CLG winning the NALCS spring split and making an appearance at the MSI finals, gave little reason to think these champions would stutter in the summer split. However, with a 3-5 record CLG is much lower in the standings than many expected. Currently a good deal of criticism is being thrown toward CLG and people are trying to figure out where they actually stand as a team. As I thought of the team’s development I started to think about two characters in very different situation, Spongebob and Daniel the Karate Kid. These comparisons may seem a little out there, but let me explain.

In the 1984 Karate Kid (nobody got time for the 2010 remake), our main protagonist Daniel is getting bullied and is taught karate in an unexpected way. He repeats various chores around his teacher Miyagi’s house in a very specific manner. Once Daniel is able to recall the movements in a natural fashion or by muscle memory he goes on to develop more fighting skills. He eventually enters a tournament and against many odds ends up winning.

Spoilers and short synopsis aside, CLG shares a few similarities with this story. After some surprising roster swaps CLG entered the spring split as underdogs and many doubted they could make another successful run to the top. With this new lineup CLG was going to once again reshape the way their team played. They had done this previously when they decided to adopt new strategies and that they would no longer solely feed resources into their ADC Doublelift. Regardless of the challenges ahead of them the team buckled down and played the game their way. CLG would be forging their own level 1 strategies, out rotating, and performing a 1-3-1 to stomp out their opponents. Their way of play led them once again to a NALCS split victory and a running at MSI to brag about. CLG moved beyond old habits and trained to create a new identity. But the identity they have created for themselves seems to have created a blindfold of sorts.

In the episode “Mrs. Puff, You’re Fired”, Spongebob gets a new driving teacher named Sergeant Roderick. Sergeant Roderick has a peculiar teaching method; he believes you should be able to drive the training course blindfolded. Well before you get to drive you must learn to crawl, walk, and run the training course blindfolded. Eventually Spongebob masters the course blindfolded, but unfortunately that is the only thing he masters. Spongebob fails his driving test once more when he is asked to drive the course without the blindfold.

This episode of popped up in my head because CLG are still trying to play the game the way they did it in the spring split. Against teams in the lower half of the standing the 1-3-1 has worked quite well and when they are grouped as a team they perform quite well. Against the upper half of the standings CLG seem constantly lost. CLG’s players have been getting caught out frequently while the rest of the team is not pressuring the map elsewhere. They still try to forge some semblance of split pushing, but continue to falter and appear to have breaks in communication. With a large emphasis of importance on the mid lane this split people have blamed Huhi for CLG’s downfall, but the rest of the team has not helped him in many ways. Without their blindfold, CLG seems frantic in their attempts of winning games. While they try to stick to their own methods CLG’s opponents stack up more advantages by means of Rift Harold and dragon control.

I will not deny that CLG has improved since the start of the split, but as we enter the second half of the split playoffs become a concern. This is not an unbelievable set of circumstances as we have seen TSM make it to playoffs in 6th place last split. CLG is going to need to make a stronger case for itself and demonstrate a propensity to change in the face a drastic meta shifts. If CLG can successfully drive without a blindfold to playoffs they may be able to crane kick their way to victory.

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