Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Smite ''Smite'' is a 2014 free-to-play, third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Hi-Rez Studios for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, and Amazon Luna.Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (CS:GO), '' Super Smash Bros.'', ''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to- ...

'' and '' H1Z1'' teams, and previously included '' Dota 2'', ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games f ...

'', '' Hearthstone'', ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. In June ...

'', ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'', ''

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' is an online tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on December 1, 2015; the game was ...

'', and '' Call of Duty'' teams. The organization was also one of the first in North America to implement a multi-team gaming house, and the current residence is able to house all their major divisions and the management staff on a permanent basis. On July 31, 2017, The Madison Square Garden Company acquired a controlling stake in CLG.

History

Organization

Counter Logic Gaming was founded to compete in ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

'' tournaments by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel in April 2010. In December 2011, Counter Logic Gaming merged with the Absolute Legends organization. Although the two organizations decided to separate a month later, the ex-AbsoluteLegends roster chose to stay with CLG, as Counter Logic Gaming Europe. On February 2, 2012, the organization announced that it had acquired the '' Dota 2'' roster of Swedish team eXperience Gaming. In May of that year, Georgallidis created a CLG ''League of Legends'' B team, known as Counter Logic Gaming Black. On July 2, 2012, HotshotGG stepped down from the position of active CEO of Counter Logic Gaming, citing a wish to focus more on his game-play, and was replaced by his mother, Helen Georgallidis. In October 2012, CLG's ''Dota 2'' team officially disbanded, with most of the players having left weeks before. Less than three months later, in late December, CLG.EU elected not to re-sign their contracts, instead signing with

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', '' Fortn ...

. The organization also disbanded CLG Black, leaving the original League of Legends team as the only roster under the Counter Logic Gaming banner. CEO Helen Georgallidis and COO Robert "CyberBob" Del Papa resigned with these announcements, and Kelby May was promoted to

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

for the organization. Kelby remained at CLG for two years until September 2014, when he stepped down; Matthew "MaTTcom" Marikian was promoted to general manager, while Bryan "bchenN" Chen was hired as the director of finance and operations. On November 10, 2014, Counter Logic Gaming announced that they had acquired the Shoot to Kill (now Final Boss) ''Halo'' roster, including professional ''Halo'' veteran Tom "OGRE 2" Ryan, branded under the name Counter Logic Gaming Halo. In January 2015, the organization also acquired the ex-mouseSpaz ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' roster as CLG.CS, and reestablished the CLG Black brand that same month. On June 14, 2015, the organization expanded into '' Super Smash Bros. Melee,'' picking up Kevin "PewPewU" Toy. On July 7, 2015, the all-female ex-Ubinite roster was announced as CLG Red, a second ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' team, and on August 6, 2015, the organization announced that Devin "Mylixia" Nash had become the new CEO, while HotshotGG became the President/Owner of Counter Logic Gaming. On December 2, 2015, the organization announced that they had expanded into ''Call of Duty'' by acquiring the roster of Denial eSports. On July 31, 2017, Madison Square Garden Company, well known as owners of the NBA team New York Knicks and the NHL team

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

acquired a controlling stake in CLG.

Controversies

Major League Gaming

On November 8, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming was disqualified from the MLG Providence 2011 Qualifiers. Having won their qualification match against RFLXGaming, it transpired that the team had fielded Luis "Lapaka" Perez in place of Ho-jin "Lilac" Jeon. Lapaka was registered as the team leader for AbsoluteLegends, another team in the tournament, and had played in a match between AbsoluteLegends and

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

. MLG ruled that CLG's decision to illegally use Lapaka as a ringer for their match against RFLXGaming warranted disqualification and confiscation of all prize money.

LCS fines and punishments

On August 12, 2014, Riot Games' (Riot) Nick Allen announced that four members of Counter Logic Gaming's ''League of Legends'' team were to be fined US$1,250 for violating the

League of Legends Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional ''League of Legends'' in the United States and Canada. The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided i ...

rule associated with account sharing during their stay in Korea. These same players were also banned from

Ongamenet OGN (formerly known as Ongamenet) is a South Korean pay television channel that specialized in broadcasting video game-related content and esports matches, particularly '' StarCraft'', ''Starcraft II'', ''League of Legends'', and Overwatch. OGN ...

(OGN) and Korean e-Sports Association-owned tournaments for two years. On December 10, 2014, CLG was fined US$10,000 by Riot, after being found guilty of soliciting

Team Dignitas Dignitas, formerly known as Team Dignitas, is a professional esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey, founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell on 9 September 2003 as a merger of two top ''Battlefield 1942'' clans. Dignitas was acquired by the P ...

' William " Scarra" Li without acquiring his current team's approval. Additionally, Scarra was prohibited from serving as CLG's head coach on stage for the first three weeks of the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split. On January 6, 2015, after this first ruling, CLG's management voluntarily revealed a similar violation regarding the recruitment of Darshan "ZionSpartan" Upadhyaya. CLG was fined $2,000 by Riot, while Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng was fined US$2,500 for encouraging the violation. Furthermore, the team was restricted from fielding ZionSpartan for the first week of the 2015 LCS.

Current divisions

''League of Legends''

Original team

Counter Logic Gaming began as a group of ten ''League of Legends'' players in April 2010, originally including

Andy "Reginald" Dinh Andy Dinh (born April 19, 1992), better known as Reginald, is an American entrepreneur and former professional ''League of Legends'' player. He is the founder, owner, and CEO of Team SoloMid (TSM), an esports organization most well known for its ...

, among others, but solidified as a formal five-man roster, made up of "HotshotGG", Michael "bigfatjiji" Tang, Steve "Chauster" Chau, Sam "Kobe24" Hartman-Kenzler, and Cody "Elementz" Sigfusson. The team's first offline accomplishment was a win at

World Cyber Games 2010 The 2010 World Cyber Games (also known as WCG 2010) took place from September 30 to October 3, 2010, in the Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, US. The event hosted 450 competing players from 58 countries competing over prizes worth over ...

, taking the final series against European powerhouse

SK Gaming SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team wo ...

. Shortly afterwards in April 2011, Kobe24 retired from professional gaming, and Brandon "Saintvicious" DiMarco took his place on the team. Shortly afterwards, bigfatjiji was forced to change his name to bigfatlp by Riot Games. In June 2011, CLG attended the Riot Games Season 1 World Championship in Sweden. Despite a loss to

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

, they advanced from the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

, but were knocked out of championship contention by

FnaticMSI Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

, and forced to fight for an eventual fifth-place finish. In August 2011, after a string of domestic victories, CLG participated in their second international LAN tournament, IEM Season VI Cologne. The team defeated Team SoloMid in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

, and claimed victory. In November 2011, after a disappointing domestic run, including disqualification from MLG Providence 2011, CLG benched Elementz, adding Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng to their active roster. However, in order to participate in the nation-locked 2011 World Cyber Games, CLG formed a temporary all-Canadian team. Elementz returned to the roster for the event, and Team Solomid players Shan "Chaox" Huang and Brian "TheOddOne" Wyllie made up the rest of this temporary roster, alongside CLG members bigfatlp and HotshotGG. CLG was beaten by the Polish team in the semifinals, but was able to triumph over French team Millenium in the

third place match A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The tea ...

. After a fairly successful domestic run, including victory in Season 2 of the National ESL Premier League, CLG participated in the

IEM Season VI World Championship The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a series of international esports tournaments held in countries around the world. These Electronic Sports League (ESL) sanctioned events, sponsored by Intel, currently host events in '' Counter-Strike: Global ...

in March 2012. Placing second in the group stage and losing to Russian team Moscow Five in the semifinals, CLG narrowly defeated aAa in the third place match. On March 12, 2012, CLG moved into a temporary gaming house in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

to participate in the 2012 OGN Spring Championship. Having qualified for the playoffs, CLG fell in the first round to eventual champions MiG Blaze, and on April 25, 2012, the team moved back to North America. Citing internal tensions between players Saintvicious, HotshotGG, and Chauster, CLG made a roster change in May 2012, removing Saintvicious, and adding Joedat "Voyboy" Esfahani from

Team Dignitas Dignitas, formerly known as Team Dignitas, is a professional esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey, founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell on 9 September 2003 as a merger of two top ''Battlefield 1942'' clans. Dignitas was acquired by the P ...

. Two days later, the team announced a name change from Counter Logic Gaming to Counter Logic Gaming Prime, to differentiate themselves from the organization's second North American ''League of Legends'' team, Counter Logic Gaming Black. In June 2012, the newly named CLG Prime attended MLG Anaheim 2012, falling to rivals Team SoloMid in the finals. CLG Prime was one of two North American teams to be invited to compete in the 2012 OGN Summer Championship. The team lost in their first group stage game to Counter Logic Gaming Europe. Despite this early loss, they qualified for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

, and were eliminated by Korean team Azubu Frost. Despite no longer competing in Korea, CLG Prime remained the country to practice for the upcoming North American Regional Finals. There, after falling to Team SoloMid and defeating

Team Curse Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired by Curse Inc. i ...

in the third place match, CLG Prime became the last North American team to qualify for the Riot Games Season 2 World Championship. At October's Riot Games Season 2 World Championship, CLG Prime was knocked out in the group stage, taking home a ninth/tenth-place finish and 50,000. Following their disappointing World Championship performance, Voyboy left the team, and former MiG Frost player Yoon-sub "Locodoco" Choi was picked up. On November 29, CLG Prime entered IPL 5. Despite surprisingly strong showings against

Curse EU Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired by Curse Inc. i ...

, FnaticRC, and Moscow Five, the team placed fifth/sixth. After the event, Locodoco expressed in an interview that "coming to America was a mistake", but added that it did not indicate he would be leaving the team. However, on December 4 CLG announced the departure of Locodoco, and on December 28, Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black was announced as their starting support player, while Austin "LiNk" Shin, formerly of CLG Black, joined as a substitute player. The team also dropped the Prime suffix from their name, due to the departure of Counter Logic Gaming Europe and disbanding of Counter Logic Gaming Black. On January 15, 2013, bigfatlp announced that he would be stepping down from the starting roster to a substitute position, citing lack of confidence in his own play, while LiNk stepped up to the starting roster.Tang, Michael (January 15, 2013)
hello peepzorz,...
(in jijispeak) ''facebook.com'';
manisier comments on bigfatlp is now a sub for CLG
(English translation) ''reddit.com.'' Retrieved August 4, 2015 As one of the top three teams from the North American region, CLG auto-qualified for the newly created Riot Games NA League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS), the Spring Split of which began February 27, 2013. Following a

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

placement of fourth with a record of 13–15, the team was knocked into the Summer Promotion Tournament following defeat in the playoffs. CLG won their promotion match against bigfatlp's challenger team, Azure Cats, and was allowed to remain in the 2013 NA LCS for the Summer Split. Following this unsatisfactory split, HotshotGG decided to step down, and Aphromoo left. Bigfatlp rejoined the active roster, and Zachary "Nientonsoh" Malhas was acquired to fill the other vacant position. CLG also announced, on July 24, 2013, that OGN

caster A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved. Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, ...

Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles would be joining CLG as a coach. The Summer Split proved no better for the revamped CLG roster, who ended the regular season in sixth place with a record of 13–15, scraping into playoffs. A loss in their first series against long-time rivals Team SoloMid meant they could no longer qualify for the

Season 3 World Championship The Season 3 World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game ''League of Legends''. It was the third iteration of the ''League of Legends'' World Championship held by Riot Games, and the last ite ...

. The team claimed fifth/sixth place in the playoffs by beating Team Curse, and secured requalification for the next season of the NA LCS. On October 23, Chauster announced his retirement from competitive play, while bigfatlp moved back to a sub position. On November 7 it was announced that Aphromoo and Brian "TrickZ" Ahn would temporarily fill CLG's vacancies for the upcoming Intel Extreme Masters Season VIII Cologne. CLG took fourth at the event, falling in the semifinals to

Fnatic Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

. The organization announced that TrickZ would not remain with the team coming into 2014. Before the start of the 2014 Spring Split, CLG solidified their roster by picking up Marcel "dexter" Feldkamp, formerly of European team Lemondogs, and also offered a permanent roster spot to Aphromoo. In the 2014 NA LCS Spring Split, CLG ended the regular season with the record of 18–10, placing third below rivals

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

and

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

. CLG finished third at playoffs after losing to

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

and defeating

Team Curse Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired by Curse Inc. i ...

. Following this performance, Nientonsoh decided to step down from the starting line up, stating that he was unable to handle the heavy criticism from the public. On May 19, 2014, after considerable speculation, Korean import Wu-Yeong "Seraph" Shin was officially announced as the team's fifth member. With its third-place finish in the Spring, CLG was able to compete in the 2014 NA LCS Summer Split. For five weeks in the mid-season, CLG held first place and peaked at a 13–7 record. However, toward the end of the split their form began to decline, and days before Week 11 of the split began, coach MonteCristo announced that the team would spend a number of weeks " bootcamping" in Korea to prepare for playoffs and a prospective World Championship spot. In the 2014 NA LCS Summer Playoffs, CLG entered with considerable expectations after their stint in South Korea. The team was heavily favored to take their initial series from

Team Curse Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired by Curse Inc. i ...

, but was cleanly beaten, and eliminated from contention for a Riot Games Season 4 World Championship

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

. Following a second loss to Team Dignitas, CLG dropped into the following split's promotion tournament, where they defeated Curse Academy in an extremely close series. Shortly afterwards, on October 13, 2014, dexter announced that he would not renew his contract for the following split. On October 31, 2014, the organization announced that William " Scarra" Li would be joining as the team's head coach, while also announcing that tryouts had begun for all positions. Eight days later, Darshan "ZionSpartan" Upadhyaya was announced as the newest addition to the lineup, replacing Seraph, whose contract the organization had decided not to renew. A month later, in December, it was announced that LiNk would return to the starting lineup for the forthcoming split, alongside Jake "Xmithie" Puchero, formerly of Team Vulcun. On December 19 CLG attended IEM IX Cologne with their new roster, aside from Xmithie, who was unable to attend due to visa issues; the team played with a substitute and finished second, behind

Gambit Gaming Gambit Esports, formerly Gambit Gaming, is a Russian esports organization owned by telecommunications company MTS. It was established in January 2013 after the acquisition of the former ''League of Legends'' roster of Moscow Five. Gambit has ...

. The new roster made a remarkably strong start to the 2015 Spring NA LCS Split, and just missed out on a playoff bye after losing a second-place regular season tiebreaker to Cloud9. Despite looking strong going into the 2015 Spring Playoffs, CLG was once again unable to perform, losing in the quarterfinals to

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team Li ...

, and ended up in fifth place. Shortly after the playoffs ended, Scarra resigned as head coach on April 17, 2015. Less than a month later, LiNk also left, releasing a public statement about his time with CLG, in which he criticized almost every player, as well as the management and the coaching staff. The next day, the organization announced that they had replaced LiNk with two players, Eugene "Pobelter" Park and Jae-hyun "HuHi" Choi, with the plan being to alternate between the two. On May 28, 2015, Chris "Blurred Limes" Ehrenreich was announced as the new head coach of the team, while existing analyst Tony "Zikz" Gray was moved to a new position, Strategic Coach. CLG had their best regular NA LCS split yet in the summer of 2015, finishing in second place with a record of 13–5. Their record gave the team an automatic playoff bye into the semifinals, where they were able to sweep

Team Impulse Team Impulse (TiP) was a professional ''League of Legends'' team that competed in the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS). The team was previously known as LMQ and was founded as a sister team to Royal Club that compet ...

, matching CLG against rivals Team SoloMid in their first NA LCS final. In the final, Counter Logic Gaming swept their long-term rivals, and became NA LCS champions for the first time, while Doublelift won the first LAN event of his five-year career. The team also secured the first North American seed to the

2015 League of Legends World Championship The 2015 ''League of Legends'' World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game '' League of Legends''. It was the fifth iteration of the ''League of Legends'' World Championship, an annual internat ...

. Although they were drawn into what was considered to be the easiest group, CLG finished below

Flash Wolves The Flash Wolves ( zh, t=閃電狼, p=Shǎndiàn Láng) are a Taiwanese esports organization with players competing in ''Arena of Valor'', '' Hearthstone'', and '' League of Legends: Wild Rift''. They formerly had teams competing in ''League of ...

and KOO Tigers, and so failed to progress to the tournament's knockout stage. Despite having their most successful NA LCS season, the organization made large changes to the championship winning roster. On October 23, 2015, it was announced that HuHi would be stepping up to the active roster, having fulfilled the role of a sub for the entirely of the previous split, while Pobelter left the team shortly afterwards. On October 28, it was announced that Blurred Limes had been released from the organization, with "a breach of trust" cited as the mean reason behind the decision. On October 31, it was announced that Doublelift had been released after four years of being involved with the organization. Attitude problems and conflict within the team were cited as the main motivators. Doublelift was announced as the newest member of Team SoloMid shortly afterwards. On November 11, 2015, former analyst and strategic coach Zikz was announced as CLG's new head coach, and on November 20, 2015, the organization announced that Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes, formerly of CLG Black, would be the fifth player for the team at IEM San Jose, although he was not announced as the starter for 2016. At the tournament, CLG would beat out both Unicorns of Love and

Jin Air Green Wings Jin Air Green Wings () is a South Korean e-sports organization with teams competing in ''StarCraft II'' and ''League of Legends''. Its parent organization is Korean Air subsidiary Jin Air. The organization was formed in November 2011 as a ''StarCr ...

2-0, before falling to

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theo ...

in the final, marking the first time a North American team had beaten a Korean team in a

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

. On April 17, 2016, CLG won their second consecutive NA LCS championship, defeating longtime rivals Team Solomid 3–2 in the grand finals. With the 2016 NA LCS Summer Playoffs coming to a close,

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

swept CLG in the semifinals 3–0. This however sent CLG to play

Immortals Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...

at the

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Ra ...

(Toronto, Canada) in the coveted 3rd place match, with crucial circuit points at stake. On August 27, 2016, CLG fell to IMT in 5 games to place 4th overall during the 2016 Summer Playoffs. With a TSM Victory over

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

on August 28, 2016, CLG auto-qualified (off circuit points) as North America's 2nd seed at the 2016 League of Legends World Championships.

CLG.EU

On December 20, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming and European organization Absolute Legends announced a merger. The roster of Mike "Wickd" Petersen, Stephen "Snoopeh" Ellis, Henrik "Froggen" Hansen, Peter "Yellowpete" Wüppen, and Mitch "Krepo" Voorspoels became Counter Logic Gaming Europe. A month later, on January 30, 2012, the two organizations decided to separate, but the European roster elected to stay under the Counter Logic Gaming brand. The team's first challenge would be in the Kings of Europe online tournament, placing first after defeating Russian juggernauts Moscow Five in the final. The team experienced immense regional success over the next few months, consistently beating top European teams FnaticRC, Moscow Five, against All authority, and

SK Gaming SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team wo ...

, and winning several tournaments, including the Corsair Vengeance Cup, In2LOL Kickoff EU, and Absolute Pro League March. On June 10, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming Europe flew to

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

to participate in the 2012 MLG Spring Championships. Beaten out of the Winners Bracket by

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

, CLG.EU defeated both Team Curse EU and

Orbit Gaming Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

to advance to round six of the Losers Bracket, where they fell to Counter Logic Gaming Prime, going home with a fifth/sixth-place finish. After only six days of rest, the team flew out to Jönköping, Sweden to participate in DreamHack Summer 2012. In the group stage, CLG.EU placed first, defeating Moscow Five, Absolute Legends, and Mebdi's Minions, and then defeated FnaticRC to advance to the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

. There, CLG.EU defeated Moscow Five once again in dominating fashion, securing their first major offline title. After a successful year in the European Challenger Circuit, accruing a large number of circuit points, Counter Logic Gaming Europe was one of eight European teams to qualify for the Riot Season 2 European Regionals in August 2012, and flew out to Germany to compete for a spot at the Riot Games Season 2 World Championship. Despite being the heavy favorites coming into the event, CLG.EU fell to SK Gaming, dropping down in the bracket to play for the final worlds

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

against

Fnatic Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

. The team took a clean victory, and secured themselves a spot in the Season 2 World Championship. Later that month Counter Logic Gaming EU was one of two European teams invited to attend the 2012 OGN Summer Championship. The team went undefeated in group play, going 3–0 against CLG Prime, LG-IM, and MVP Blue. CLG.EU defeated World Elite in the quarterfinals and NaJin Sword in the semifinals. Matched up against Azubu Frost in the final series of the tournament, CLG.EU almost took victory before losing three games in a row, and was only able to take home second place. Counter Logic Gaming EU traveled to Los Angeles in October 2012 to compete in the Riot Games Season 2 World Championship. In the group stage, CLG.EU looked dominant while taking games off of

Team Dignitas Dignitas, formerly known as Team Dignitas, is a professional esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey, founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell on 9 September 2003 as a merger of two top ''Battlefield 1942'' clans. Dignitas was acquired by the P ...

and Saigon Jokers. Advancing out of Group B as the second seed, the team faced World Elite in the round of eight. This match was marred by technical issues and had to be postponed due to power failures and connection problems. In the deciding third game, CLG.EU were finally able to secure victory. The team maintained their form through the first game of their semifinal against Azubu Frost, but were outmatched in games two and three, losing out overall. They finished in third/fourth place and were awarded prize money of $150,000. On November 29, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming EU attended IPL 5 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, and began the tournament with a winning streak against North American teams CLG Prime, Team FeaR, and

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

. The eventual winners of the tournament, World Elite, pushed CLG.EU into the Losers Bracket, where they faced Season 2 World Champions,

Taipei Assassins J Team is a Taiwanese professional esports organization owned by JY Entertainment with players competing in ''League of Legends'' and ''StarCraft II''. Its ''League of Legends'' team competes in the Pacific Championship Series, the highest l ...

, who beat the Europeans and eliminated them from the tournament, leaving them with a disappointing final placement of fifth/sixth. In December 2012, just before the new year, CLG.EU decided not to renew their contract, and parted ways with the Counter Logic Gaming organization. On January 25, 2013, the team announced that they had joined

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', '' Fortn ...

.

CLG Black

On April 30, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming announced that it was looking for players to form a ''League of Legends'' B team. The roster for this team, Counter Logic Gaming Black, was finalized on May 12, 2012, made up of Devon "Hoodstomp" Mark and Austin "LiNk" Shin of

Orbit Gaming Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

, Lyubomir "Bloodwater" Spasov of , Christopher "Zuna" Buechter of , and Benny "Sycho Sid" Hung. After strong showings in various online events, CLG Black attended their first offline tournament, the GIGABYTE Esports LAN on June 15, 2012. Despite a loss to

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

in the group stages, strong showings against Team Green Forest and

Team Curse Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired by Curse Inc. i ...

allowed the team to advance to the playoffs. There, after reaching the finals, CLG Black lost to

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid (TSM) is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in ''League of Legends'', ''Dota 2'', '' Apex Legends'', '' Valorant'' ...

once again, taking second place. On July 14, 2012, CLG Black participated in Leaguecraft ggClassic #2. Having advanced to the playoffs, they defeated Curse Gaming, but lost to Team Dynamic, dropping into the Losers Bracket. The team fought through the Losers Bracket, and faced Team Dynamic in the finals, losing once again, and finishing second. On August 25, 2012, after a second round loss to

Team Dignitas Dignitas, formerly known as Team Dignitas, is a professional esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey, founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell on 9 September 2003 as a merger of two top ''Battlefield 1942'' clans. Dignitas was acquired by the P ...

, Counter Logic Gaming Black faced Team Dynamic once more in the quarterfinals of the 2012 MLG Summer Championship, using Jason "WildTurtle" Tran in place of LiNk, who was unable to attend, and were beaten. This was the last major tournament for this short-lived CLG Black lineup; Hoodstomp announced his retirement on October 16, and on December 28, 2012, CLG Black officially disbanded. Bloodwater, Zuna, and Sycho Sid went on to play for Team Vulcun, while LiNk was moved up to the Counter Logic Gaming Prime roster, eventually replacing Michael "bigfatlp" Tang. In January 2015, CLG formed a new secondary ''League of Legends'' team, under the moniker CLG Black, made up of Jonathan "Westrice" Nguyen, Thomas "Thinkcard" Slotkin, Brandon "Easy" Doyle, Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes, and Kenny "I KeNNy u" Nguyen. The team defeated Rock Bottom Gorillas and Team Liquid Academy In the North American Challenger Series Spring Qualifier, successfully qualifying for the Spring Split of the Riot Games NA Challenger Series, the second tier of professional ''League of Legends'' in North America. Westrice announced his retirement from professional play on February 24, 2015, before the start of the split, and was replaced by Samson "Lourlo" Jackson. After placing last in Spring, CLG Black was forced to participate in the qualifier for the Summer Split. William "Scarra" Li replaced Easy in the

off-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, playing his first official match on June 3, 2015. After winning the first game of the qualifier, "Stixxay" was banned by Riot Games for two weeks due to his in-game behavior. Counter Logic Gaming Black lost both subsequent games, using Parsa "Frost" Baghai as a substitute, and so failed to qualify for the following North American Challenger Series Summer Split. On November 5, 2015, it was announced that CLG Black was once again recruiting, with Thinkcard as the only returning player. On December 10, Tony "ZIkz" Gray confirmed a final roster of I KeNNy U, Thinkcard, Tyson "Innox" Kapler, Yuri "KEITHMCBRIEF" Jew and Petar "Unlimited" Georgiev in a comment on the /r/CLG

subreddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

. Three days later, the team was knocked out of the 2016 NACS Spring Split Open Qualifier by Team Liquid Academy, once again failing to qualify. The team has since been disbanded.

Current roster

''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive''

CLG.CS

Counter Logic Gaming's potential expansion into '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' was first discussed publicly in a December 2014 interview of George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis, who commented, "We're looking at all avenues. Right now we're really interested in ''CS:GO'' and '' Dota 2'', and hopefully we'll be expanding to those areas very soon." This ambition became reality when, in early 2015, CLG signed the ex-mouseSpaz roster of Tarik "tarik" Celik, James "Hazed" Cobb, Stephen "reltuC" Cutler, Pujan "FNS" Mehta, and Peter "ptr" Gurney as CLG.CS. The team's first major event under the CLG banner was the first of three annual majors,

ESL One Katowice 2015 ESL One Katowice 2015, also known as Katowice 2015, was the fifth '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship, held from March 12 to March 15, 2015 at the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland. It was the first ''CS:GO'' Major of 2015. ...

, where they dropped out in the group stages of the tournament. The team had decent success over the next few months, winning the CEVO Season 6 LAN Finals, and coming in fifth/sixth place at ESEA Global Finals Season 18, losing to European teams

Fnatic Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

and

mousesports Mouz (stylized as MOUZ), formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its '' CS:GO'' team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. ...

. This middling level of success was not enough for the team, and on April 29, 2015, ptr was kicked. On May 8, the organization announced it was actively looking for a new fifth member, and on June 2, Josh "jdm64" Marzano rounded out the squad. The team went on to place fourth regionally in the online stage of ESL ESEA Pro League Season I, and so qualified for the LAN stage of the tournament. After unexpectedly taking out both Fnatic and Keyd Stars in their group, the team made it to the semifinals of the tournament, before being knocked out by

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

. The team qualified for

ESL One Cologne 2015 ESL One Cologne 2015 was the sixth '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship that was held from August 14–18, 2015 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. It was organized by Electronic Sports League. The Cologne event was the first E ...

on August 2, 2015, as one of only two North American teams attending. CLG.CS performed surprisingly well at the event, but close losses against European powerhouses

Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a professional esports organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its '' Counter-Strike'' teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a '' Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' lineup upon the release of the game. As ...

and

Natus Vincere Natus Vincere (Latin for "born to win"), abbreviated NAVI (formerly Na`Vi), is a Ukrainian esports organization based in Kyiv. Founded in 2009, the organization has teams and players competing in various games, such as '' Counter Strike: Global ...

sent them out in the group stages. A string of mediocre domestic results bridged the gap to the last major of the year, DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca, where Counter Logic Gaming was knocked out of their group by Natus Vincere. The remainder of the year brought equally disappointing results for the team, culminating in a last place finish at the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals. Shortly after, on December 15, the organization announced that it was looking for a new fifth member, after FNS decided to step down from the roster. CLG announced Jacob "FugLy" Medina as their new fifth player and Faruk "pita" Pita as their head coach on January 20, 2016. FugLy left the team on March 13, 2016. Kenneth "koosta" Suen replaced jdm64 on June 13, 2016. After ELeague Season 1 on July 14, 2016, Tarik "tarik" Celik and Faruk "pita" Pita departed from the team's active roster. Ethan "nahtE" Arnold and Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik joined the team on August 17, 2016. On November 30, 2017, CLG announced that the organization would be parting with the CS:GO team.

CLG Red

On July 5, 2015, Counter Logic Gaming announced that they had signed the ex-Ubinited roster of Christine "potter" Chi, Diane "di^" Tran, Benita "bENITA" Novshadian, Catherine "CAth" Leroux-Racette, Stephanie "missharvey" Harvey as a second, all-female, ''Counter -Strike: Global Offensive'' team, called CLG Red. Six days later, CLG.CS Red placed first at Electronic Sports World Cup 2015 CSGO Women, beating out Games4u.se Female in the final. Catherine "CAth" Leroux left the team on May 29, 2016. Klaudia "klaudia" Beczkiewicz joined as a player and Erik "da_bears" Stromberg joined as a coach on August 24, 2016.

Current roster

''Super Smash Bros.''

On June 14, 2015, the organization expanded into '' Super Smash Bros.,'' picking up Northern California based ''

Melee A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...

'' player Kevin "PewPewU" Toy. He attended June's CEO 2015 and July's EVO 2015 under the Counter Logic Gaming brand, placing ninth place in the individual categories of each. He also placing third in doubles of the former and first place at EVO. On October 23, 2015, Counter Logic Gaming signed

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

based '' Smash 4'' player Tyrell "NAKAT" Coleman. On December 16, 2015, the organization announced that they had signed PewPewU's friend and doubles partner, North California based ''Melee'' player Zac "SFAT" Cordini, making them among the first established ''Super Smash Bros.'' duos to be signed to the same organization. New Jersey based competitive ''Smash 4'' player and content creator Richard "Keitaro" King Jr. joined Counter Logic Gaming as a video editor on March 9, 2016.

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

based ''Smash 4'' player James "VoiD" Makekau-Tyson joined on June 16, 2016.

Current roster

Former divisions

''Call of Duty''

On December 2, 2015, Counter Logic Gaming announced that they had expanded into ''Call of Duty,'' after buying the roster of Anthony "Methodz" Zinni, Michael "Blfire" Glushenok, Aaron "CMPLX" Vetelino, and Tyler "FeLony" Johnson from Denial eSports. The team's primary goal was participation in Stage 1 of the 2016

Call of Duty World League The Call of Duty World League was a series of ''Call of Duty'' esports tournaments that began in January 2016. At its most recent form, tournaments were played on '' Call of Duty: Black Ops 4'' for PlayStation 4. A total of US$6 million of pr ...

(CWL), to which end they attended the North American Pro Division Offline Qualifier. There, losses to

Team EnVyUs Team Envy was an American esports franchise based in Dallas, Texas, owned by Envy Gaming. Founded in 2007 as a professional ''Call of Duty'' team under the moniker Team EnVyUs, they fielded rosters in '' Counter-Strike, FIFA, Fortnite, Gears ...

and Team Kaliber would force CLG to attempt qualification in a second online stage. The team was one of four to qualify online, and secure a spot in the 2016 CWL.

''Dota 2''

On February 2, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming picked up the unsigned eXperience Gaming roster, made up of Jonathan "Loda" Berg, Joakim "Akke" Akterhall, Jesper "Mirakel" Nyhlén, Per Anders Olsson "Pajkatt" Lille, and Alexander "Pinoy" Pettersson, under the name CLG Dota. On March 2, 2012, exactly a month later, Johan "smulgullig" Gidmark replaced Pinoy after the former acted as a stand-in for the team for minor online events. From March to August, after success in relatively minor online tournaments, CLG Dota's schedule was dominated by various more prolific online tournaments, either of the form of a group stage followed by playoff finals, or of a round-robin tournament. The first of these was Star Ladder Star Series Season 1, running from March 12 to April 29, 2012. Counter Logic Gaming placed third in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

, beating Darer at

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

before losing to both

Natus Vincere Natus Vincere (Latin for "born to win"), abbreviated NAVI (formerly Na`Vi), is a Ukrainian esports organization based in Kyiv. Founded in 2009, the organization has teams and players competing in various games, such as '' Counter Strike: Global ...

and Moscow Five in the Winners Bracket and Losers Bracket Finals, finishing third. The second and third of the tournaments were ProDOTA World League Season 1 and The Premier League Season 2, taking place from April 13 to August 5, and April 17 to July 8, 2012, respectively. In the former, CLG Dota placed third in the European group stage, and beat Orange Esports and Team Infused in the playoffs, before losing to PotM Bottom in both the Winners Bracket and

Grand Finals Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, taking home second. In the latter, which was a round-robin tournament, the team finished second behind Natus Vincere. On May 18, 2012, In the middle of these two tournaments, Loda and smulgulig left the team, and CLG picked up Rasmus "MiSeRy" Filipsen and Dominik "Lacoste" Stipic to replace them. From June 21 to August 12, 2012, after the additions to their roster, CLG Dota took part in The Defense Season 2. CLG finished second in their group behind Quantic Gaming, qualifying for the playoff stage. There they defeated mTw and

mousesports Mouz (stylized as MOUZ), formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its '' CS:GO'' team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. ...

to reach the Winners Bracket Final, where they lost to

compLexity Gaming Complexity Gaming, formerly stylized as compLexity, is an American esports franchise headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The franchise was founded in 2003 by Jason Lake and is co-owned by Lake, real estate investor John Goff, and Dallas Cowboys ...

. The team met mousesports again in the Losers Bracket Final, but was defeated, taking home third place. On September 29, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming was one of fourteen teams invited to attend the 2012 edition of The International, the roster's first and only LAN tournament. The event was run by

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

, the

developer Developer may refer to: Computers * Software developer, a person or organization who develop programs/applications * Video game developer, a person or business involved in video game development, the process of designing and creating games * Web d ...

of ''Dota 2'', and took place at

PAX Prime PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX w ...

in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, with a $1,600,000 prize pool. The team was knocked out of the tournament in the group stage after being beaten by teams including

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', '' Fortn ...

and

LGD Gaming LGD Gaming is a Chinese professional esports organization based in Hangzhou. It is one of the oldest esports organizations in China and currently has players competing in ''Dota 2'', '' Honor of Kings'', ''League of Legends'', ''Overwatch'', and ...

. CLG Dota's placing was ninth to twelfth, and the team returned home with nothing. On October 15, 2012, the organization announced that MiSeRy and Pajkatt were leaving to join LGD.int. No replacements were announced. Later that month, on October 29, Akke also left the team to join No Tidehunter, and Counter Logic Gaming Dota officially disbanded.

''Halo''

On November 10, 2014, Counter Logic Gaming announced that they had acquired Shoot to Kill's ''Halo'' roster, made up of Richard "Heinz" Heinz, ''Halo'' veteran Tom "OGRE2" Ryan, Paul "SnakeBite" Duarte, Gerson "OgrEe" Baum, and Matthew "Royal 2" Fiorante, alongside their coach, Chris "Royal 1" Fiorante. Counter Logic Gaming Halo was picked up before the start of the official

Halo Championship Series ''Halo'' is a military science fiction media franchise, originally developed by Bungie and currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios. The series launched in 2001 with the first-person shooter video ...

(HCS)''.'' After joining the organization, CLG Halo found immediate success, taking successive victories in

ESL English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...

's HCS Pre-Cup Tournaments #1 and #2, beating other top teams including

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', '' Fortn ...

,

OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming is an American professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The organization currently operates a ''Call of Duty'' team in the Call of Duty League, OpTic Texas, they also operate a ''Overwatch ...

, and

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

. Despite being eliminated in the round of sixty four by Evil Geniuses at HCS Season One Cup #1, the team recovered in December 2014 at the first HCS LAN Event: Iron Games Columbus, claiming first place after facing Evil Geniuses once more in the finals, and becoming the first winners of an HCS LAN event. After this strong run, CLG Halo came into HCS S1 Cup #2 as first

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

, but was upset by Denial eSports in the quarterfinals. In January 2015, due to their previous success, the team was able to hold on to their seeding going into the second LAN event of the season: UGC St. Louis. After reaching the Winners Bracket Final, they faced off against Denial, and were again defeated. After defeating Evil Geniuses in the Losers Bracket Final, the team had to face Denial once more in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

, and were once more defeated by them, claiming second. Despite repeatedly failing to win a tournament, CLG's relative consistency netted them the first seed for HCS S1 Cup #3, and the team looked to reassert themselves here. After breezing through the first few rounds, CLG found themselves in the finals against a familiar Denial team. CLG were finally able to overcome their opponents, and won their first official HCS Online Cup on January 11, 2015. On January 25, 2015, CLG was taken out by Cloud9 in the semifinals of HCS S1 Cup #4, netting them another top 4 finish. In each of the next three HCS S1 Cups, #5, #6, and #7, CLG was eliminated by the newly formed Noble Black roster, leading fans to question whether CLG Halo would still perform well at LAN. On February 21, at Gamers For Giving 2015, CLG met Noble Black in round four. Despite their troubles in the online cups, CLG swept their opponents to advance to the next round. After losing a close series against OpTic Gaming, the team was forced into the Losers Bracket, where they beat eLevate, Cloud9, and OpTic to meet Evil Geniuses in the Grand Final. Evil Geniuses took a flawless series against Counter Logic Gaming Halo, and also took the first seed going into the HCS Season One Finals. At the HCS Season One Finals at PAX East, CLG lost to Evil Geniuses in the Winners Bracket Final, before defeating Noble Black in the Losers Bracket Final. Facing Evil Geniuses for a second time in the tournament on March 8, 2015, CLG Halo was again outclassed, ending both the tournament and the season with another second-place finish. On March 13, 2015, Heinz confirmed on Twitter that he had been released. Counter Logic Gaming announced later that day that they had acquired Denial eSports' Scottie "Cloud" Holste to take his place. In April, at the first LAN of HCS Season Two: Iron Games Atlanta 2015, CLG Halo defeated Cloud9, before losing yet another series to Evil Geniuses, and falling into the Losers Bracket. There, CLG was defeated by Winterfox, and claimed fifth place after beating out OpTic Gaming in a consolation match, their first below second placing at an HCS LAN. Following HCS Season Two Cup #1, Ogre2 went on vacation, leaving the team with sub Weston "Clutch" Price to fill his role for the next two cups, in which the team placed top 16 and top 8 respectively. OGRE2's return would not immediately lead to better fortunes for Counter Logic Gaming, as the team finished top 8 in HCS S2 Cup #4. However, on June 7, 2015, they earned their highest placing of the season, finishing third in HCS S2 Cup #5. They repeated this finish in HCS S2 Cup #6, before finishing top 8 in HCS S2 Cup #7, the final cup of the season. Later in June, CLG went into HCS LAN Indianapolis holding fifth seed, and was knocked out of the Winners Bracket relatively early on by Cloud9. Despite an impressive Losers Bracket run, they were beaten in the Grand Final by Evil Geniuses. This second-place finish was enough to secure them the fourth seed going into the HCS Season 2 Finals, which started on July 24, 2015. At the finals, CLG was once again forced into the Losers Bracket, this time by Evil Geniuses. Wins against OpTic Gaming, Cloud9, and Denial eSports took the team into the Grand Final, where they met Evil Geniuses for the last time that season. CLG managed their first and only Season Two victory against Evil Geniuses, but lost the second, deciding series, relegating Counter Logic Gaming Halo to successive second place season finishes. On December 2, 2015, the organization announced the release of Cloud, and the acquisition of Bradley "Frosty" Bergstrom, and on January 28, 2016, it was announced that OGRE2 was being replaced by Tony "Lethxl" Campbell. Later in the year OpTic Gaming acquired the CLG Halo team

References

External links

* {{Professional Halo competition 2010 establishments in the United States Esports teams established in 2010 Esports teams based in the United States Esports teams based in Los Angeles Call of Duty teams Counter-Strike teams Dota teams Halo (franchise) teams League of Legends Championship Series teams Defunct and inactive Overwatch teams Privately held companies of the United States Super Smash Bros. player sponsors Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege teams