The North American team Cloud9 are on the way to Semifinals at Worlds 2018

Earlier today, the North American team Cloud9 faced the Korean team Afreeca Freeces with the start of second and last day of quarterfinals at Worlds 2018.

For the first time in seven years, North America has qualified for the Worlds 2018 semifinals following Cloud9’s magnificent 3-0 sweep over Afreeca Freecs.

On a momentous day for North America as a whole, today’s opening quarterfinal match started with a curveball being thrown at Cloud9 in the form of Afreeca’s top lane Viktor.

Historically, North America has fared poorly when facing off-meta picks, but today, Cloud9 were ready. Instead of trying to shut down the Viktor, Cloud9 simply ignored top lane for the most part, with their focus being on the rest of the map—a strategy Cloud9 employed for all three games.

Afreeca’s tendency to draft losing lanes allowed Cloud9 to dominate most early games with their aggressive play. By the time Afreeca’s players were finally able to grab their champions’ core items, Cloud9 had already accrued major advantages both in gold and objectives.

From starting the NA LCS Summer Split in last place with three of their starters benched to making the World Championship semifinals, Cloud9 have truly made history today.

The Worlds 2018 semifinals set to be started next week on 28 Oct.