There is already a big absence in this year’s edition of the League of Legends World Championship after the enviable appearance records of Cloud9 was destroyed. Cloud9’s absence was heavily sponsored by 100 Thieves, as they caused one of the biggest LCS upsets of the 2024 calendar year.
C9 has been consistent for a decade as NA’s best representative at the League summit. They even were excellent in the Summer Split, almost going near-perfect, but there’s no way back in Europe for C9, at least this year.
For over ten years, C9 has flown NA’s flag at the pinnacle League event, but despite a near-perfect Summer Split, there’ll be no C9 redemption arc in Europe this year. Now 100 Thieves will be the representative for the LCS after securing a 3-1 win on Sunday, September 1, with Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung and Frank “Tomo” Lam performing and impressing.
When the series started, the two teams shared the starting matches, although 100T was able to stabilize and move things further after losing game two. They finished C9 in less than an hour to seal their first Worlds appearance in two years.
100 T’s star, Quid, explained that the team out-macro’d them in every game, even in the loss, while Sniper said he couldn’t wait to take on T1’s Zeus on the big stage. 100T did get the win in a five-match thriller.
C9’s coach Mithy and veteran top laner Fudge had exited before Summer began against the backdrop of not reaching the LCS Spring final and Mid-Season Invitational. It will be difficult to see how C9 will exist and move around in 2025 as the organization will, for only the second time in the organization’s history. Next year, the 2025 LCS format and league structure have a new structure.
Meanwhile, 100Thieves progress to face FlyQuest on Saturday, and the winner will play the Championship on Sunday against Liquid.
