On faith's wings: Counter Logic Gaming

It's been the same story every split: Counter Logic Gaming puts together a roster of mechanically talented playmakers, anchored by superstar AD carry Doublelift, and they look like the best team in the region. That is, until something shatters their unity.

"We stopped trusting each other after our first game versus TSM,"CLG's support aphromoo explained, looking back on last split. "I thought that was the main thing that caused us to fall." This would typically push CLG to adopt a one-note, "protect the Doublelift" comp, and inevitably, lead to a disappointing finish.

But that all changed in Summer 2015. A new coaching staff and a new mid-lane anchor in Pobelter re-energized the squad, and from the start, it was obvious something was different. They exhibited an enduring faith in each other's play, and this allowed CLG to blossom into a terrifying triple-threat squad, with the best early game in the region. And finally, in their first-ever LCS Finals appearance, they decisively 3-0'd rivals TSM, capping it off with a Doublelift Pentakill in front of one of the biggest crowds in LCS history. Whether you call it realizing their potential, reaching the Golden Age, or rewarding their faith, one thing is clear: CLG is North America's front-runner.

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The Play

For CLG, winning team fights starts way before the "let's group" call goes out. The secret to their success lies in the early game, where they've developed a keen ability to funnel money into all three of their carries: AD carry Doublelift, mid laner Pobelter, and top laner ZionSpartan. Having three priority targets means CLG can be far more strategic about where -- and when -- they take fights, and it often results in teams having no clear call on who to blow up first.

Take, for example, this fight against Team Impulse during the NA LCS Summer Semifinals. Team Impulse's top laner Impact fails to dive straight into the back line with his Homeguard-empowered Teleport, and aphromoo reacts immediately by starting the fight with a hook. Pobelter and Doublelift stand in the back and hit from range, jungler Xmithie jumps in to keep the team's only tank-buster in AD carry Apollo occupied, and ZionSpartan, as the big body in the center, keeps everyone else bunched up and far away from vulnerable targets. Doublelift eats the Exhaust but Pobelter has more than enough damage to compensate, and ends up picking up a triple kill. Then Dragon. Then Baron. Then GG.

Rush Hour: Full Throttle

The biggest reason CLG's fans kept the faith all these years was because, no matter what was going on around them, the Rush Hour duo of Doublelift and aphromoo kept rolling on as arguably the strongest bottom lane in North America. Doublelift and aphromoo could always be counted on to make the plays and win just about any 2v2, and seeing that at work kept the fans coming back again and again. With Doublelift at No. 1 in gold-per-minute and aphromoo at No. 2 in Total Assists two splits in a row, the Rush Hour duo has stood the test of time and outlasted every meta shift.

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This Summer, Doublelift and aphromoo took it a step further by actively pushing the North American meta forward. Early game lane swapping was all the rage, and CLG was universally known to be the best at it.

Talk of the Rift

As dramatic as CLG's evolution into the team we saw at Madison Square Garden seems to the fans, the players feel that change even stronger. Every single one of these players has felt the lowest lows there are for a professional League player. But each of the players on CLG emerged from those lows and became one unit, putting the pieces together for one incredible summer.

"All of us have been pros for two or three years...but we haven't ever won anything. And to finally be like 'We're done being losers, we're going to play like a team'...That's what I feel like on CLG right now. I feel like we're a team. And that's the first time that I can say that in my pro career. We're playing like a team. I think that we're the first team in NA that can actually make a difference at Worlds. I think we can win the whole thing," says CLG's top laner ZionSpartan​.

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"On any other roster, in any other time period, if I did 500 damage, we would instantly lose. I think I missed my [Enchanted Crystal Arrow] too. I did everything wrong, I played horribly. And we still won. I was like, 'Wow, everyone is playing amazingly.' Even if I have a bad fight, we're just so good that the remaining four people can pick up my slack," says CLG's AD carry Doublelift, on a fight in Game 3 of the NA LCS Summer Finals.

Finally released from the prison of the analyst desk and armed with teammates he has complete faith in, Doublelift looks forward to Worlds, ready to make his fans proud.

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Interested in learning more about the other teams competing at Worlds? Check out the whole lineup, now.