![]() There was no reason to suspect that they’d spiral downwards after this moment. ![]() They were a championship team with up-and-coming stars, and then they had a very strong showing at MSI (arguably the best international performance ever from an NA team). I think very few people would have predicted what type of course would follow for CLG after that. Everything for CLG as an organization careened perfectly towards that moment - it had all the markings of a great Hollywood movie right down to the surprise twist at the climax. CLG wasn’t supposed to make it that far at all without their longtime captain, and certainly an upstart carry named Stixxay wasn’t supposed to become one of the biggest names in the world that spring. Which is all to say that he was never supposed to join TSM, and he wasn’t supposed to face off with them again in the Spring Finals in 2016. But in that moment - when they finally won - anyone watching at the time would say that CLG was Doublelift, and Doublelift was CLG. They would get close, and then they would be far. There were roster changes seemingly every single split. It came after years of heartbreak and futility. The 2015 Summer Final, then, where Doublelift was the only remaining player from that first squad, was a testament both to his own growth as a player (and person) and to the massive amount of change CLG had undertaken since their formation. Someone once asked me if I had to put together the most contentious roster possible when it comes to personalities, what would it be? And, well, my answer is the old CLG squad featuring HotshotGG, Saintvicious, bigfatlp, Doublelift, and Chauster. You can still dig up old videos of the original CLG squad having meetings, which were really just shouting matches. At the time, he was an even more controversial figure than he is now, only he didn’t have the same accolades to back him up. You couldn’t mention TSM without CLG following shortly thereafter.Īt the start of the 2016 season, after CLG had finally won an LCS title and returned to Worlds, they parted ways with their longtime star, Doublelift. This is an organization steeped in a rich history and was at one point the primary rival to TSM as the most popular team in North America. The two consecutive championships marking that era keep them tied with C9 behind TSM and TL in terms of banners, and no other team in the LCS has even one. Since their incredible 2016 Spring Split - the height of the so-called Faith Age - CLG hasn’t even returned to an LCS Final. But if you want to have fun, it’s actually really fun.”įun isn’t a word that’s been in the CLG lexicon for years now. “If you want to focus on improving, NA Solo Queue is shit. I ask him if he likes NA Solo Queue, and Stixxay says, “Give him the real answer.” So I just change my mindset to just having fun so even if I lose it’s okay.” If I try hard and lose, then I get tilted. “I just realized that NA Solo Queue - I just need to enjoy it. Ruin continues, “It’s just fun, you know.” He cuts the wave at level 1 like a proper Singed player. “I played Singed only so I lost many games…” I sit down with Ruin and Stixxay for lunch and ask how they’ve been using that time. THE TUESDAY BEFORE Rift Rivals, CLG is enjoying the second of their first two days off this split. We don’t talk anymore like we used to do. So then and there - in a transport shuttle on the other side of the world - they sing for the first time, “We don’t talk anymore, we don’t talk anymore. It will become a sort of anthem for Counter Logic Gaming. He doesn’t know that three years later, he’ll be the oldest member of the team.īut the team starts to sing the song together, which they will continue to sing and hum for the coming weeks at MSI and for the months after. At the time, he is the newest addition to the CLG lineup, having replaced the departed face of the franchise, Doublelift. It is, according to Stixxay, the first time they’d heard that song. Selena Gomez) called “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” and it will come to accumulate over two billion views on YouTube. It is a brand new single by Charlie Puth (Ft. They don’t even know the song that starts to play. They don’t know this will be the height of their run, and they don’t know that Counter Logic Gaming will slowly fall apart over the next three years. They don’t know that Stixxay will earn a euphemistic nickname for his daring play. They don’t know they’re going to finish 2nd in the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational’s Group Stage and then make it to the Finals where they will lose to SK telecom T1. ![]() IT’S 2016 and on a shuttle from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport to their hotel, Counter Logic Gaming doesn’t know yet that they’re about to make history. Counter Logic Gaming is tied for first after snapping their 1,176 day losing drought to TSM, but they’ll need to do more than that to win the LCS again.
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