Week 4 of the 2021 LCS Summer Split featured the return of Cloud9’s Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen.
After a 0-3 drought in the previous week, the org decided to replace Calvin “k1ng” Truong with Cloud9 Zven as the starting AD carry. The Danish player last played with the LCS squad during the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational.
Cloud9 Zven hits the ground running in LCS Summer
On Zven’s first day back, the boys in blue struggled to keep up with the reformed Golden Guardians squad. GGS claimed the Infernal Soul and was working on the Baron, but C9 spotted them out with a blue trinket, and forced a fight in the river.
Robert “Blaber” Huang on Rumble landed a perfect Equalizer ultimate outside the Baron pit. This in turn gave Cloud9 the ace, the Baron, and the comeback win.
Though C9 suffered a hard-fought loss against current league leaders 100 Thieves, Zven and the squad turned things around in their match against Counter Logic Gaming.
Luka “Perkz” Perković’s Nocturne and Blaber’s Diana were the team’s headstrong initiators in the final fight, deleting both Jason “WildTurtle” Tran’s Tristana and Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen’s Vi.
Working off the 3v5 advantage, Cloud9 chased the remaining CLG players down for the ace and claimed their second win of Week 4.
C9’s biggest change is team dynamics
Though his return was a highly-anticipated opportunity, Cloud9 Zven noticed that the team had gone through some changes.
Aside from the need to reestablish chemistry, the AD carry noted their gameplay has shifted away from the bot lane. Back in Spring and MSI, Cloud9’s playstyle relied on their draft, regardless of a player’s role.
“The team is heavily focused on solo lanes these days, and that’s also kind of the meta,” said Cloud9 Zven. “The meta is centered around the bruisers like Viego, Sett, and Lee Sin.”
Despite the team putting less priority in the bot lane, Zven believed it was a natural change that could solidify the team’s grasp on the current meta.
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Zven shares his experiences in Academy
The veteran AD carry spent three weeks in Academy, fighting against the younger prospects of the NA region.
Cloud9 Zven mentioned that the developmental league was less intense, but he felt that he still played like an LCS player, and didn’t believe there were any difficulties upon reuniting with his former squad.
Though Academy wasn’t the best situation for him, Zven saw it as a good learning experience. With most Academy teams focused on mechanics and the laning phase, he pushed C9A to work on team coordination.
“I taught the players a lot of things and it improved my leadership skills, for what it’s worth,” said Cloud9 Zven. “People don’t have good basics and fundamentals, so I try to talk about setting up for a dragon and such. Having an overall plan is going to help you not make unforced errors.”
As a high-profile player who played in Academy, the AD carry weighed in on how demoted players should go about proving their worth once more.
“A lot of people in Academy are okay with just being mediocre,” stated Cloud9 Zven. “It’s hard to improve to the LCS level while in Academy. It has to be individual people putting more effort than others to stand out.”
Cloud9 currently holds a 19-11 record and will face Immortals on July 3 at 9 a.m. GMT+8.
You can catch the action live on the official LCS Twitch and YouTube channels.
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