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Cloud9 Zven on the team’s shock MSI win over DWG KIA, fixing their draft issues, and scrims against MAD Lions
On the final day of the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2021 group stages, Cloud9 had an exceptional performance with three consecutive wins.
The LoL Championship Series (LCS) spring champions bounced back from a poor showing in the opening week to stop the impressive DetonatioN FocusMe (DFM) and take down the reigning World Champions DWG Kia (Damwon).
Now the North American representatives face a tough test in the Rumble stage where Jesper ‘Zven’ Svenningsen will get a chance to prove himself in his first international event since the World Championships in 2017.
Metro.co.uk caught up with the Danish bot-laner after the win against Gilette Infinty to find out more about Cloud9’s remarkable turnaround, silencing their critics, and the highly-anticipated match-up with MAD Lions.
Congratulations on the excellent day of performances, how did Cloud9 bounce back and improve so quickly after week one?
I actually don’t think we literally improved, I mean we did a little bit, I think we just figured out what we want to play and how we want to play. That was more important than improving, but I do think the two days we got were bigger for us than anyone else in the group because we had more room to change. That really helped us show up.
Why do you think the team struggled so much in the opening round-robin?
We had a problem with draft identity. We were playing comps with low CC, low engage, and a weak early-game. Nidalee, Orianna, Jayce, no engage, no combat potential, and from behind we couldn’t do anything.
Those drafts just don’t fit us as well as the likes of Yone, Kai’Sa, Nautlius types of drafts – early-game drafts with lot’s of priority in lanes, lot’s of early-game team-fighting and skirmishing power. We just play the game better when we can fight in the early-game and can snowball to get ahead. We play aggressive and decisive, that’s how we win games.
I think our games against Damwon and DFM were how we want to play so I’m happy we showed up against those two teams.
Speaking of Damwon, that was a massive win for you. Can you talk us through that game?
Our draft was equal to their’s in the early-game but their mid-game was stronger – the poke with Jayce is really strong, Sylas could take Alistar ult, and Kai’Sa got ahead. But come late-game, they couldn’t do anything because we could tank the Jayce poke and Kai’Sa isn’t much of a tank killer.
We win front to back. So, since we got a lot of kills in the early-game they couldn’t win hard enough in the mid-game that it would matter in the late-game. Viktor and Tristana front to back is too good with our tanks being strong. A combination of Damwon dying too much in the early-game, their mid-game not being good enough, and our late-game being straight-up better was what won us the game.
You had a pretty tough group, did DFM surprise you?
I think they had a good tournament and can be proud of themselves. Obviously, they will hate their loss to Infinity but in the end that didn’t change the group. They showed up against Damwon and us in the first week so they can be proud.
Reddit had multiple quotes of players from other teams criticising Cloud9. PSG’s Hanabi thought you were least likely to make it to the Rumble, did that make today feel more satisfying?
I don’t care about what PSG thinks about us, I only care about what I think and what my team thinks. I don’t read Reddit so I didn’t even know that, I don’t really care. We scrimmed PSG and they beat us in every game that day so obviously from that they’d think we’re bad.
We played bad in week one so him saying that isn’t too unfair but honestly, it doesn’t bother me. I think we’re a good team, we might not be better than Damwon and RNG right now but we’ll see what happens in the Rumble stage.
Another team you’ll come across is MAD Lions. Kaiser told us he has a lot of respect for you and Vulcan, are you excited to face him and Carzzy?
We’ve scrimmed with MAD a few times since we’ve been here, I think they’re the team we’ve scrimmed the most. They’re a really good team, their bot-lane does a lot of work for MAD. We had good scrims against them, at first we were doing equal and then towards the end they were beating us more, they’re definitely a strong team who can challenge Damwon and RNG so I think it’ll be an interesting Rumble stage.
And at the end of the day, it’s all about what happens on stage so you must be feeling more confident heading into the Rumble now?
For sure, beating Damwon would be a confidence boost for anyone. Obviously, they have shown a lot of weakness I would say, they aren’t as strong as they were before. A lot of their games are very long and with a lot of mistakes.
They have shown that they are beatable. RNG arguably had a weaker group so they showed less weakness. I think RNG and Damwon are still the favourites but I don’t think any team is unbeatable.
When you last went to Worlds you managed to take a game off RNG. You told Dash you think they have the strongest bot-lane at MSI this year, how do your feel about matching up against GALA?
I think RNG are similar to the way they were when they had Uzi, they have a very mechanically-skilled ADC that they play around a lot. They make GALA their main carry whenever they can.
RNG haven’t been challenged yet, I don’t think we’ve seen their true form just yet. GALA isn’t a powerhouse on the international stage like Uzi was yet, but I think he will become one. Stopping him from carrying is the most important thing against RNG.
There’s been a lot of hype around this Cloud9 roster, how far do you think you can go?
Regardless of what happens at MSI, we won’t slump in summer and will go to Worlds. I’m very certain of it. I think we have a great coaching staff who won’t allow us to get too cocky or complacent as we did last year.
We might not win MSI but I know come summer we’ll be a strong team. Worlds is ultimately the main goal, I’m not saying that I don’t care about MSI, I obviously do, but this is a tournament where you learn the most – that’s what this is for. If we win that would be amazing but the main goal is to go to Worlds and do well there, this tournament is a big opportunity for us to improve and grow as a team which is really exciting.
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