A new LCS champion for 2023 has emerged after NRG Esports, built from the fan-favorite former Counter Logic Gaming roster, stunned Cloud9 in a four-game League of Legends series in New Jersey on Sunday night.
Cloud9 were the heavy favorites ahead of the clash, especially as their most recent clash against NRG a few weeks back was a smooth win for them. However, NRG shocked the bookmakers, bouncing back from a 33-minute game-one defeat to secure the organization’s first-ever League title.
It was a fresh piece of history for the franchise that left the LCS seven years ago after the 2016 season, as they had been absent from the North American League since that time.
The 3-1 defeat meant a lot to C9, who missed out on making a threepeat in the LCS, which would have made them the third organization to have won three consecutive titles in the LCS after TSM (2016 Spring to 2017 Summer) and Team Liquid, who won four in a row (2018 Spring to 2019 Summer).
C9 owner Jack Etienne couldn’t help but show respect for the efforts of the NRG team, saying it felt bad to lose to them.
“NRG wanted it more. I really respect the work Contractz, Palafox, and the rest of the guys at NRG did to get to this victory today, so congrats to them. It sucks to lose, but these guys are going to bounce back. It hurts now, but tomorrow we’re going to be thinking about how we can improve for Worlds.” Jack said.
NRG stepped into the LCS Championship bracket in fifth after a 9-9 record in the regular season, and they went ahead to upset Liquid and Golden Guardians in the upper bracket before beating C9 sweep in the upper bracket final.
NRG will now be at the 2023 League World Championship in South Korea as NA’s first seed, while C9 becomes the region’s second-slot representative, with Liquid, the third NA squad.
The event will happen in October as the EU vs. NA Worlds Qualifying Series will begin on Monday, Oct. 9, before the World Championship officially begins on a day later on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
