Church is in session after the first weekend of LCS Spring Split 2022. The Cloud9 roster led by Head Coach Nick “LS” De Cesare debuted with unconventional picks mainly. These picks piloted by mid laner Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami made for exciting games and incited reactions on social media, centered around the “Church of LS,” because of the head coach's strong opinions and unusual takes on professional League of Legends.

These opinions and takes gave way to the conception of these drafts, starting off with the Ivern mid pick. This weekend was also Fudge's first split (not counting LCS Lock-In Tournament) as a mid laner after swapping roles from top lane.

vs Golden Guardians, Soraka Mid

In C9's first game, their pick order went Gwen, Aphelios, Sona, Ivern, Gnar which left viewers and even the casters confused as to where these champions were going. The creativity in the draft also gave Golder Guardians trouble picking into them, as it would either put them in an unfavorable or unfamiliar match up. The positions were confirmed once the game started, and it was Ivern mid for Fudge.

Early in the game, Ivern had lane priority, buying more space for his Jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang on Gwen to exert pressure. Ivern, equipped with Doran's Shield, makes him “pretty unmovable” as described by LS, since this allows him to tank his counterpart's damage and keep dominance over the lane. This dominance slowly faded, however, when GG mid laner Nicholas Antonio “Ablazeolive” Abbott got to upgrade Viktor's E, giving him faster wave clear and better trades.

This being said, it was impressive by the Cloud9 squad to claim two dragons for themselves while having both Ivern and Sona on the team.

GG jungler Milo “Pridestalkr” Wehnes got a couple kills around the map on his Qiyana. This lead was lost after the entirety of Golden Guardians got wiped by Cloud9 in a team fight 14 minutes in, which might have decided the game.

Cloud9 bot laner Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol came close to seeing a black-and-white screen, but survived with a little over 100 HP, and with the aid of his two enchanters, slayed the Aatrox aiming for his life. Blaber on Gwen also popped off this fight, singlehandedly taking down three GG members.

After this, Cloud9 looked unstoppable. With two supports keeping their carries alive and the regeneration from the Ocean Soul, they take over the game and explode GG's nexus. It was later revealed by LS on a podcast that Fudge only started practicing Ivern mid three days prior to the game. With a stunning draft and pristine performance from everyone at C9, they started their weekend 1-0.

vs Evil Geniuses, Soraka Mid

Cloud9's second game of the weekend were against Evil Geniuses, a team that many viewed as being an objectively stronger team than Golden Guardians. Evil Geniuses even showed that they were aware of what might go down this game, with a cheeky Ivern hover from EG mid laner Joseph “jojopyun” Joon Pyun and eventually an Ivern ban from EG. This being the case, LS and the rest of the Cloud9 roster showed no signs of deviating from their identity with another pick out of left field: Soraka.

It was a relatively slow early game, as Fudge on Soraka mid was once again facing a Viktor. With Blaber on his iconic Olaf pick, however, things started moving. His Olaf was unstoppable, and Cloud9 quickly stacked dragons.

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With Soraka in his back pocket, Blaber went ham on the entire EG squad. With him being put ahead by all of these encounters going in his favor, Cloud9 earned the Cloud Dragon Soul, allowing for more mobility for him and his team during fights.

Evil Geniuses weren't about to take this beating without pushing back. Thirty minutes into the game, they manage to steal the Elder Drake from Cloud9, which, while it didn't earn them any kills, gave EG some room to breathe. Once the second Elder Drake spawned, another fight breaks out. This time, Cloud9 took no prisoners and steamrolled the clash. Soraka dies quite early in the fight, but Berserker on his Aphelios quickly stepped up and mowed down EG with his chakrams.

In the post-match interview with Fudge, he reveals that he hasn't played a “real” game with Soraka in two years, and made sure to score jabs at his opponents on social media shortly afterwards.

LCS Spring Split 2022

Next week, Cloud9 will face Team Liquid and Immortals.

For the full LCS Spring Split 2022 schedule, check out lolesports.com. All games are streamed in the official Twitch channel and YouTube channel.