CLG suffer 0-2 weekend after strong start to Summer split

Counter Logic Gaming are facing their first big hurdle in the North America League of Legends Championship Series Summer split after going 0-2 in Week 3. Consecutive losses to Cloud9 on Saturday and Team Liquid on Sunday means that the hot start might be over for CLG.

Despite playing two of the LCS’s strongest teams, CLG still played the game their way. That meant bold draft picks like Amumu on support, scrappy team fights and a general lack of fear of their opponent; unfortunately, their well-crafted early games weren’t translating into the mid-game, especially against TL, who were able to snowball their lead into a decisive win.

“The game started off good,” Philippe “Poome” Lavoie-Giguere said about the TL match in a post-game interview. “I think we failed a bit executing our comp.”

The first 10 minutes of both the C9 and TL games were firmly in CLG’s favor. Poome said the biggest culprits for their losses this week were the team’s inability to translate their early leads and maintain a good tempo.

“Once we figure that out and manage our resources [well] for the mid-game, I think we’ll be in a good spot,” he said.

An 0-2 weekend for CLG

For a team that started as hot as CLG, an 0-2 weekend can be a total momentum killer; even worse, some of it just boils down to bad luck. Ahead of Saturday, CLG were pulled away from the LCS studio when Juan Arturo “Contractz” Garcia tested positive for COVID-19. That, combined with two strong opponents, presented a brick wall that the team couldn’t overcome.

“COVID impacted us a lot,” Poome said. “Contractz, he’s having trouble focusing and stuff like that.”

Now it comes down to how the team can bounce back. Luckily, they have a three day break away from the game and plenty of practice time with no matches next weekend.

“Hopefully that will re-energize everyone,” Poome said.