Bilibili Gaming demolish Cloud9 at MSI 2023

A lot of people had high hopes for Cloud9 at the start of this match. Because they were, after all, the strongest team in North America in the Spring Split and Bilibili had to go through the play-in stage to qualify for the playoffs of MSI 2023.

But as we found out, the strength difference between North America and the other big regions is enormous. In C9’s defense, all of the three games were hard-fought and none of them was a stomp.

The previous two upper bracket quarterfinals had plenty of games that lasted below 25 minutes and some of them lasted below 20 minutes. In one case, T1 defeated MAD Lions in less than 17 minutes! The action ended so quickly that the audience felt they were watching a StarCraft 2 game.

Cloud9 vs. Bilibili Gaming: 0-3

Like other matches, this one had its own drafting patterns. We rarely see teams doing completely different drafts each time and avoiding repetitions. Cloud9 and Bilibili were no exceptions.

In game one, C9 picked Xayah and Rakan, two champions we were going to see again in game two. Meanwhile, Bilibili picked Lucian, Vi, and Nami, a trio that was reused in the very next game.

The battle was close for the first 15 minutes. After that, the Chinese team started to win important fights and take big objectives that resulted in a snowball effect. C9 were not able to stop them.

Game two was exactly the same. Cloud9 resisted Bilibili’s tactics for around 15 minutes and managed to create beautiful plays of their own. But during the mid portion of the game, where team fighting skills are vital, the Chinese proved to be better prepared to deal with C9’s playstyle and champions.

Each time, they managed to find the right approach to defend and kill key champions. This resulted in a big advantage.

Game three was a repeat of game two. The first 15 minutes were highly disputed but immediately after that, Bilibili gained a significant advantage relatively quickly and could no longer be stopped.

The three games lasted 35, 31, and 34 minutes respectively. This was an exciting match to watch but few people had any hope that Cloud9 could make a comeback after the first two games. It remains to be seen who will be sent to the lower bracket in the final quarterfinal. Cloud9 have a good chance of winning the first round.

Header: Cloud9