Cloud9 cruised into the semi-finals at the Northern Arena Esports Championship presented by Bell in Toronto with a 2-0 series win over Counter Logic Gaming.

One of the heavy tournament favourites will face European club Heroic in the first semis matchup on Saturday.

Cloud9 sent a message loud and clear to CLG and the rest of the remaining Northern Arena field with a 12-0 start to the opening map on Mirage. Three of the five starters had 14 or more kills at that point.

CLG managed to salvage two rounds to trail 13-2 at the half but it wouldn’t matter just two rounds into the second half. The tournament favourites more than doubled the frags of their opponents (84-36) in a 16-2 win.

"I felt like they were pretty predictable," Jake "Stewie2k" Yip said. "We changed a lot of our setups to kind of counter them early game and then over time we just kind of played standard because we knew they didn’t have an answer."

"I think on the first map we lost a couple of dumb rounds," Timothy "autimatic" Ta added, "but for the most part we felt in control and we kind of knew what they were going to do."

Embedded Image

The second map on Train started off a little more bumpy for Cloud9 as CLG came out aggressive and took a 5-1 lead. It was the largest lead CLG would have in the series.

Cloud9 clawed even and the two exchanged rounds for through the first half and deep into the second. Led by Stewie2k’s 29 kills, Cloud9 was too much for the defending champs in a 16-11 win.

We just came out with confidence and just played our game," Stewie2k said. "We didn’t watch any of their demos. We kind of read some of their tendencies and what maps they like to ban, what maps they like to play, but that’s pretty much it."

The undefeated Cloud9 is in top form with just four teams remaining and autimatic thinks they can be even better.

"I think we have a lot to work on still," he said. "I think that CLG has a lot of potential but … for us, we still have a lot to work on and we’re just getting started right now."