Currently, Cerberus Esports is considered the “final boss” of the VCS as they have achieved a perfect 2-0 record in all their matches. This dominance leads people to believe that this team is in a perfect state with no weaknesses. While this holds true when they face off against EVOS or Team Flash, their weaknesses begin to surface when they encounter the newly promoted teams of VCS.
First, let’s discuss the toplane position of LL. The champion he uses most frequently is Mordekaiser, with 4 games, followed closely by Renekton with 3 games. Both of these champions possess extremely strong traits and can hold their lane against most matchups. Cerberus often picks these two champions for LL to ensure that one of their lanes will have solid strength, regardless of the opponent.
However, when it comes to champion mechanics, LL has never been regarded as a top-tier toplaner, so when faced with a unique matchup where champion strengths cannot compensate, his mechanical weaknesses become apparent. In the latest match against Percent Esports, LL had to face off against a tricky Fiora played by yT, and LL was unable to leverage Mordekaiser’s strength to win his lane. As a result, Cerberus’ map pressure was not as significant as usual.
Despite Cerberus having more kills, they did not dominate the game in terms of the map control compared to their opponents. When it came to team fights, the advantages were evenly split between both sides, even though Cerberus had more gold and should have been the team to take the initiative. Fortunately for the “Final Boss,” the other positions played well and compensated for LL’s revealed weaknesses.
Another weakness Cerberus has been facing in recent matches is their lack of perfect control. There are still critical mistakes from XuHao, such as when he failed to secure objectives and could not create a snowball effect to close out the game early, even while playing his comfort champion Graves. The situation where they lost the Rift Herald in game 2 against Overpower Gaming last week is a prime example.
In that game, Cerberus had every condition to close out the match early; both of their solo lanes were winning, and XuHao was stronger than DK in the jungle position, while the strongest player on the OPG side was the AD carry, who couldn’t exert too much influence early in the game. However, XuHao lost the Rift Herald, which significantly slowed Cerberus’ snowball momentum, and they could only secure victory thanks to Yado’s brilliance.
The group stage of the VCS is a long journey, not to mention that we also have a playoff round with a winner and loser bracket format. Cerberus may currently be undefeated, but they are far from perfect with the weaknesses mentioned above. With their current high performance, these weaknesses might be somewhat masked. However, in 1-2 months, or even in the Bo5 matches during the playoffs, the story will be entirely different, and there’s no guarantee that the “Final Boss” won’t face significant setbacks in the future.