History - Foundation and Evolution

Top 3 achievements in 2012

IPL Face Off: San Francisco Showdown - 2nd place

SoloMid Series - Finals - 1st place

Lone Star Clash 2 - 2nd place

2013 - Curse’s Surge

LCS - Standings

Toplane

Jungle

AP/Midlane

Support

ADC

Curse Academy

Team Curse’s founder and current team manager Steve 'LiQuiD112' Arhancet originally named the squad “Team XXX” until it was sponsored and changed to unRestricted eSports . The team qualified to play at MLG Raleigh in August 2011 and were then offered a sponsorship by Curse, Inc., which they subsequently accepted to become Team Curse . The original roster consisted of LiQuiD112, Chenglong 'Nyjacky' Wang , and 'Jsura' -- but roster changes have been a common and recurring theme throughout the team’s history. Curse placed 4th at Raleigh and solidified their position behind the three main North American teams at the time: Counter Logic Gaming andEpik Gamer.During pre-season 2 they lost to World Elite in the CSN Dawn of Champions Cup 2011. Lapakaa , Doublelift and DontMashMe left at the start of Season 2, but Curse still placed 2nd at the National ESL Premier League Season 2 against Doublelift’s new team, CLG. In the following months, Curse lost players but picked up ex-members of CLG, Elementz and Saintvicious. These additions to their roster would not be immediately impactful, as Curse would struggle in most tournaments apart from NESL Pro Series Season 3 and MLG 2012 Summer Arena finishing 3rd at both events. In early August, Curse earned a promising 2nd spot at the IPL Face Off: San Francisco Showdown, losing to TSM in the grand final. At the end of August in a startling sequence of events, Curse defeated Team Dignitas at the 2012 MLG Pro Circuit Summer Championship but both teams were accused of collusion after playing a “joke/humorous” ARAM in a competitive final and both were disqualified. Prize money was shifted down to third and fourth place, Dynamic and Orbit Gaming winning $20,000 and $12,000 respectively.In September, Curse suffered a disheartening 4th place finish behind CLG at the Season 2 North American Regional Finals which forced them to qualify through a lengthy process to earn a spot in Season 3. Curse would subsequently win two Solomid Series (week 4 and 5) with Rhux temporarily replacing Elementz as support. In November 2012 at the Lone Star Clash 2, Curse achieved a promising 2nd finish, after losing a tight series to CLG.EU. In December, Curse continued to demonstrate their dominance in Solomid tournaments by taking first over Team NomNom in the Solomid Series Finals.After a break over the holidays, competitive play resumed with Curse travelling across the globe to compete in Katowice for the fourth tournament of the IEM Season VII. They had a disappointing finish, not making it out of the group stage, but Curse took the loss in stride and began training on a more strict and regimented schedule which produced an impressive victory in the Season 3 North American Qualifier for League Championship Series. They dominated the tournament and joined fellow teams Vulcun (FeaR), compLexity Gaming (The Brunch Club), and MRN in qualifying to compete against the pre-qualified teams Dignitas, TSM Snapdragon and CLG for the Season 3 Championship Series. At the start of February Curse technically beat Dignitas in the NESL Pro Series Season 5 to take first place, after Dig forfeited due to technical difficulties.Curse currently sits with a 3-0 record, first place, in the LCS standings after the opening week of play. They are the only undefeated team after besting Dignitas, CLG and GGU. Curse looked dominant in the initial week of matches, which included from a nail-bitingly close finish against GGU. Curse has two games lined up for week two against compLexity and Vulcun. With the 3 game win streak on the line, all eyes have turned toward Curse and with good reason. Their lineup is looking strategically sound, cohesive and revitalized. Here is a closer look at the individual players on the roster.Voyboy is arguably the top performer for Curse Gaming. He got his start on Rock Solid, the predecessor to Dignitas. Alongside the likes of Jatt and Scarra, he honed his skills in the top lane. Voyboy claims to have scored 2300 on the SAT, which is an extremely outstanding feat. His ingenuity and excellence in toplane often makes a strong argument in regard to his intelligence, as does his eloquent, well-explained, educational and entertaining livestream . Voyboy has been a consistent occupant of the highest echelons of LoL solo queue ladders and after an impressive stint with Dig, moved to another distinguished team: CLG Prime. Voyboy’s move to CLG coincided with Saintvicious leaving; Voyboy occupied toplane and George 'HotshotGG' Georgallidis shifted to a jungling role(only for a short time, however). Voyboy’s first major tournament win was at MLG Raleigh in 2011, taking first place with CLG as a sub. In the end and in true Counter-Logic fashion, Voyboy was released and moved to Curse -- a transition that Saint and Elementz had done previously. Voyboy has been on Curse since the end of October 2012 and technically qualified for Season 3 Championship Series twice with Curse and CLG. Although Voyboy has won numerous tournaments with Dignitas and Curse, he never managed to win one as a full member of CLG. However, CLG did manage to take 3rd place against Curse in the Season 2 NA Regionals, which forced Curse into battling for their spot in Season 3. Somewhat comically, Voyboy then played a major role in helping the Curse team earn a spot in Season 3 LCS in 2013.A notorious jungler in the North American scene, Saintvicious has been a gamer for most of his life. His interests include "women, alcohol, and gaming" on his facebook page and would frequently get drunk on stream in the past. He was a member of the US Navy and made a splash on the LoL scene in a big way by joining TSM as one of the founding members. Early in 2011, Saint made the move to another League of Legends powerhouse, CLG. He was on the roster for a bit over a year and the team had some spectacular performances. A major victory came at IEM Gamescom against TSM and at MLG Raleigh alongside a young substitute, Voyboy. For the 2011 World Cyber Games, Brandon represented Team America as “Chicks Dig Elo” (Saint, Steve 'Chauster' Chau and Alex 'Xpecial' Chu ) which he regards as the best team he’s ever played for, they placed first in the event. Saint then moved to Curse gaming after the CLG shakeup in May 2012. Curse had some minor success in Season 2 but didn’t reach their full potential. More recently, as captain of Curse, they have been on a hot streak to start Season 3 and he has been a leading force of the invigorated and dynamic squad. Saintvicious brings a massive amount of leadership to any team he is on but is often criticized for his argumentative nature. Perhaps he has just kept some fundamentals learned in the military to deliver a healthy dose of tough love to his fellow players.A remaining member of the original Curse lineup that moved over from unRestricted, Nyjacky is a humorous and light-hearted player. He doesn’t let his easy-going attitude affect his gameplay on Summoner’s Rift however and he is a fearsome lane opponent. Nyjacky originally played on Number One alongside Christian 'TheRainMan' Kahmann and was offered a spot on TSM in the toplane; Jacky turned the offer down which led TRM to join Solomid in lieu. Nyjacky made a transition to the unRestricted then Curse lineup and has been a foundation of the team since it’s formation. He is known for his numerous high-elo smurf accounts, which speaks volumes for his skill as a player. With some help from teammate Saint, he has refined his gameplay and improved his decision-making. Fewer mistakes equates to stronger gameplay and it has contributed to Curse’s success in the LCS so far in Season 3. A somewhat underrated mid, Nyjacky looks to prove himself against the world’s best players in the months to come.For European readers, Cody’s ethnic background is partially Icelandic which explains his last name. Elementz is the only Canadian member of Curse and also the most imposing figure on the roster, he was even able to finish the Capri challenge . Cody goes from a commanding role in real life to an often diminutive and overlooked role in game, as the support. Elementz is another member of Curse to have transitioned from CLG, but he got his start as a substitute for team All or Nothing. It has been a running joke that Elementz (and Saint, Voyboy) went from the CLG bench to find a home with Curse. The "benched" joke continued as Elementz was briefly replaced by Rhux in November 2012, although he resumed his starting position in early December. Elementz has been focusing on improving his gameplay under the close eye of the ever-critical( link relevant!) Saintvicious and has been developing a tremendous amount of chemistry with Cop in the bot lane. He is known for running unconventional supports such as Nautilus and Fiddlesticks; he is a constant threat but will need to continually prove himself as Season 3 progresses.Cop has perhaps the most varied team history of Curse’s current lineup. His past teams are: Oh God Bears, The Lone Rangers, TeamSF, unRestricted, V8 eSports, and Blight Gaming. Cop joined the Curse roster in December 2011 and has been improving at the role ever since. With his recent performances in the LCS he has perhaps reached the elite level of AD carries, at least to North American standards. Cop has very strong mechanics and he generally does not commit many mistakes in lane. Behind Voyboy, Saint, and Nyjacky, Cop is often neglected and overlooked which he will have to use to his advantage throughout the year. Perhaps if Cop has a very successful season, it will lead to a following of enamored women... after all, he does look sharp in a suit At the start of Season 3, Curse made a move to add a "B Squad" to their lineup. A strategy that mimics a tactic which has been proved successful by Korean squads, the academy team offers a consistent scrim partner for the main Curse lineup and makes a place for promising upstarts and allows options for potential subs if necessary.The team features the following players:All the best to Curse in Season 3!Pictures courtesy of: lolpro.com