LYON vs Cloud9: Who wins the LCS Summer playoffs lower final?

Naerlyn Published September 30, 2026

LYON and Cloud9 will rematch in the LCS Summer playoffs on October 3, at 10pm CEST / 4pm EST. This time, the stakes are different. Both teams are already qualified for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, but they’re playing in the LCS lower final for the seeding and a chance for NA’s title. Despite their earlier loss, the prediction markets have LYON as the favorite again.

LYON vs Cloud9 prediction market

Market-implied chances courtesy of Polymarket on September 30, 3am CEST, with a volume of $442.  

The prediction market for LYON vs C9. Image Credit: Polymarket

Why the market favors LYON

LYON and Cloud9 already faced each other in the LCS Summer playoffs just two weeks ago. With two tense games and two one-sided ones, C9 took the series 3-1. LYON was the strong favorite to win it all.

So why should it be different this time? The earlier match shouldn’t exactly be called a fluke, rather a miscalibration. Several things went wrong for LYON and right for Cloud9.

On one side, LYON underestimated C9. Their opponent didn’t give them any trouble the last times they met, so why now? LYON had also been dominating everyone, without losing a single game since Kacper “Inspired” Słoma returned to the team.

As it turned out, C9 did not give LYON an easy fight. Then once the series started going poorly, everyone turned on autopilot. Allegedly, players weren’t speaking or attempting anything proactive besides what Inspired was calling. This also left him unable to focus on his own play, and both the jungler and the team played poorly, making very uncharacteristic mistakes.

On the other side, Cloud9 won by preparing well for their opponent. C9 approached the game by matching LYON’s slow and calculated play. The early teamfights still went LYON’s way every time they happened. The rest of the time, Cloud9 managed to avoid them and to keep getting small incremental leads instead.

For the rematch, LYON won’t make the same mistake of underestimating C9. Additionally, Cloud9 showed against Team Liquid that their strengths are limited. A strong opponent that doesn’t disrespect them is far ahead of them. This time, LYON won’t pick greedy drafts like they did the last time, with game 1 having a fully losing bot side.

Can Cloud9 win the rematch against LYON and advance to the LCS Summer final? Image Credit: Stefan Wisnoski / Riot Games

What traders are saying

Users on the League of Legends subreddit mostly believe that LYON will stomp Cloud9 this time around considering how they played against TLAW. Most of them instead look forward to the eventual rematch of the Spring final as the Summer grand final. Especially if

However, a minority thinks that LYON has been too sloppy against both C9 and Shopify Rebellion. In this form, they don’t believe that they can take on Cloud9. Most people agree that it all depends on whether Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol can step up from his slump.

Our predicition

Prediction: LYON to win

This one is a small gamble. The theory is that LYON made very fixable mistakes, that they will indeed fix them, and that their regular level is much higher than C9’s. However, there’s a chance that they’ve just lost their way and that Cloud9 can simply repeat what they’ve already done. This is less likely, though, and LYON should take this series.

Let us know your predictions on our forums.

Featured Image Credit: Stefan Wisnoski / Riot Games

Related to: Lower bracket final: C9 vs LY

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