possible, FlyQuest defy all odds and meet up against Cloud9 in the finals. There is little doubt amongst analysts, fans and pundits alike that C9 are the favorite coming into this match, but there are small avenues FLY could approach this match to maximize their chances of winning. C9 hasn’t shown many weaknesses other than their own hubris in their only two losses of the season against TSM and Evil Geniuses. The best chances the FLY have in this matchup is through the top lane, but also keeping priority vision surrounding mid lane. Albeit small, I will break down the win conditions for FLY and the small guidelines that C9 needs to follow to clinch victory.

FlyQuest need to Topple the Tower of Babel

The best way for FlyQuest to penetrate the armor of C9 is not through superior mid lane control, because it’s very unlikely they can win the 2v2 matchup with mid/jungle, but Santorin and PowerofEvil are strong enough to contest it to some degree, and particularly with vision. If FLY can keep good vision towards the mid lane, that at least gives them clues as to when both Blaber and Nisqy will be roaming top or bottom. Generally how C9 play is through snowballing mid lane and then transferring that advantage elsewhere on the map. If FLY can slow the bleeding and get vision priority for river control, they stand a better chance at beating C9. Along with that, this should also give a bit more isolation for the side lanes, particularly top lane. Licorice is the weakest member of C9 (I say that very loosely and with massive context), so if Solo can get an advantage against Licorice, that could weaken C9’s teamfight phase; This entire plan is easier said than done. Cloud9 doesn't need to do much. Keep consistently empowering your mid laner and do not change your game plan. It’s worked against every single team, and there’s no reason to fix what ain’t broken; it’s as simple as that. This is one of the most dominant teams NA has ever seen, stick to your plan.  

Draft

The draft might be FlyQuest’s biggest strength coming into the Bo5. They have unique picks like Blitzcrank, Rakan, and the arsenal of PoE’s champion pool. On the other side, C9 have Nocturne, a much superior Zoe, and a pocket pick Veigar (I bet everyone’s forgotten about that). With that said, if FLY are able to get red side, that might be a bigger advantage given they can allow PoE to get a counterpick and more importantly, pick a scaling champion like Viktor or Azir, a place where FLY have the greatest chance to win this series if they do their due diligence and keep track of mid lane through the early game. Cloud9 should look to disrupt FLY through the draft by threatening the Zoe pick along with their Nocturne jungle pick. As long as the highly contested Gragas pick is banned in the first phase, C9 could potentially look at grabbing jungle in the second phase, which would influence FLY to ban more junglers and leave open better picks for the rest of the team. C9 have enough flexibility, and specifically Blaber, to where they can afford a jungler in the second phase of the draft, which can then enable their mid laner to get a better pick, which is now more often the case that mid lane champions are being chosen in the second portion of the draft phase. Ending Verdict There are three things in life you can’t avoid, death, taxes and C9 winning this spring split. I’m predicting a 3-0, despite the win conditions I gave to FLY. I have little faith they will be able to execute on those tough circumstances, but look at the bright side, at least you don’t have to walk off stage in a venue of cheering C9 fans. ___ Izento has been a writer for the LoL scene since Season 7, and has been playing the game since Season 1. Follow him on Twitter at @ggIzento for more League content. Images courtesy of Riot Games For more LoL content, check out our LoL section