CLG runs back entire roster for 2023

Counter Logic Gaming of the League Championship Series (LCS) announced on Nov. 29 that they re-signed their entire "League of Legends" roster of Dhokla-Contractz-Palafox-Luger-Poome, confirming independent journalist Travis Gafford's Nov. 21 prediction.

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Initially, CLG posted a somber tweet thanking its players for their performance in summer, which is typically indicative of a goodbye post, but then followed it up an hour later with a video announcing that the team will keep the same lineup for 2023. In a separate video, the team announced that its players will bootcamp in Korea before the 2023 LCS Spring Split.

CLG finished 5th-6th in the 2022 LCS Championship and exited the lower bracket on a 3-2 reverse sweep by Team Liquid after a close 3-2 loss against Cloud9 in the upper bracket.

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In the solo lanes, 25-year-old Indian toplaner Niship "Dhokla" Doshi and 23-year-old American midlaner Cristian "Palafox" Palafox retain their spots. The players are both North American journeymen; Dhokla has played for the LCS and academy teams of five different NA organizations including CLG, and Palafox has spent two splits each with Golden Guardians Academy, Cloud9 Academy, FlyQuest and now CLG.

In the bot lane, 21-year-old Turkish botlaner Fatih "Luger" Güven and 23-year-old Canadian support Philippe "Poome" Lavoie-Giguere will remain with the team. Luger played in Turkey between 2017 and 2020 and then joined 100 Thieves Academy in 2021 and became known as one of the best players in the league. Poome also came up in the 100T system and has played with Luger in every pro or academy split with the exception of his first in summer 2020.

CLG is expected to retain their head coach, American former pro Thomas "Thinkcard" Slotkin, who joined the team in November 2021. The 30-year-old coached for Cloud9 Challenger, FlyQuest, Echo Fox, Clutch Gaming, Dignitas and Golden Guardians Academy before his current employment.

Featured photo courtesy of the LCS.