In a highly anticipated rematch from last year's Summer Split Finals, Team SoloMid and Cloud9 renewed their rivalry in the inaugural matchup of the 2017 North American League Championship Series Spring Split. In shocking fashion, Cloud9 took the series in a 2-0 sweep on the back of superior decision-making and great individual performances.
Rookie jungler Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia looked good on Kha'Zix early in Game 1, picking up first blood onto Jason "WildTurtle" Tran's Kalista at 11:50 to give Cloud9 both first blood and first tower. C9 took an early lead through their early aggression and constant split-pushing, including Contractz getting a solo kill on Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg's Syndra, taking out the TSM ace around 19 minutes. TSM would pull even through crisp teamfighting in the mid game but would get destroyed during a Baron attempt at 35:30 by a massive Bullet Time, courtesy of Andy "Smoothie" Ta's Miss Fortune. With C9 taking Baron and Elder Dragon shortly after, it was only a matter of time before they would win Game 1 in 40 minutes.
Contractz continued to impress in his LCS debut, starting Game 2 on Lee Sin with first blood onto Bjergsen's Katarina at 6:50. Contractz would pick up kills all over the map in the early game, en route to posting a KDA (kills/deaths/assists) of 8/2/10, giving C9 a huge gold and tempo advantage. C9 would continue to find picks on a scrambling TSM, who struggled to generate any kind of momentum while behind. With a 5,000 gold advantage at the 25-minute mark, C9 was in complete control of the game, despite Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen stealing Baron as Rek'Sai at 28:30. While TSM gave fans false hope after winning a close teamfight in the top lane, Cloud9 would take out TSM with a clean 5-for-0 ace in the river and push through TSM's base to establish themselves as the top team in North America in just under 37 minutes.
