Counter Logic Gaming - The Team

Written by Trevor

Counter Logic Gaming is one of the major and most well known teams in the League of Legends gaming arena in North America and has won over $50,000 USD in cash prizes.

CLG burst into the League of Legends gaming scene when it took the first place at the World Cyber Games in 2010 where they represented North America. In December 2011, the European edition of Counter Logic Gaming, known as CLG EU came into being, with a roster that includes some of the biggest names from the European scene. That's not all CLG EU has quickly made a name for itself by winning the Kings of Europe League of Legends tournament in January 2012 (more on this later). Counter Logic Gaming also won the 2011 Razer Team of the Year, based on people's votes. So what is it about Counter Logic Gaming that in a scene filled with pro-teams from various active eSports, this League of Legends only team comes in first? Let us take a closer look at their roster, some of their winning games and their achievements.

Counter Logic Gaming: The Roster

Counter Logic Gaming at present has two active teams, CLG NA and CLG EU.

Counter Logic Gaming NA (CLG NA) Roster

Team CLG

The flagship team of Counter Logic Gaming, CLG NA was formed in early 2010, and has since then proved itself to be among the most dominant teams in the professional League of Legends arena, with an astonishing number of victories. Here are the gamers who make up the CLG NA team-

George 'HotshotGG' Georgallidis - Probably the most popular League of Legends streamer across the world, George 'HotshotGG' Georgallidis is well known for his live streaming of his raging antics, top lane antics and his farming ability. HotshottGG's tryst with gaming began way back, at the age of two, when he was already playing Berenstain Bears. He went on to play several games while growing up including Warcraft 2 and Diablo 1. He realized that he really liked the MOBA genre when he started playing DotA. With the release of League of Legends, HotshotGG began playing it, wanting to try more from this gaming style. His fast problem solving skills along with his ability to adapt quickly to situations has made him one of the top players in the League of Legends scene.

Bio

Name - George Georgallidis

Gaming Alias - 'HotshottGG'

Age - 21

Nationality - Canada

Favorite Champion - Nidalee

Also known to play - Cho'Gath, Galio

Role - Bruiser, top lane

Achievements

WCG North American Qualifier 2010 - 1st

WCG Grand Finals 2010 - 1st

Alienware Arena 2010 - 1st

Newegg Wanfest 2010 - 1st

Season One Championship 2011 - 5th

NESL Premiere League 1 2011 - 1st

IEM Global Challenge Cologne 2011 - 1st

MLG Raleigh 2011 - 1st

IEM Global Challenge Guangzhou 2011 - 2nd

IPL 3 2011 - 3rd

IEM Global Challenge New York 2011 - 4th

Steve 'Chauster' Chau - Chauster, one of the most technically skilled League of Legends gamers, used to be the AD carry for the CLG NA team and now plays support. Chauster also started out early with NES games such as Contra, Tecmo Wrestling, Double Dragon and then transitioned into SNES followed by PlayStation. That's when he ventured into StarCraft 1. He took a break from gaming to continue education. However, during this time he tried out LoL just to pass the time, but soon became hooked. Although, Chauster isn't the best when it comes to reaction time and mechanics, he makes it up with his knowledge of gameplay.

Bio

Name - Steve Chau

Gaming Alias - 'Chauster'

Age - 23

Nationality - United States

Favorite Champion - Lee Sin

Role - Support, bottom lane

Achievements

WCG North American Qualifier 2010 - 1st

WCG Grand Finals 2010 - 1st

Alienware Arena 2010 - 1st

Newegg Wanfest 2010 - 1st

Season One Championship 2011 - 5th

NESL Premiere League 1 2011 - 1st

MLG Raleigh 2011 - 1st

IEM Global Challenge Guangzhou 2011 - 2nd

IPL 3 2011 - 3rd

IEM Global Challenge New York 2011 - 4th

Brandon 'Saintvicious' DiMarco - Saintvicious is known for farming, taking farm from jungle as often as possible and sometimes from the lanes, when he is by them. DiMarco says his earliest memory of gaming was his Nintendo console, which he got as a Christmas gift at age four. He went on to play StarCraft 1 and expanded into other games like DotA and World of Warcraft. When LoL moved out of the Beta phase, DiMarco began playing it just as he would play any other game, but he was soon hooked. He says it was his understanding of the gameplay, which resulted in him playing League of Legends at the professional level.

Bio

Name - Brandon DiMarco

Gaming Alias - Saintvicious

Age - 24

Nationality - United States

Favorite Champion - Warwick

Role - Jungler

Achievements

Season One Championship 2011 - 5th

NESL Premiere League 1 2011 - 1st

IEM Global Challenge Cologne 2011 - 1st

MLG Raleigh 2011 - 1st

IEM Global Challenge Guangzhou 2011 - 2nd

IPL 3 2011 - 3rd

IEM Global Challenge New York 2011 - 4th

Michael 'bigfatlp' Tang - bigfatlp was among the top gamers in League of Legends during season one. He is well known for bringing numerous smurfs to the top hundred of the ladder in season one. Tang began gaming with Doom 1 on his computer, moving onto other games and then Diablo 2. He spent years playing Ragnarok Online and then transitioned to World of Warcraft and then DotA. Once League of Legends' beta version was released, Tang and another friend decided to give it a try. This was when he decided to devote his time to this game. Tang's greatest skills include understanding what needs to be done in a team fight, whether it is positioning or awareness.

Bio

Name - Michael Tang

Gaming Alias - bigfatlp

Age - 21

Nationality - Canada

Favorite Champion - none

Known to play - Twisted Fate

Role - AP Carry, middle lane

Achievements

WCG North American Qualifier 2010 - 1st

WCG Grand Finals 2010 - 1st

Alienware Arena 2010 - 1st

Newegg Wanfest 2010 - 1st

Season One Championship 2011 - 5th

NESL Premiere League 1 2011 - 1st

IEM Global Challenge Cologne 2011 - 1st

IEM Global Challenge Guangzhou 2011 - 2nd

IPL 3 2011 - 3rd

IEM Global Challenge New York 2011 - 4th

Peter 'Doublelift' Peng - Doublelift was originally a part of the CLG NA team playing the role of a support sub. He left CLG to join Epik Gamer, which he again left to join Curse. Finally, he made it back to his first team, CLG. Doublelift also started gaming early, on his brother's hand me down desktops. He would spend time playing DotA and World of Warcraft with his brother and other friends. Eventually, he left all these games and moved on to League of Legends. Amongst his strongest skills are his mechanics like last hitting, positioning and timing. Doublelift is also known as the gamer, who is always there on State of the League, because he stays with Travis.

Bio

Name - Peter Peng

Gaming Alias - Doublelift

Age - 18

Nationality - United States

Favorite Champion - Blitzcrank

Also known to play - Caitlyn, Vayne, Poppy

Role - AD Carry, bottom lane

Counter Logic Gaming EU (CLG EU) Roster

Counter Logic Gaming EU joined CLG in December 2011 and boasts of some of the biggest gamers in Europe. As part of the CLG team, they recently won the Kings of Europe League of Legends tournament. Let us take a look at their lineup -

Mike 'Wickd' Petersen - Wickd Petersen is currently one the most seasoned and highly skilled gamers from Europe, having participated in all except one European LAN LoL tournament. His interest in gaming began at age three with 'Worms' a turn based combat game. As he grew older, he shifted to Counter Strike: Source and World of Warcraft. However, once he installed the beta version of LoL, he fell in love with it completely and quit Counter Strike and World of Warcraft. Wickd's skills include a strong laning phase and his prowess while leading his team.

Bio

Name - Mike Petersen

Gaming Alias - Wickd

Age - 17

Nationality - Denmark

Favorite Champion - Riven or Irelia

Role - Bruiser/Tank, top lane

Peter 'Yellowpete' Wüppen - Yellowpete started off with Age of Empires, a real time strategy game and eventually shifted to Counter Strike, Warcraft and DotA. One of his friends introduced him to League of Legends. As the game evolved, Yellowpete's skills also improved and he came to be known as one of the top tier gamers. Strong mechanical skills and a positive attitude is what sets this gamer apart. He is known to create new strategies and has good in-game communication.

Bio

Name - Peter Wüppen

Gaming Alias - Yellowpete

Age - 22

Nationality - Germany

Favorite Champion - Kog'Maw

Role - AD Carry

Mitch 'Krepo' Voorspoels - Krepo began gaming on consoles and finally shifted to gaming on PCs with Warcraft 3. After a while, he switched to DotA, which ultimately resulted in him playing League of Legends. He spent time working at his skills and improving his rank using Anivia, the champion he is known most for. His enjoyment of the game led him to take gaming to the professional level, which led him to join CLG.

Bio

Name - Mitch Voorspoels

Gaming Alias - Krepo

Age - 21

Nationality - Belgium

Favorite Champion - Janna or Sona

Role - Support, bottom lane

Henrik 'Froggen' Hansen - Froggen played video games like Warcraft 3 and Counter Strike for around 12 years, when he was introduced to LoL by his brother. He realized that taking up gaming professionally with League of Legends was an actual possibility. His competitive drive and his desire to become the best AP Carry has landed him right among the world's major players in professional gaming. His laning dominance and skill shots are what set him apart.

Bio

Name - Henrik Hansen

Gaming Alias - Froggen

Age - 17

Nationality - Denmark

Favorite Champion - Anivia

Role - AP Carry, middle lane

Stephen 'Snoopeh' Ellis - Snoopeh first ventured into PC gaming at age six, with Age of Empires. Playing games like Counter Strike 1.6 and Eve Online made him see competitive play as an actual possibility. His move to LoL was triggered when he began searching for new games after Battlefield Heroes, a free to play game went out. He took a liking to the game and today he stands among the top professional gamers. As a jungler, Snoopeh is well known for his acute map awareness, strong counter-jungling attacks and effective ganks.

Bio

Name - Stephen Ellis

Gaming Alias - Snoopeh

Age - 20

Nationality - Scotland

Favorite Champion - Amumu

Role - Jungler

Counter Logic Gaming Announces Scrimmages

On January 30, George 'HotshotGG' Georgallidis announced CLG vs. CLG EU scrims on Counter Logic Gaming's official website. The scrimmages are to take place twice a week and can be seen on their stream at http://clgaming.net/livestreams.

This is what HotshotGG said -

"You all asked for it and we are making it happen. Counter Logic Gaming will be holding internal scrims twice a week, every week (as long as there are no time conflicts)." (Source - CLG)

The scrim schedule between the CLG NA and CLG EU is as follows -

Tuesday: 11am-1pm PST

Thursday: 11am-1pm PST

Counter Logic Gaming: Recent Team Achievements

Here are the latest achievements of the Counter Logic Gaming team -

CLG the Kings of Europe

The Counter Logic Gaming EU lineup recently won the Kings of Europe League of Legends tournament hosted by Ogaming, by defeating Moscow 5. Moscow 5 had earlier won the IEM Kiev, with just one map loss in the entire tournament. The tournament's live streams had over 50,000 concurrent viewers including both International (English) and French live streams.

The Kings of Europe online League of Legends tournament had eight of the best European teams fighting for US$ 3,250. It was a Bo1 Groupstage tournament with two groups and a single playoff elimination tree. CLG EU came in undefeated through Group B, defeating Mistral 2:0, while Moscow 5 came in through Group A defeating Sypher (2:1). The final game of the tournament featured three games.

The first game was won by CLG EU after they destroyed Moscow 5's counterjungling tactics, making them lose every time during the jungle fights The second game seemed to be going in pretty much the same direction, with Moscow 5 picking Urgot and Twisted Fate, while CLG EU picked Ahri. While Ahri turned out to be a good pick for CLG EU against Twisted Fate, it was Urgot and Shyvana who made it hard for CLG EU to get a win. Moscow 5 went on to make a huge comeback in the 49th minute, thereby winning the second game. However, even after the loss of the second game, CLG EU seemed to keep its cool and went on to defend their base and win the fights, finally taking the third game from Moscow 5 and winning the tournament 2:1.

CLG EU views its ability to disengage at the right time as one of the most important factors that got them the Kings of Europe title. Support player Mitch 'Krepo' Voorspoels explains it as "Use all CC, kill one with it, reset fight". (Source - CLG Forums)

CLG Team of the Year 2011

Counter Logic Gaming was announced as the 2011 Razer Team of the Year. While usually CLG has to do something to come out as a winner, all they needed to do to win the 2011 Razer Team of the Year was to get fans to vote for them. With the popularity they have gained that wouldn't have been much of a trouble for CLG and that's exactly what the results show. Counter Logic Gaming now gets to have the CLG logo on limited edition Razer mice. While the mouse design on which the logo is to be placed is still to be decided, HotshotGG in his post on the CLG website said, "we are leaning towards the Deathadder or the Mamba". (Source - CLG Forums)

Counter Logic Gaming: Major Achievements

Here is a list of the major achievements related to Counter Logic Gaming -

World Cyber Games 2010 - 1st place winning $6,000

Alienware Extreme PvP - 1st place winning $750

Newegg Winter Wanfest - 1st place winning $3,500

Dreamhack Season 1 Finals - 5th-6th

NESL Premiere League Season 1 Finals - 1st place winning $2,400

IEM Cologne - 1st place winning $12,000

MLG Raleigh - 1st place winning $12,500

IEM Guangzhou - 2nd place winning $6,000

IGN Pro League - 3rd place

IEM New York - 4th place winning $2,400

World Cyber Games 2011 - 3rd (with a modified all Canadian team) winning $3,000

NESL Premiere League Season 2 Finals - 1st place winning $2,400

That is quite the list! CLG has over $50,000 USD in tournament winnings. Counter Logic Gaming have released a trailer to their upcoming documentary watch it below: