CLG Moves Bigfatjiji to the Bench, Link in as Starting Mid - Why CLG's Roster Moves Need to Stop

CLG continues to tinker with their roster, and following a disappointing loss to Pulse in the IEM Sao Paolo qualifier, Bigfatjiji announced he would no longer start for the team. Their substitute, Link, will come in as the new starting AP Mid player, and Jiji hinted in his announcement that he could take over as the team coach but he will certainly still be involved with the team.

Jiji's post on Facebook was a pretty frank post about how he felt, and what he went through in recent months with the team. In short, he felt his teammates confidence in him was waning, and the arguments amongst the team were increasing to a point that eventually boiled over for him.

Curse of Elementz?

CLG has made roster moves at the drop of hat ever since shuffling their roster around in late 2011 that resulted in Elementz benching. Including that move, they have gone through 5 different members on the team in a starting position, and their other players have shifted positions. They have also not won a LAN tournament since MLG Raleigh in 2011 (before the Elementz benching). Roster moves can improve your team, and the rest of the world has certainly gotten better since CLG dominated the scene during its origin, but if they doesn't fix their other issues it will be a long Season for them that could even see them relegated.

This harkens back to the days of the Curse of Bambino in baseball. Babe Ruth was famously sold from the Boston Red Sox to the rival New York Yankees and suffered some truly excruciating losses. The Red Sox had been one of the most successful teams prior to selling of Ruth winning 5 championships, but didn't win one for 86 years after. Elementz could have put some Canadian black magic on the team following his departure, but the real evidence of CLG's shortcomings are far more tangible.

Nothing is out of the question for how far a team can fall, especially one that can't get along. Team chemistry matters, we've learned that time and time again over the course of all sports. Being able to band together and work as one unit can mask so many individual flaws, whereas teams that don't believe in each other end up amplifying the faults in themselves and their teammates. Changing a roster with the frequency that CLG has been can only make a team worse. Hopefully, for their sake, this will be the last move they need to make to their starting lineup for awhile.

Another Fresh Start

The new AP mid player for CLG has plenty of talent. Link was CLG.Black's AP and is known for being a good player with a great mind for the game. CLG has never been short on talent, and he will get an opportunity that he assuredly deserves. Hopefully, the team will be able to get past its shortcomings and realize that things go wrong in games, especially when the team isn't playing well and it isn't healthy to blame but simply to learn.

CLG has always been a team that is quick to fall apart and be at each others throats as soon as things start going wrong in games, and on stream on countless occasions viewers could hear them arguing about the same plays that went wrong for half an hour or more. Their practice schedule is often erratic, and but they have time to fix it. Season 3 starts in about 3 weeks time and CLG has the talent to compete with any of the teams who qualify. The lingering question will always be: can they overcome their individual egos to become a cohesive sharp unit?

So RoG'ers what do you think of CLG's newest roster move? Was it the right call and will it help the team improve or was it a step in the wrong direction? How will CLG fare in Season 3 with their new starting lineup? Let us know in the comment section and be sure to stay tuned to RoG for all your LoL-related needs!

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Comments

  • Grimezs's avatar
    Caster Minion
    • Posts: 36
    #40 Grimezs Posted 1/16/2013 12:38:14 PM

    Meanwhile in Europe Moscow 5 and CLG.EU have had the same rosta since day 1. Dominating the US teams yo, just call us Europe.

    Fnatic had some rosta changes but you can't say they didn't give Shusei all the chances in the world.

    Nyjacky being the best AP mid in Europe, I didn't realise it was that lacking in talent in US *giggles*. As if Nyjacky even stands a chance against Alex.Ich, Froggen and xPeke. I thought US lacked talent when it came to toplaners and junglers, didn't realse their AP mid situation was so dire as well.

    I do think that US botlanes are some of the best in the world so kudos for that.

  • Jielhar's avatar
    Caster Minion
    • Posts: 21
    #41 Jielhar Posted 1/17/2013 7:46:55 AM

    Europe is known for their AP mids, just like Korea is known for their toplaners; saying that the US is greatly lacking in talent for having worse AP mids than Europe is equally valid as saying that Europe is greatly lacking in talent for having worse toplaners than Korea (both statements are a little silly).

    That said, top European teams have been performing better than top US teams lately, there's no way around that- CLG aside, top US teams' performance has been embarrassing, and even CLG only looks competitive, not championship-caliber.

  • jeffthegoat's avatar
    Melee Minion
    • Posts: 9
    #35 jeffthegoat Posted 1/16/2013 8:48:12 AM

    Jiji is not a bad mechanical player, but his style does not fit the game anymore. Farming 300+ creeps on an AP mid and not getting their mid tower until 25 minutes in is not a strong way to preform anymore. Mid needs to be aggressive and mobile. Mid needs to be assisting in lane at ten minutes in, shoving towers, and developing dragon fights. Passive play was Jiji's style, and it will not work in the current meta.

    Is Hotshot an ego-driven manager who makes poor calls for his team's roster regularly? Yes. He would have been much better off switching out Jiji instead of Voyboy after finals. But none of that will matter. Jiji did need to exit his starting position if CLG wants to compete in Season 3. It isn't that he is a bad player, just not up with the times.

    This is one time I will agree with the CLG roster change. Even so, bench Hotshot!

  • exacerberus's avatar
    Turret
    • Posts: 967
    #33 exacerberus Posted 1/16/2013 2:27:17 AM

    To be honest Bigfatjiji is a bit too passive in the lane, and as addicted to farming as Scarra. He's still a very solid player, if CLG sucks this is definitely not just his fault, just overall poor team performance and communication issues (plus stupid and ineffective cheesy tactics).

    Anyway, anything that may harm ThrowShotGG's ego is welcome, even a 50 meter large meteor would be totally fine.

    Mongol General: Conan! What is best in life?

    Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.

    Mongol General: That is good! That is good.

    - Conan the Barbarian -

  • Starfols's avatar
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    • Posts: 118
    #32 Starfols Posted 1/15/2013 10:57:14 PM

    "Canadian black magic"

    This had me rolling. Well played.

  • dumbitdownjr's avatar
    Cannon minion
    • Posts: 53
    #28 dumbitdownjr Posted 1/15/2013 6:45:55 PM
    Bench hotshot.
  • K0stra's avatar
    Golem
    • Posts: 236
    #30 K0stra Posted 1/15/2013 10:08:04 PM

    They won´t. They are COUNTER logic gaming.

     

  • dumbitdownjr's avatar
    Cannon minion
    • Posts: 53
    #27 dumbitdownjr Posted 1/15/2013 6:26:01 PM
    Bench hotshot.
  • IconX's avatar
    Caster Minion
    • Posts: 37
    #25 IconX Posted 1/15/2013 6:23:07 PM

    Just as a reminder, here's what the LoL landscape looked like on March 13th, 2012 (i.e. the day Dyrus replaced TRM):

    CLG: T HotShot, J Saint, AP BigFat, S Chauster, AD DoubleLift

    Dig: T Voyboy, J IWD, AP scarra, S L0cust, AD imaqtpie

    Crs: T Pobelter, J Crumbzz, AP Jacky, S Elementz, AD Cop

    Now... the multitude of changes:

    CLG: 7 roster and/or role changes: J Saint -> J HotShot, T HotShot -> T Voyboy. T Voyboy -> T HotShot, J HotShot -> J Chauster, S Chauster -> S LocoDoco. S LocoDoco -> S AphroMoo. AP BigFat -> AP Link

    Dig: 4 roster and/or role changes: T Voyboy -> T Crumbzz. S L0cust -> S Patoy. T Crumbzz -> T KiwiKid, J IWD -> J Crumbzz.

    Crs: 6 roster and/or role changes: J Crumbzz -> J Saint. T Pobelter -> T Westrice. T Westrice -> T Salce. T Salce -> T Voyboy. S Elementz -> S Rhux. S Rhux -> S Elementz. (I personally don't include these last 2 changes as actual swaps. I never felt as though Elementz was "benched" as much as it was "let's give Rhux a try and maybe we'll keep him as a sub for Season 3"... thankfully my theory was correct).

    Meanwhile, TSM has maintained the same roster for over 10 months now. How have they done in the NA scene? Well, let's just say that no North American team has knocked TSM out of a LAN event since Dyrus joined. So for all their struggles against teams from Korea, until a North American team actually beats TSM at a LAN, I still have to rank them as current #1 NA.

    TL;DR There's something to be said for consistency.

    Last edited by IconX on 1/15/2013 6:23:59 PM
  • IconX's avatar
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    • Posts: 37
    #26 IconX Posted 1/15/2013 6:24:07 PM

    And just for fun, since 3/13/12:

    Good Game University has gone through 2 name changes (Dynamic, and the original Monomaniac eSports)...

    FeaR has gone through 2 name changes (mMe Ferus, and mTw; and if you want to go back just one month prior to that, APictureOfAGoose in Feb '12)

    "Cloud 9" has gone through 2 official name changes (Official: Quantic, Orbit. Unofficial: RedditNation, Team NomNom)

  • ohGr's avatar
    Ancient Golem
    • Posts: 290
    #29 ohGr Posted 1/15/2013 7:01:37 PM

    TSM's problem against Korean teams also seems to stem from their unwillingness to use certain champs. It's been mentioned in their streams and on their site a few times that there are champs that the just harass each other out of using, like OddOne almost never playing Lee Sin, despite being very strong. Same goes for never letting Dyrus practice Singed, even though it's one of his best champs.

    I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to.

  • IconX's avatar
    Caster Minion
    • Posts: 37
    #31 IconX Posted 1/15/2013 10:50:17 PM

    Don't forget chiding TRM for using Teemo

  • Jielhar's avatar
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    • Posts: 21
    #34 Jielhar Posted 1/16/2013 8:30:38 AM

    Based on what we saw during the S2 World Championship, CLG looks like the only NA team that has a fighting chance against the best European and Korean teams; TSM looked less like a contender and more like a bump in the road.

  • jeffthegoat's avatar
    Melee Minion
    • Posts: 9
    #36 jeffthegoat Posted 1/16/2013 8:51:40 AM

    TSM has a team wide problem that affects Hotshot on CLG. They don't take the game seriously. They can make as many blogs as they want claiming to put in the work, but when they had a team manage/coach to make them practice, eat right, get a proper amount of sleep, and not party all the time they were on top of the world. Since they have been on their own, they haven't even been together to play in over a month. Ego has effected TSM bad. That is why Curse is on such a rise. LiQuid actually expects them to preform and makes them do what they should.

     

  • TreeBurrow's avatar
    Vilemaw
    • Posts: 496
    #24 TreeBurrow Posted 1/15/2013 5:47:03 PM

    Most people dislike HotShotGG... I'm proud to say I'm also one of those people who dislikes him...

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