100 Thieves Took Their Only Loss of the Stage. They Answered Immediately.

100 Thieves went the whole Stage 2 group stage unbeaten, right up until Cloud9 ended it. One match later, in their last series of the group, they swept LOUD 2-0 on Summit and Haven. No hangover, no bad week. Just the record they had before the loss, minus the loss.

The Response Mattered More Than the Streak

I wrote after the Cloud9 upset that one loss doesn't erase a season, and the real question was whether it was a genuine crack or 100 Thieves just having their first bad night. This is the answer. A team actually shaken by that result doesn't turn around and sweep the next opponent in front of them. 100 Thieves did, and did it clean, no decider needed.

LOUD Leaves Group Play with the Wrong Kind of Split Week

LOUD beat G2 earlier in the week and looked like a team building into playoffs. Then they ran into the version of 100 Thieves that just got embarrassed and wanted to prove it was a fluke. That's a brutal matchup to draw on a good week, and LOUD didn't get a map off them.

Where I Land

One sweep doesn't undo what Cloud9 did, and it shouldn't. But it answers the only question that mattered coming out of that loss: is this team still the class of the group. Group stage is over, and 100 Thieves are walking into playoffs having lost exactly once, to the team playing the best Valorant of anyone in Group Omega right now. I'll take those odds.