On the morning of October 17 (KST), at the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles, USA, FURIA defeated Cloud9 in the 2026 LoL World Championship Play-In Stage Lower Bracket Round 1 elimination match, advancing to Round 2. Cloud9 was sent home with the dishonor of being the first team eliminated from the tournament.
Cloud9 got off to a bright start by taking Game 1. The decisive moment came around the 21-minute mark. Waiting in ambush in the mid side bush, Cloud9 cleanly countered FURIA's set play to win a massive fight. 'Tactical' was brilliant with his Lucian kiting. Riding the momentum, Cloud9 methodically and flawlessly snowballed their lead, eventually closing out the game armed with both Baron and Elder Dragon buffs.
In Game 2, Cloud9 broke the balance in the top lane to take an early lead. 'Thanatos' Park Seung-gyu asserted his presence on K'Sante, securing two solo kills. However, FURIA retaliated fiercely. By repeatedly picking off 'Tactical''s Caitlyn, they accelerated the scaling of 'Ayu' Andrey Saraiva. They collected the bounty on 'Blaber''s Lee Sin and tied up the dragon count at 2-2.
Around the 31-minute mark, with the gold dead even, a major disaster struck for Cloud9. Lee Sin leaped into the middle of the enemy formation with a Q-Q combo but was picked off before he could escape. Having eliminated the enemy jungler, FURIA claimed Baron as their reward. Later, during a tense standoff ahead of the dragon soul, a sudden teamfight broke out, and FURIA won decisively to take Game 2.
FURIA went on to win Game 3 and reach match point first. Trailing 0-3 in kills, they turned the tide with a high-scoring play, diving the tier-2 top tower behind 'Guigo''s Volibear. Following that up with a dominant victory in a dragon teamfight, 'Tutsz''s Viktor and 'Ayu''s Sivir gained tremendous scaling momentum, allowing FURIA to charge forward with the Baron buff and destroy the Game 3 Nexus.
Game 4 carried elimination stakes for Cloud9. While C9 initially appeared to take the lead with early kills around objective fights, FURIA brought the game back to even by using 'Tutsz''s Twisted Fate to catch 'Loki' Lee Sang-min's Corki, followed by a victory in the dragon fight. They then pulled further ahead by trading kills 3-1 in a top-lane skirmish.
Firmly in control, FURIA continually picked off key enemy champions and secured Baron, building a gold lead of over 8,000. Backed into a corner, Cloud9 threw everything they had at 'Guigo''s Jax in a side lane, but Jax held out for far too long. FURIA's main force arrived in time to score an ace, putting a definitive end to the match.
