Perkz's masterclass with Leblanc carries Cloud9 out of Group of Death at League of Legends 2021 Worlds tournament

After Cloud9 sat out of the 2020 Worlds without qualifying, they've now found themselves among the final 8 teams in competition for the championship title in 2021.

Cloud9 performed miracles on their final day of Group play, beating Rogue and FunPlus Phoenix, a favorite to win prior to the tournament's start. Almost everyone thought that Cloud9 and Rogue would get smashed by Damwon KIA and FunPlus Phoenix, leaving a small percentage of fans predicting C9 to make it out alive against the majority of predictions.

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Cloud9 pulls off the miracle of the tournament, beats Rogue and FunPlus Phoenix to qualify for Groups

Cloud9 started this Worlds tournament in the Play-In stage among 4 other teams. While they were predicted to finish in the first place, they had to fight their way through a tie-breaker game and then another round to qualify for Groups.

In Groups, the LCS flagbearers dug themselves into a chasm, finishing 0-3 after the first round-robin play. However, they miraculously managed to rise from the depths, winning 2 of their next 3 games and toppled Rogue in the Group A tie-breaker game behind Luka "Perkz" Perkovic, their veteran mid laner with some serious skill.

European League of Legends fans are used to Perkz stunting his talent across the LEC, but after G2 gave him up to C9, he's been North America's standard of being one of the best players in the world. However, in their most recent game against Rogue, Perkz took the definition of professional to a whole new level.

On several occasions, commentators and fans of C9 watched Perkz borderline throw the team fight, once overextended in the mid lane without seeing the Rakan, who taunted him and locked him down without mercy, and another time when he greeded for kills without his team.

Perkz redeemed himself, though, in the final team fight where he shred through Rogue's players after the Ryze Realm Warp. By that time, the rest of Cloud9 swept in and took advantage of the chaos, acing Rogue to end the nearly hour-long tie-breaker match. The team fight wasn't even close as Perkz managed to stay alive the entire time, nuking several Rogue members in a matter of seconds.

LCS fans erupted into fanfare as they watched one of the best mid laners in the world carry their home team to the Quarterfinals of the League of Legends Worlds tournament. Cloud9 battled every second of the 54-minute match against LEC's Rogue, and they earned their spot in the next round behind one man, Luka Perkovic, and his ascendant Leblanc gameplay.