Wiggily believes CLG has a shot at the top spot in the LCS

Olivia Richman Published 22/07/2019

Counter Logic Gaming was feeling confident going into their match against FlyQuest. There was no doubt in Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin’s mind that his team would win. In fact, he told WIN.gg that it was a “must win.”

“Every game is a must-win right now, because the teams are pretty close in standings,” Wiggily added.

Counter Logic Gaming is currently third in the standings with an 8-5 record. The team knows that each match matters.

Did you feel confident going into the match against FlyQuest?

Wiggily: Yeah, I’d say so.

The team seemed to be playing aggressively. Why did you decide to play this way?

In the early game, we did play pretty aggressively. But mid-game, we lost track of our win condition and didn’t do much. But in early game, we had a plan in mind and executed.

Why did that happen mid-game?

There was some miscommunication between side lane and me in bot lane. We never got the chance to fight and weren’t taking anything in side lane either. It was a lull where we didn’t do much.

Were you nervous at that point?

I don’t think I was ever nervous. We were always in control of the game. Obviously there’s a certain point where they have their items as well and it’s a bit scary then. But we never felt we would lose. We just wanted to end the game properly.

How does it feel to finally break the team’s 7-win curse?

I actually forgot about that! It feels good. I wasn’t a part of it until last split. But for people like Biofrost it’s definitely a big weight off their shoulder.

There’s always CLG fans that say we’re not good, not going to win. It’s sort of a meme that they’re eternally tortured because we haven’t had success in a long time. It always feels good to win. It proves those people wrong. It’s just funny.

CLG is now a playoff contender and one of the strongest teams in the league. What changed for you since the spring?

I think we just kind of found our team identity. We found more of a clear identity. Because we were able to find that, we were able to learn the basics of the game more and practice more on the basics. So we got really good at them. We got our fundamentals down from that.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can focus on smaller things we need to do every day. Every week we’re improving something.

Where do you rank CLG now? Are you’re top-three in the LCS now that you took down Team SoloMid?

I think we’re top-three for sure. Right now it’s Team Liquid, us, C9, and then TSM. The top four teams are all really close, though. We all have a shot at getting in first right now. We’re definitely included in that.

What are the team’s biggest strengths?

I don’t want to give away too much, but we have a lot of strengths. We have a clear playstyle that we’re really good at. Whenever we need to pull out a specific composition, we can do it.

How are you personally feeling this season?

I feel pretty good with where I’m at right now. I think every week there’s something that I learn individually and as a team. It definitely feels good. Even in losses, there’s something I can take away. In the last split, it felt harder to do that.

Why is that?

I wasn’t sure what my issues were. But now it’s clear what I need to work on and the things that I’m good at. Once I know that, for me, that’s the biggest thing.

What have you been personally improving on?

There’s a lot of things. I feel there’s too many specific things to go over. For me, though, once I indentify it, I can improve it.

In general, I have stepped up in terms of confidence. That’s something I’ve always been trying to work on. That comes when you understand what you need to do and get better at it. Things have been falling into place for me.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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