Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) was an American esports organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in April 2010 by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel as a League of Legends team and branched out into other games.
CLG fielded the oldest League of Legends team active at the time, having competed in every split of the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) since it began in Spring 2013. CLG won two NA LCS splits, the 2015 Summer NA LCS and 2016 Spring NA LCS. The team also attended the 2012, 2015 and 2016 League of Legends World Championships, and was eliminated in the group stage on each occasion.
The organization also fielded Smite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Super Smash Bros., Fortnite, H1Z1, Valorant, Dota 2, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Rocket League, Halo, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, and Call of Duty teams. The organization was also one of the first in North America to implement a multi-team gaming house, and the current residence is able to house all their major divisions and the management staff on a permanent basis.
On July 31, 2017, Madison Square Garden Sports acquired a controlling stake in CLG.
On April 6, 2023, NRG Esports acquired CLG. The terms of the sale included only CLG's flagship League of Legends team, with all other players and staff being laid off. The CLG brand was officially shuttered post-acquisition. Consequently, Madison Square Garden Sports now owns a major stake in NRG.
History Organization Counter Logic Gaming was founded to compete in League of Legends tournaments by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel in April 2010. In December 2011, Counter Logic Gaming merged with the Absolute Legends organization. Although the two organizations decided to separate a month later, the ex-AbsoluteLegends roster chose to stay with CLG, as Counter Logic Gaming Europe. On February 2, 2012, the organization announced that it had acquired the Dota 2 roster of Swedish team eXperience Gaming. In May of that year, Georgallidis created a CLG League of Legends B team, known as Counter Logic Gaming Black. On July 2, 2012, HotshotGG stepped down from the position of active CEO of Counter Logic Gaming, citing a wish to focus more on his game-play, and was replaced by his mother, Helen Georgallidis.
In October 2012, CLG's Dota 2 team officially disbanded, with most of the players having left weeks before. Less than three months later, in late December, CLG.EU elected not to re-sign their contracts, instead signing with Evil Geniuses. The organization also disbanded CLG Black, leaving the original League of Legends team as the only roster under the Counter Logic Gaming banner. CEO Helen Georgallidis and COO Robert "CyberBob" Del Papa resigned with these announcements, and Kelby May was promoted to general manager for the organization. Kelby remained at CLG for two years until September 2014, when he stepped down; Matthew "MaTTcom" Marikian was promoted to general manager, while Bryan "bchenN" Chen was hired as the director of finance and operations.
On November 10, 2014, Counter Logic Gaming announced that they had acquired the Shoot to Kill (now Final Boss) Halo roster, including professional Halo veteran Tom "OGRE 2" Ryan, branded under the name Counter Logic Gaming Halo. In January 2015, the organization also acquired the ex-mouseSpaz Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster as CLG.CS, and reestablished the CLG Black brand that same month. On June 14, 2015, the organization expanded into Super Smash Bros. Melee, picking up Kevin "PewPewU" Toy. On July 7, 2015, the all-female ex-Ubinite roster was announced as CLG Red, a second Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, and on August 6, 2015, the organization announced that Devin "Mylixia" Nash had become the new CEO, while HotshotGG became the President/Owner of Counter Logic Gaming.
On December 2, 2015, the organization announced that they had expanded into Call of Duty by acquiring the roster of Denial eSports.
On July 31, 2017, Madison Square Garden Sports, owners of the NBA team New York Knicks and the NHL team New York Rangers acquired a controlling stake in CLG.
On April 3, 2023, independent League of Legends reporter Travis Gafford reported that CLG would be closing its esports operations, laying off its staff, and laying off all of its teams, including the sale of its LCS slot. On April 6, 2023, NRG Esports acquired CLG, with MSG becoming a major shareholder in NRG.
Controversies Major League Gaming On November 8, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming was disqualified from the MLG Providence 2011 Qualifiers. Having won their qualification match against RFLXGaming, it transpired that the team had fielded Luis "Lapaka" Perez in place of Ho-jin "Lilac" Jeon. Lapaka was registered as the team leader for AbsoluteLegends, another team in the tournament, and had played in a match between AbsoluteLegends and Team SoloMid. MLG ruled that CLG's decision to illegally use Lapaka as a ringer for their match against RFLXGaming warranted disqualification and confiscation of all prize money.
LCS fines and punishments On August 12, 2014, Riot Games' Nick Allen announced that four members of Counter Logic Gaming's League of Legends team were to be fined US$1,250 for violating the League of Legends Championship Series rule associated with account sharing during their stay in Korea. These same players were also banned from Ongamenet (OGN) and Korean e-Sports Association-owned tournaments for two years. On December 10, 2014, CLG was fined US$10,000 by Riot, after being found guilty of soliciting Team Dignitas' William "Scarra" Li without acquiring his current team's approval. Additionally, Scarra was prohibited from serving as CLG's head coach on stage for the first three weeks of the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split. On January 6, 2015, after this first ruling, CLG's management voluntarily revealed a similar violation regarding the recruitment of Darshan "ZionSpartan" Upadhyaya. CLG was fined $2,000 by Riot, while Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng was fined US$2,500 for encouraging the violation. Furthermore, the team was restricted from fielding ZionSpartan for the first week of the 2015 LCS.
Former divisions
League of Legends Original team Counter Logic Gaming began as a group of ten League of Legends players in April 2010, originally including Andy "Reginald" Dinh, among others, but solidified as a formal five-man roster, made up of "HotshotGG", Michael "bigfatjiji" Tang, Steve "Chauster" Chau, Sam "Kobe24" Hartman-Kenzler, and Cody "Elementz" Sigfusson. The team's first offline accomplishment was a win at World Cyber Games 2010, taking the final series against European powerhouse SK Gaming. Shortly afterwards in April 2011, Kobe24 retired from professional gaming, and Brandon "Saintvicious" DiMarco took his place on the team. Shortly afterwards, bigfatjiji was forced to change his name to bigfatlp by Riot Games. In June 2011, CLG attended the Riot Games Season 1 World Championship in Sweden. Despite a loss to Team SoloMid, they advanced from the group stage, but were knocked out of championship contention by FnaticMSI, and forced to fight for an eventual fifth-place finish.
In August 2011, after a string of domestic victories, CLG participated in their second international LAN tournament, IEM Season VI Cologne. The team defeated Team SoloMid in the Grand Final, and claimed victory. In November 2011, after a disappointing domestic run, including disqualification from MLG Providence 2011, CLG benched Elementz, adding Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng to their active roster. However, in order to participate in the nation-locked 2011 World Cyber Games, CLG formed a temporary all-Canadian team. Elementz returned to the roster for the event, and Team Solomid players Shan "Chaox" Huang and Brian "TheOddOne" Wyllie made up the rest of this temporary roster, alongside CLG members bigfatlp and HotshotGG. CLG was beaten by the Polish team in the semifinals, but was able to triumph over French team Millenium in the third place match.
After a fairly successful domestic run, including victory in Season 2 of the National ESL Premier League, CLG participated in the IEM Season VI World Championship in March 2012. Placing second in the group stage and losing to Russian team Moscow Five in the semifinals, CLG narrowly defeated aAa in the third place match. On March 12, 2012, CLG moved into a temporary gaming house in South Korea to participate in the 2012 OGN Spring Championship. Having qualified for the playoffs, CLG fell in the first round to eventual champions MiG Blaze, and on April 25, 2012, the team moved back to North America. Citing internal tensions between players Saintvicious, HotshotGG, and Chauster, CLG made a roster change in May 2012, removing Saintvicious, and adding Joedat "Voyboy" Esfahani from Team Dignitas. Two days later, the team announced a name change from Counter Logic Gaming to Counter Logic Gaming Prime, to differentiate themselves from the organization's second North American League of Legends team, Counter Logic Gaming Black. In June 2012, the newly named CLG Prime attended MLG Anaheim 2012, falling to rivals Team SoloMid in the finals.
CLG Prime was one of two North American teams to be invited to compete in the 2012 OGN Summer Championship. The team lost in their first group stage game to Counter Logic Gaming Europe. Despite this early loss, they qualified for the playoffs, and were eliminated by Korean team Azubu Frost. Despite no longer competing in Korea, CLG Prime remained the country to practice for the upcoming North American Regional Finals. There, after falling to Team SoloMid and defeating Team Curse in the third place match, CLG Prime became the last North American team to qualify for the Riot Games Season 2 World Championship.
At October's Riot Games Season 2 World Championship, CLG Prime was knocked out in the group stage, taking home a ninth/tenth-place finish and 50,000. Following their disappointing World Championship performance, Voyboy left the team, and former MiG Frost player Yoon-sub "Locodoco" Choi was picked up. On November 29, CLG Prime entered IPL 5. Despite surprisingly strong showings against Curse EU, FnaticRC, and Moscow Five, the team placed fifth/sixth. After the event, Locodoco expressed in an interview that "coming to America was a mistake", but added that it did not indicate he would be leaving the team. However, on December 4 CLG announced the departure of Locodoco, and on December 28, Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black was announced as their starting support player, while Austin "LiNk" Shin, formerly of CLG Black, joined as a substitute player. The team also dropped the Prime suffix from their name, due to the departure of Counter Logic Gaming Europe and disbanding of Counter Logic Gaming Black. On January 15, 2013, bigfatlp announced that he would be stepping down from the starting roster to a substitute position, citing lack of confidence in his own play, while LiNk stepped up to the starting roster.Tang, Michael (January 15, 2013) "hello peepzorz,..." (in jijispeak) facebook.com; "manisier comments on bigfatlp is now a sub for CLG" (English translation) reddit.com. Retrieved August 4, 2015