CLG's faith rewarded with their 2015 NA LCS Summer Split Finals win over TSM

The wait is over.

Finally, CLG had taken down their bitter rivals Team SoloMid, taking the title of 1st place in the 2015 NA LCS Playoffs in the process. And they did it in style, winning 3-0 on the floor of New York's Madison Square Garden.

After the match, we sat down with longtime face of CLG AD carry Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and the relatively new top laner Darshan "ZionSpartan" Upadhyaya.

Doublelift in particular saw the win as a triumph over all those who had doubted him in the past, especially after the emotional start he had to the 2015 Season. "For years, everyone has been trash talking CLG," he says. "I became a meme and a joke and no one really respected me...I was on the cusp of quitting. At the beginning of this Split, I was thinking, 'I probably just want to quit because this just isn't worth it.'"

But something changed his mind. As the Summer Split was nearing, he decided to give it one more shot.

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He credits that decision largely to his teammates and the desire to win that he saw in them. "This is the dream squad. Everyone is willing to put in all this work," he says. That work has paid off. CLG has done what many said they might never do: They've beaten TSM and taken home the NA LCS 1st place trophy.

Explaining exactly what the win meant to him and his team, he says, "It's so satisfying because TSM has always trash talked us...We were wondering if the rivalry really existed. If TSM always wins, it's not really a rivalry. But beating them, especially in a 3-0 fashion, after they've dominated NA for so long, it's just proving that, wow, we're really good."

A large part of this new and improved CLG has been Zionspartan. The talented top laner has long been known for his potential to carry, but on CLG he became a much more versatile player, adapting to whatever his teammates needed. He says that adaptability came in rather handy, especially with all the influence from those surrounding him. "I think I've always been open to learning and improving," he told us. "And I've definitely learned a lot being on this team. It's definitely the best team I've been on in esports. There's just been so much growing everyone individually, and as a team, has done in the last year."

Continuing, he says, "Thinking back to nine months ago, when I was just on the team...it's leaps and bounds different. Everything. Teamwork, how we work together, how we treat each other, everything got way better. I think it shows when we 3-0 TSM like that."

And that improvement has manifested on the Rift. Doublelift told us that the moment he knew they'd take the series came when his teammates carried him through a fight early in Game 3 -- a moment that solidified just how far they had come as a team. No longer was this the Doublelift show. CLG is all about teamwork.

"I think I must have gotten like 500 damage off," he says, perhaps slightly exaggerating. "And then, the fight was over, and we won. 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."

And now, with their 1st place spot, they've qualified for Worlds as the first seed from North America. How do they think they'll do? Zionspartan had a bold prediction. "I think we definitely going to make it out of Groups. After that, I think we have a pretty good shot at winning."

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But for now, they can bask in the glory of their newfound North American supremacy. Says Doublelift, "When you reap the harvest of all that work, it feels so good. You know you deserve it."

To keep watching CLG and their run at the 2015 World Championship, keep your eye on Lolesports. And if you want to find out exactly how they took down TSM, head over to the spoiler-free VODs page.