LNG Scout calls out Cloud9’s “tactical pause” at Worlds 2023

A pause issued by Cloud9 during a crucial moment in their match against LNG at Worlds 2023 caused some controversy, and LNG mid laner Scout has called out C9 directly on his Instagram story.

A lot can go awry in a match of League of Legends. Whether peripherals stop working, a player spills their water, or an in-game bug makes it so that things don’t work properly, there are a number of reasons a pause would need to be issued.

And, while it’s a good thing that it exists to maintain competitive integrity, pauses tend to be controversial. Bringing a match to a screeching halt can provide a team with just the right amount of time they need to come up with a strategy to outsmart their opponent.

Cloud9 called a pause in what was ruled by Worlds 2023 tournament officials as a “crucial moment” in the match, resulting in a chronobreak and a lengthy pause. LNG still won the game, and mid laner Scout took a jab at C9 after, calling them out for taking a pause during a pivotal teamfight.

LNG Scout called out Cloud9 for controversial Worlds 2023 pause

It’s worth mentioning that this match had three pauses, all of them called by Cloud9. The first was early on in the match, with the players reporting FPS issues in-game. Fortunately, this pause wasn’t too controversial considering it was before anything really happened in the match.

The second pause was called by Zven due to peripheral issues, also wasn’t overly controversial. The third pause, however, was called right as the second ended and LNG was about to get a pick on Cloud9’s players. Zven claimed his keyboard still wasn’t working even after the second pause, leading to the entire keyboard needing to be replaced.

This led to the game needing to be chronobroken to a point before LNG took a favorable fight against C9 around Baron, leading to controversy despite Zven having a valid reason to call for a pause. Scout took a jab at his opponent after they won the match.

On his instagram story, in English, Scout typed “nice tactical pause lol” following the match. This pause resulted in a 20 minute intermission due to the game having to be chronobroken, leaving both teams sat on stage for a while with commentators and the analyst desk doing their best to fill the space.

LNG surely won’t be seeking to dispute the game’s outcome seeing as they won regardless of the pause, but Scout’s jab at the team certainly shows that they weren’t too happy about having to sit through it.

As a result of their win, LNG became the first team in the Swiss stage to give themselves a 2-0 and are one of four undefeated teams so far in the Swiss Stage. Cloud9, meanwhile, have their work cut out for them now that they’ve been matched against T1.