Last November, Cloud9 AD carry Zven took over the bot lane from long-standing player Sneaky following the team’s ninth-place finish at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship.
It was easy for fans to criticize the former TSM player since Sneaky had been with the organization since 2013; fans were losing an icon. Additionally, Zven had failed to make it to Worlds for two years running while on TSM and didn’t lift a single trophy.
But Zven didn’t let these shortcomings affect him. After joining Cloud9, he took over the LCS with an iron fist. In a single split, he became the best ADC in the LCS and finished the 2020 Spring Split with a dominating 17-1 record with the team.
Some of the best teams in North America had stumbled while others reportedly turned up late to practice, which Zven and the rest of Cloud9 took full advantage of. This led to the Spring Split becoming “one of the worst splits in NA, probably,” Zven told Dot Esports.
With the other two best teams in North America, TSM and Team Liquid, crumbling during the split, this made it easy for the best team in North America to sweep lower-tier opponents. But the overall quality of the split was diminished as a result, according to Zven.
“I think the level of play was very low this split and I think most people would agree that this was probably the worst split in terms of performance or level of play in the last couple of years,” Zven said.
Although Zven said that issues off the Rift had the biggest impact, it was clear that Cloud9’s ability to draft effectively was one deciding factor. Teams weren’t adjusting their compositions effectively against Cloud9 to actually dictate the game; teams wouldn’t pick the best champions to counter a carry.
On the one hand, TSM struggled to “find their style” while Team Liquid struggled following visa issues with jungler Broxah, according to Zven. But these problems weren’t an excuse. With “Worlds-level players,” Team Liquid should be contending for the title, Zven said.
This doesn’t mean that TSM aren’t still a threat, however. The organization re-acquired legendary ADC Doublelift in April from Team Liquid. Going into the Summer Split, Zven said that Doublelift is still the biggest competition in the bot lane.
“I think me and [Doublelift] are the top two. You can argue in splits, who is better, but he’s my best practice right now,” Zven said.
ompared with other ADCs, Zven is one of the most aggressive and impactful during teamfights and roams in the mid to late-game, but this doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of winning lane or just taking down enemies, either. Zven had three solo kills during the Spring Split, compared to 100 Thieves’ ADC Cody Sun and DoubleLift’s one each.
With this dominating performance during the Spring Split, it’s clear that Cloud9 is capable of competing at an international level. But the bot lane of Cloud9 needs to prepare for their old counterparts, which could put up more of a fight.
Zven is more than ready, however. He’s been grinding solo queue while others decide not to and has been practicing daily. He’s the one dictating the bot lane, and it looks like it’ll stay that way for the Summer Split.
