After years of having surprisingly good players on its roster, Counter Logic Gaming finally lived up to the so called "potential" the team was deemed to have in all of its iterations. CLG's recent summer split victory must, however, be taken with a grain of salt. As team, they were undoubtedly the best in NA... But that's not saying much. Unfortunately for NA LCS, the region is going through one of its weakest stages, with several teams just failing to deliver week in and week out. Still, even with all the issues NA has this split, you can't deny this team's improvement over the summer split and into playoffs. Their macro game far exceeds anything the remainder of the teams can match as well as quite possibly the only team in NA who understands priorities in laneswaps.

Top - Darshan “ZionSpartan” Upadhyaha

Standing tall as one of the best duelists from the top lane in the west and participating in Worlds for the first time, Zion looks at the challenges that wait ahead of him with excitement. Individually, Zion can compete and hold his own with several top laners, but that doesn't rely entirely on him. Regardless, Zion is a well versed top laner and an excellent split pusher when given the chance. His individual mechanics and teleport usage are what netted CLG their early game leads against TSM in the finals of the NA LCS Summer Split. His use of champions such as Yasuo and Fizz might be key to CLG’s performance at worlds, considering how the meta is shifting into a position that favors split pushing dueling champions. Jungler - Jake "Xmithie" Puchero

Normally, we'd be at a point where we would be pointing at xmithie as the weak link and possibly exploitable by most other teams at Worlds. However, the difference this year is that the jungle position is not exactly the most star studded role of the teams attending Worlds. In fact, for teams such as Fnatic, LGD and KOO tigers, Jungle is the weakest role of the team comparatively to the other four players. This isn't to discredit Xmithie's performance in the finals, which was a huge improvement to his regular summer split form but rather let people know that even if Xmithie were to not perform as he did in the finals against TSM, it's still possible for CLG to get away with a mediocre jungler. Mid - Eugene “Pobelter” Park

Quite possibly the biggest catalyst to CLG's recent success, Pobelter joined the roster after departure of former midlaner Austin “Link” Shin after the spring split of 2015. The importance of Pobelter’s role in this squad isn’t because he will dominate his opponents, but rather because Pobelter is reliable. Regardless of what he plays, he remains relevant in all stages of the game. Pobelter can create pressure in his lane if necessary, which allows Xmithie to walk into enemy jungle freely.  The advantage of having a player such as Pobelter in the mid lane is that it allows CLG a cushion to fall back on whenever their main carry roles can't perform. CLG's mid laner is perfectly capable of putting the team on his back and carrying from the mid lane, even when he hasn't been fed all the team's resources. Ad Carry - Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng

After years of not meshing exactly right with his teammates to create a strong unit, Doublelift found himself during the summer split in what is quite possibly the best version of CLG to date. There is no doubt that the summer split has been mostly about Doublelift and his carry potential. His aggressive laning alongside long time partner Aphromoo allowed CLG to execute their game plans as intended. Their lane swap timings were the best in NA, to the point where CLG averaged a 1k gold lead at 15 minutes throughout the split (playoffs included). Doublelift has been the primary carry of CLG this summer and it’ll be interesting to see the infamous 'Rush Hour' bottom lane going up against PraY and GorillA from the KOO Tigers.

Support - Zaquieri “Aphromoo” Black

Famed for being unable to perform in very high pressure games, Aphro was able to turn it around this split to solidify himself as one of the best supports in the West. This man’s performances have been nothing short of impressive, regardless of what champion he was playing. From a big, beefy front liner in Alistar, to the frail disengage queen in Janna, Aphromoo has demonstrated that his control during teamfights is amongst the best NA has ever seen. His timings and positionings has allowed Doubelift to play teamfights almost flawlessly without the stress of having to deal with giant front liners getting into his face. In addition to being a great teamfight control player, Aphromoo’s ward control has been on point, allowing CLG to always be able to trade an objective for another even if they were on the back foot.

Player to look out for: ZionSpartan

With the meta shifting into a very top-centric style, many eyes will be on Zion to see what he can deliver on the biggest stage of them all. It’s still uncertain what new champions the patch change will bring, but we know just how good Zion is as an individual player. We’ll be looking forward to the first time KOO and CLG collide. If teams end up getting standard lanes, Zion vs Smeb will be a good test for each of their individual skills.

Conclusion:

This is by far the best we’ve ever seen CLG play since the start of the LCS era. All players are reliable to a certain extent, which is enough to say on its own. Doublelift has stepped it up and put his money where his mouth is. Their playstyle revolves around objectives and how they choose to trade one for another when behind. CLG has learned how to choke their opponents out of resources but have had some trouble when it comes to closing out games. Regardless, CLG has a chance to make it to the quarterfinals and put an end to all their issues once and for all.

Images courtesy of lolesports.com, content.azubu.tv, riot games flickr and liquidlegends.net

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