First-place Cloud9 took down the playoff-contending Dignitas in short order to open their slate of LCS superweek games, securing a wire-to-wire victory that lasted only 29 minutes. 

Just over 15 minutes into the game, C9 had established a firm gold advantage of over 4,000, largely thanks to the early-game dominance of the team’s top and bottom lanes. Top laner Summit in particular completely took control of the game with Gnar, pummeling his lane opponent FakeGod at every opportunity in the laning phase, while continuing to be a split-pushing force that Dignitas simply couldn’t answer throughout the later stages of the contest. Summit finished tonight’s game with a scoreline of 3/2/2, nearly earning a “Flame Horizon” over FakeGod by the time the game ended. Summit accounted for over 40 percent of C9’s total damage, according to League stats site Oracle’s Elixir. 

With this win, C9 kept firm control over first place, pulling away from Team Liquid after being tied with them at one point last week. Moving into the final two games of the split, C9 hold a full one-game lead over Liquid in the standings. They’ll play another direct competitor in 100 Thieves tomorrow. 

As for Dignitas, the league’s schedule-makers couldn’t have been more unkind to them as they look to play their way into the top six to close out the Spring Split. This weekend, Dignitas will play the top three teams in the league—Cloud9, Liquid, and 100 Thieves—all of whom have already clinched a berth in the Spring Split playoffs. 

Thankfully, it only gets relatively easier from here for Dignitas. The bad news, though, is that it’s going to be a tough uphill battle for the team. Now riding their third straight loss following tonight’s game, Dignitas are now two games under the .500 mark and sit tied with Golden Guardians for a share of sixth place. 

As an additional point, TSM is still in the playoff race with this Dignitas loss, although their chances at securing a berth in the bracket remain grim. They’ll play 100 Thieves later today in the first of three must-win games this weekend.