Counter Logic Gaming is looking to shake things up after failing to make playoffs in both the spring and summer splits of 2018.
CLG’s biggest offseason change is the acquisition of Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage in the mid lane. PowerOfEvil made his name in the EU LCS during his time on Misfits. One of his biggest achievements came during the 2017 World Championship, where PowerOfEvil led his team to take SK Telecom T1 to the limit in a five-game series.
PowerOfEvil migrated to North America to play with OpTic Gaming in 2018, but after an underwhelming performance over the course of the year he’ll be looking to reestablish his reputation as a formidable mid laner with CLG.
In the jungle, CLG promote Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin from the organization’s academy team to the main roster. Apart from Counter Logic Gaming Academy taking second place during the academy playoffs, Wiggily has no major achievements to date.
Wiggily did play in CLG’s last games of 2018. He showed a promising performance against Golden Guardians and helped CLG to avoid falling any further than eighth in the LCS standings. CLG fans will have to hope that Wiggily can fully transition his academy form to the main stage.
Even with these changes, there remains some discontent among CLG fangs with many looking towards the top lane. Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya, while a respected veteran, has failed to perform more recently. During the 2018 summer split, Darshan placed in the lower half of most statistical performance markers for top laners in the LCS. A return to form for Darshan would be a huge boost to CLG’s chances in the new year.
With such teams as 100 Thieves and Team Liquid making big and promising changes, it may be difficult for fans to foresee a successful year for CLG. Ever since the loss of support player and captain Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black to 100T, CLG has been in decline. Time will tell if this iteration of CLG can return the organization to its former glory.
