100 Thieves (100T) have bounced back from their surprise loss against FlyQuest (FLY) in week 1 of LCS Lock-In. Claiming a sweet victory over Cloud9 (C9), who had been one of two undefeated teams in the preseason tournament, the reigning LCS champions have locked up first seed in Group A with this result.

Most of the community probably expected 100T to hit the ground running and easily top the preseason tournament. We did, too, with Cloud9 also predicted to come second in their Lock-In group. While the end result turned out the same way, the road to get there for 100 Thieves was not as smooth sailing despite the strength on paper compared to the other LCS teams in their Lock-In group.

Both 100T and C9 had started off brightly, going 2-0 on the first day of Lock-In. The two NA powerhouses had relatively the same strength of schedule, so fans were already expecting that their matchup would be a decisive one for group seeding. But then FLY played spoiler to 100T, handing them a shock defeat that set their record to 2-1. Cloud9, meanwhile, went 3-0 with a comfortable win over Team SoloMid (TSM).

LCS Lock-In Groups 2022: 100 Thieves vs Cloud9

Those results put C9 in prime position to make it out of Lock-In groups as the top seed, ideally giving them a better matchup for playoffs. But 100 Thieves had other ideas, coming out swinging to avenge their loss as they faced off against Cloud9. After trading blows early, 100T pulled ahead by getting crucial pick-offs initiated mostly by Closer's Jarvan.

C9 had secured the first drake, while their opponents opted for the Rift Herald. A top play led to grabbing the outer turret there, giving a huge lead to Ssumday's Gwen. Later on, as C9 looked to take the third drake, 100T imposed themselves on the map, as Gwen cut through the team and their Corki grabbed a triple kill. At that point, the defending LCS champions had enough in the tank to snowball and secure the victory.

LCS Lock-In Playoffs Bracket

Although both squads have finished with a 3-1 win-loss record, this crucial result for 100 Thieves places them at the top of the group standings, as the first tiebreaker criteria is the head-to-head matchup between the teams. This means that they will face the fourth placed team from Group B, Dignitas, in the first round of playoffs.

Cloud9 still qualify for Lock-In knockouts, coming second in the group with their mixed LCS main-Academy squad and will be raring to go against a burgeoning CLG side. They are joined by FlyQuest, whose win over 100T has helped them to an even 2-2 record. Meanwhile, Golden Guardians have taken down TSM to tie up the record at 1-3, but having the head-to-head advantage means that GGS sneak into playoffs as well.

FLY and GGS will match up against the top two teams in Group B, with FLY having to take on Team Liquid's superteam and GGS facing a daunting opponent in Evil Geniuses, who have looked ruthless so far in Lock-In.

Check out all the LCS Lock-In group results here.