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Redemption Arc

Balance in All Things

Former Glory Days

The Big Leagues

High Highs and Low Lows

Clutch Gaming look to rebuild almost their entire roster after having flashes of brilliance during the Spring Split followed by a tragic Summer Split finish in 9th place and a swift 0-3 against Echo Fox during the Regional Finals. This team didn’t impress much as their Spring Split often consisted of long drawn-out games where it was often decided by a heavy mistake from the enemy team and rarely showed a methodical dismantling of their enemies. Now Clutch Gaming have signed a roster consisting of mostly Korean players and many are unsure if we’ll see a mid-tier or mediocre team.Huni played well in the Spring Split, outclassing many top laners with his Gangplank but with the difficulty of a roster upheaval and the legitimate high level of top laners within the league, he really didn’t have a great presence during Summer Split. Along with this, funnel meta was mostly targeted towards mid, jungle and bot laners being the focus for resources, which also brought Huni out of his element for the majority of the split. With the current lineup of CG, we could see great synergy between their jungler LirA and Huni. Dardoch performed well to play towards top lane when he could during Spring Split on Echo Fox, but the meta forced many junglers to start playing towards mid. Huni is a primary carry in CG and has to get things rolling along with Piglet, but hopefully he’s more willing to play tanks to cater towards Piglet’s playstyle of traditional teamfight compositions. Huni didn’t have much of a buzz around him towards the end of the year, but this is probably the lowest gamble that CG has made with this roster as he’ll almost certainly be serviceable coming into Season 9.LirA didn’t have the greatest of splits last year. He couldn’t coordinate well with Febiven, would often do nothing with his bot lane’s pressure and the team wasn’t particularly great during the late game. For CG to take a chance on him again is a risky move in isolation, but considering he has a top laner that shines exceptionally if given the resources and a mostly Korean roster, CG are willing to give LirA a second chance. LirA has been praised by his peers for his leadership qualities and this may have been his saving grace for retaining his position within CG. If he is able to control Piglet and Huni, this team will be in contention for playoffs. LirA needs to show his early aggression from back when he was on Team EnVyUs and really prove that he’s able to captain a squad full of strong and opinionated individuals.Damonte truly impressed me during the Summer Split although his score line and stats don’t reflect such praise. His performance was serviceable even against some of the best mid laners and while he could use an expansion of his champion pool, the off season is the perfect time to catch up. The biggest fear I have for Damonte in the CG lineup is a lack of synergy with his jungler, but assuming that the language barrier isn’t a thick obstacle, the ability to be molded is something that he has over Febiven. The ego, prestige and notoriety is not present with Damonte (nor is this saying Febiven had this problem) due to being fresh to the scene. It’s all up to this young player if he wants to excel at his position, because he’s certainly shown the talent to become a good mid laner.Piglet has been slaving away in the Academy league after unsuccessfully getting onto a main roster in LCK . Now he’s back in the NA LCS with NA residency, which makes him valuable as an ADC. The problems with Piglet were his abrasiveness in team environments, as was depicted in Team Liquid’s Breaking Point , but given that he’s remained with CG for an entire year, they’ve decided to give him a chance on the main roster. Piglet is known for being one of the best ADCs when it comes to the laning phase, as he frequently challenges the opponent for CS. His most known champions are Vayne, Caitlyn and Ezreal, which shows that he’s mostly a late-game ADC that requires the team to play around him. His playstyle is resource-heavy and that’s one large concern that many fans and analysts have for this CG roster, considering Huni is also resource-heavy. One would say that this is normal in any roster, as you should have two primary lanes to play towards. The big question remains is if he can share the spotlight with Huni whenever the top lane is on a carry champion and not playing tanks. If Piglet has improved functioning with carry top laners, this is the time to prove it. With a respectable player in Huni and the praise Piglet has given to LirA in the past, I don’t think we’ll see the mental collapse from what we’ve seen from Piglet in the past. Once you have a player like Piglet playing without a mental hindrance, you’ll have one of the best ADCs in the entire NA LCS.Rookies have their own positive qualities and charm. Vulcan is coming into the scene relatively fresh, with not much experience under his belt, so it might actually be a good thing when paired with someone like Piglet, a person with a loud personality that wants the game centered on him. He’ll have a massive amount to prove to fans and analysts, as he doesn’t have a long history or brand to pull from in terms of historical gameplay or personality.Clutch Gaming’s roster has serious potential to do good things this season, but they could have difficulties with a meta that doesn’t favor tank tops, both due to Huni being far superior on carries and Piglet playing a traditional front-to-back teamfight style. LirA is also a concern since he had a poor showing in Season 8, but there might be more hope with this roster since he can communicate effectively with two other players, although that’s not to say that was the main reason why the previous roster of CG failed. CG must prove that these risky moves will pay off and there is a reasonable amount of doubt from the community, but the bar isn’t set high for this squad, so a mid-tier showing should be a satisfactory result. ___ Izento has been a writer for the LoL scene since Season 7, and has been playing the game since Season 1. Follow him on Twitter at @ggIzento for more League content. Images courtesy of Lolesports Flickr.