LoL NA Teams S2 Playoffs

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04.10.2012, 20:14 PM

LoL Season 2 Playoffs

As the season two world championship playoffs begin today, it would be a good idea for me to talk about the NA teams that have worked so hard to get a chance to play at a world level to show that they may, or may not be the best. At any rate, these teams have proven over the course of the past year that they have the skills required.

The three teams from the NA region that have qualified to take part are: Counter Logic Gaming.NA, Team SoloMid, and Team Dignitas. Most people will be quite acquainted with these teams, so I'll go over my own personal experience from watching these three teams in the past.

Counter Logic Gaming.NA (CLG Prime)

CLG.NA was the first professional teams that I got to know and recognize. I can't exactly remember when I first heard of them, but it was during the end of the stacking GP10 and the roaming meta. I believe it was a bit before Heart of Gold was nerfed by taking away the armour component. CLG was a force to be reckoned with and a team full of "solo-queue stars".

What drew me to CLG was probably the same as anyone else who was drawn to them: HotshotGG. As this was the time I was getting into streamers, I think it's the only logical course as HSGG was averaging about 12k viewers daily. The other thing that drew me to him was the fact that him and I apparently grew up in the same city (I noticed when there were articles about him in the local newspaper).

Recently, CLG.NA has been competing in Korean tournaments and doing quite well for themselves. A very good improvement over the time when they were just "solo-queue all-stars"; not only do they play well individually, but they have been playing as a team as well.

Current Roster (left to right): Chauster (Support), Bigfatlp (AP Carry), Doublelift (AD Carry), Voyboy (Top), HotshotGG (Middle of photo, Jungle)

Team SoloMid (TSM)

TSM... a team who, as of the past few months, have been in the headlines of everything League of Legends NA related. When I first encountered TSM, I really hated them. Not only were they the main rivals of CLG.NA, but I found them to be abrasive. To be honest, they still are sometimes.

The reason I was drawn to TSM was first Reginald's skills; at the time he was (and still is) a very aggressive AP mid player and he was really good too. Next was TheOddOne; this man is the jungle king, in my mind. After watching his streams, you can tell that he knows about the game and how to read the flow of the game. Lastly, Chaox is what else drew me to the team. I find him to be a very solid AD carry.

Anyone who follows TSM will remember Jonas. After the team moved into their gaming house, their schedules were messed up and you could see that these guys were still young at heart and didn't really know how to take care of themselves properly, in terms of eating and sleeping. Jonas helped the team to turn it around starting at IPL 4. Since then, TSM has been a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention the addition of Dyrus has helped their popularity as well.

Current Roster (left to right): Chaox (AD Carry), Xpecial (Support), TheOddOne (Jungle), Dyrus (Top), Reginald (AP Carry)

Team Dignitas (Dig)

My first encounter with Team Dignitas was back when they were still an independent team by the name of Rock Solid. It was when they took NA by storm by coming into a tournament being the underdogs and taking the entire thing with their unconventional picks. Support Gangplank proved to be effective under their hands, and everyone's favourite is Scarra's Katarina.

What drew me to this team was the initial outburst of their popularity. It was really hard not to be taken in by the bandwagon. What kept me attached to the team was Scarra. This man's personality has made me smile, time and time again. He seems to be a very down to earth person, and many people wait to see him stream again. Scarra talks a lot while streaming, but it's not for nothing. People like to watch him stream because he lets us in on his thoughts and why he does what he does, and why he buys certain items.

Though Team Dignitas' popularity has died down a bit from their initial wins, they still have what it takes to show the world that they can still play well, and that they mean business.