They say that all good things must come to an end.

I’m not entirely sure who “they” are, but this saying rings painfully true for Counter Logic Gaming. Their recent failure to make it out of groups has left many confused – this was supposed to be CLG’s golden age, was it not? While their performance in the Spring Split was admittedly rather shaky, they were able to scrape by into third place. However, the addition of Eugene “Pobelter” Park before the Summer Split seemed to do wonders for the team. Counter Logic Gaming placed second after losing a tiebreaker with Team Liquid for first place. Ignoring this minor setback, Counter Logic Gaming pressed on and defeated long-time rivals Team SoloMid at Madison Square Garden, granting the team first place in summer playoffs and Doublelift his first tournament win. They were rated highly by many going into Worlds, and were by all appearances set to dismantle their competition and bring glory to North America.

What went wrong?

Unrealistic Expectations

Counter Logic Gaming was massively overrated coming into Worlds. Saying this prior to groups would have been a dangerous affair, as many of their faith-fueled fans would have taken issue with such a claim. However, now that the dust has begun to settle, a sober examination of CLG’s pre-Worlds performance is necessary to understanding the tragedy that took place in Paris.

As previously stated, Counter Logic Gaming placed second in the Summer Split. Although this was certainly an improvement over placing third in the Spring, one must consider the overall competitiveness of the NA LCS at the time. In first place was Team Liquid; despite boasting a roster that looked great on paper, their late game shotcalling and team fighting remained abysmal up until the very end. Team SoloMid has been tilted since MSI; their Summer Split showing was very inconsistent and marred by a number of issues. Team Impulse was still weak following the untimely departure of their mid laner, Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian. (It could also be argued that TiP was never a truly formidable team, as they relied mostly on Rush’s aggression to compensate for a lack of intelligent, macro-oriented gameplay.) Lastly, we have Cloud 9 – let’s just say that they were a virtual non-factor until the regional gauntlet.

To put it bluntly, CLG was so highly rated going into Worlds simply because they dominated a number of incredibly weaker teams. This is not to say that they didn’t deserve to take first; clearly, they performed well – relative to the region – and were fully deserving of the first seed at Worlds. However, the majority of the community didn’t take into account the weakened state of the North American scene when fantasizing about CLG’s upcoming showing at Worlds. Thus, Counter Logic Gaming was subjected to a number of unfortunate, unfair and ultimately unrealistic expectations going into the 2015 World Championship.

Worlds Apart

To further complicate things, Counter Logic Gaming was thrown into a seemingly “easy” group. Consisting of PaiN Gaming, KOO Tigers, Flash Wolves and Counter Logic Gaming, Group A appeared to be CLG’s one way ticket to the knockout stage. While the KOO Tigers were immediately deemed a challenge, PaiN Gaming and the Flash Wolves were largely discounted; these teams were considered inherently inferior to those from more developed regions.

The first game in Group A featured Counter Logic Gaming taking on the Flash Wolves. Most of the community expected a stomp  –  surely a Wildcard team was no match for Counter Logic Gaming, NA’s first seed? All were left waiting. The stomp never came. Instead, Counter Logic Gaming struggled; despite Xmithie camping top lane, it was ZionSpartan who gave up first blood. A number of bad teamfights and teleports had the Western audience on edge. Despite their many mistakes this game, CLG was able to secure the win after forty minutes of uncertainty. While the game ended, the  uncertainty it spawned did not. The western community  –  CLG fans most definitely included  –  was apprehensive, as they expected a much more dominant showing from North America’s number one team. Counter Logic Gaming’s next match was against paiN Gaming. This game was more in line with the expectations many people had for CLG. The game lasted 30 minutes, with the final score being 23 – 7 in favor of CLG.

Unfortunately, this was to be the last win for CLG at Worlds.

Counter Logic Gaming’s next two games were against the KOO Tigers, who, despite being a competitive Korean team, had recently lost to the Flash Wolves. This left western fans terribly unprepared for what was to come. These two games were incredibly brutal. And short. Neither lasted longer than 30 minutes; the second one barely went past the 20 minute mark. Smeb in particular played a huge factor in KOO’s success  –  his performances on Darius and Kennen had us all questioning once again why he was absent from Riot’s Top 20 list.  After this pair of setbacks, CLG faced the Flash Wolves again. This time around, however, the Flash Wolves were all bite. Counter Logic Gaming lost both their Nexus and chances of making it out of groups in this defeat. Afterwards, they lost to paiN Gaming for good measure.

Moving Forward

A quick survey of the CLG subreddit reveals a variety of attitudes. Surprisingly, many fans, despite being heartbroken, were quick to frame the situation in a positive light; they chose to view it as a chance for their beloved roster to gain experience, and saw CLG as being poised to dominate North America in Season 6. While their optimism is commendable, this outlook is unrealistic. Recent interviews with CLG players have hinted to multiple players retiring from competitive League of Legends, thus rendering this gain of international experience obsolete. Doublelift and Aphromoo are the two most likely to retire, as they both have lucrative streaming careers awaiting them. Xmithie suffered some heavy criticism this season, so it’s not too farfetched to consider that he is no longer interested in living in the often harsh spotlight that accompanies being a professional gamer. While Pobelter and ZionSpartan could pursue streaming as well, I would be surprised if either of them retire; both are still young and undeniably talented.

Like many other teams in North America (and indeed, most regions), Counter Logic Gaming’s future is uncertain. Off-season roster swaps are likely inevitable – both in terms of players and support staff. Regardless of who stays and who goes, however, Counter Logic Gaming will remain a premier organization in the North American LCS, and I’m sure that we’ll see more than one familiar face on their roster next season.

Photo credits to Riot Games and Pixel Dynamo.

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