By Rachael 'Liltalen'
"We're going to do it this split."
"It's a Golden Age, boys..."
Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) started the spring split off strong this year. Their first game against against Team 8 found them down ZionSpartan, and yet not only did Doublelift manage to pick up first blood, but CLG slowly gained ground and took a convincing victory after just over 34 minutes.
Week 1 day 2 saw CLG up against Team Liquid (TL). Liquid took the lead early and maintained it strongly throughout the game, managing to force CLG back at every turn and eventually destroying the CLG nexus. It wasn't a tragedy though, it was just the beginning of the split and everyone was still figuring everything out, right?
From there, CLG held on strong. Week 2 found them defeating Team Impulse (TiP) and decimating Cloud 9 (C9) on the Rift. Week 3, they wiped out Winterfox (WFX) and crushed Gravity (GV).
Coming in to week 4, CLG was tied with TSM for first place, and even though they managed to take down Team Coast (CST) on day 1, day 2 was yet to come.
In a widely hyped grudge match, CLG took on their rival TSM in grand brawl on summoner's rift. Bets between team owners were made, fans were hyped beyond measure, and the teams were both well aware of the pressure. For the first 35 minutes, CLG were solidly in the driver's seat, pressuring the map, out-rotating TSM, and taking objectives easily. Then, just after 36 minutes, up 4 dragons to none, and with an almost seven thousand gold lead, CLG fans had their first inkling of trouble.
With Dyrus as Sion off to the side being zoned away from his team, Link cast Glacial Path, and took the claw in to the middle of 3 members of TSM, and cast Frozen Tomb on himself, and managed to miss everyone with it. As soon as Frozen Tomb ended, so did Link's life, along with Xmithie's and Doublelift's.
That team fight was the turn in the game. Suddenly TSM flicked the switch, and roared back, the fight in them renewed; ready to take on the to-this-point unstoppable juggernaut of CLG,and fight back they did. Less than 10 minutes after the crucial team fight that turned the tide, TSM stormed in to CLG's base and ended the game decisively. Jokes were made, HotShotGG's hair was dyed pink, and CLG fans went "We'll get 'em next time."
The next week, fans were unsure, but CLG proceeded to destroy Team Dignitas (DIG) in their first match up, though they lost the spring split's rematch to C9 on day two due to C9's superior map rotations and ward control.
From there on, week 7 saw C9 tied for second with CLG, but CLG managed to solidify second as their own in the following two weeks. Then, a small tragedy for CLG fans. CLG lost their final game to TiP, while C9 managed to triumph against the titan TSM, resulting in a tie breaker match between C9 and CLG.
In the tiebreaker match, C9 slowly and methodically took control and wore CLG down. In the end, Doublelift's Vayne just couldn't stand up to the monstrous Draven that Sneaky brought on to the Rift, and C9 secured the second seed spot, and the bye, in to the semi-finals.
"That's fine," said CLG fans, "We don't need the bye. Look! We're up against Team Liquid. We'll get some practice in, we'll roll right through the shaky looking team that barely squeaked in to playoffs and we'll get our rematch against Cloud 9. We've seen how they play now, and we can definitely beat them in a best of 5 series." Looking ahead to the semi-finals, CLG fans remained blissfully unaware of their impending heartbreak. It was a golden age for CLG, surely the 6th seed Liquid couldn't stop them now!
Game 1 of the Golden Age: Team Liquid vs Counter Logic Gaming, the drafts came in, the teams loaded on to Summoner's Rift, and from there, initially it looked good for CLG. Solid rotation, good back and forth, CLG employing their 1-3-1 split push to pressure all over the map. Then, disaster in the form of Doublelift, Aphromoo, and Link going down simultaneously in the bottom lane, greedily staying too long to push down that inhibitor turret.
Suddenly, with all that damage gone, Liquid had the ability to quickly take Baron, and from there, return pressure all over the map and eventually push in to win the game.
There was a poignant pause and a deep breath from CLG fans, as last year's playoffs flashed through their minds, but of course, there was no way that would happen, right? CLG had looked so good this split, and TL had struggled so hard. There was no way. It was their Golden Age. It was just a fluke, and CLG would come out and own the rift in Game 2.
Game 2 started, and initially CLG looked good. Then Liquid started applying the pressure, and not in a small way. CLG was on the back foot, trying desperately to claw their way back uphill. The tweets of "Easy 3-0 #CLGWIN" slowed to a halt, the people that had been saying this suddenly wary of the Season 3 World Champion Piglet, and the true potential he brought to the table.
It was all well and good to say Doublelift was better than Piglet when that's what all the statistics pointed to, but apparently when Piglet decided enough was enough, it was time for Liquid to throw down the gauntlet. Game 2 went decisively to Team Liquid.
CLG fans were reliving their worst nightmares from the 2014 summer split playoffs, as CLG sat 0-2, playing game 3 in a best of 5 series with a baron buffed Team Curse killing them on the fountain as they took everything.
It was time for game 3, and everyone was wondering the same thing; was CLG going to make a miraculous comeback? Surely they were... they had to... right?
Game 3 was the biggest disappointment yet for fans of CLG. On this particular incarnation of Summoner's Rift, Piglet was King, and all others fell before him. It was no contest and the game was over at slightly more than 30 minutes.
The looks on the faces of CLG after the game were downright devastated. How could everything so right go so, so wrong? They'd been strong all split, poised to take on Cloud 9 and Team SoloMid as major contenders in the NA region, and then just like that, they were done? To say the team seemed disheartened at the end of the 0-3 sweep would be an understatement.
After the games, HotShotGG tweeted out, "... Changes need to be made and they will be made..." as well as, "We will sit down and discuss as a team what went wrong and what we need to focus on."
One thing is for sure, CLG fans want to know, when will the Golden Age come for Counter Logic Gaming?
Article written 4/5/2015
