Since October of 2015, Counter Logic Gaming has remained  a mixed bag of results, coming from an astounding 2016 MSI Semi-Finals run, to a 5-6th place finish in the 2017 Spring Split playoffs. With that in mind, it has been made official — CLG has finally changed their roster.

The surprising change came after their unfavorable 2017 Spring Split performance where they placed 5-6th. CLG, in a sense, was the Virtus.pro of the League of Legends scene. Against community criticism, CLG knew what their players were worth and they knew that changing up the core roster would result in a worse environment.

You could even compare the team to Duke University’s Men’s Basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K, as he is fondly known as, has remained with Duke through thick and thin. Spanning from the 80’s and continuing onwards, Duke has and more than likely will always be a contender for the NCAA Basketball Championship.

Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett is the newest addition to Counter Logic Gaming and he fills the void after being traded for the historied CLG staple jungler, Jake "Xmithie" Puchero. The worry and speculation coming from the community is valid, but let’s remember how much of a team dynamic can change by trading one player can be. This is a new CLG.

The jungle position is one that is a catalyst for a majority of how teams plays their game. Think of the position like a ball-bearing — they make the job of the entire team infinitely easier. Junglers are free to roam the map and create a pseudo-global threat or they can sit passively back and control vision and scale for a key item power spike.

When we look at a player like Dardoch, he is the type of player to create a large amount of the team’s pressure on the map in the early game. That is not to say that in the mid to late-game Dardoch isn’t also a playmaker, but his influence on the early stages of the game is terrifying. He is a stark contrast to CLG’s former jungler, Xmithie. He was the passive “counter-punch” jungler that remind silent until his team needed him the most. Not only is Dardoch a polarizing personality, but he could be the usher for a paradigm shift in CLG’s overall style as a team.

Not only could this be a shift for CLG’s overall style, but this shake-up of the core roster has to be a wake up call for the remaining members of the roster, seeing someone that they called “teammate” be traded away to another team. This has to light a fire the team that could not only supplement CLG’s potential style change, but could potentially be a catalyst for a return to grace for CLG.

Whatever happens in the Summer split, this move is true essence of “counter logic,” something that no pundit or analyst could have predicted and something so crazy, it might just work. CLG has always done things their own way. When teams popped the killswitch two or three months in and wanted to make roster moves, CLG said “let’s give them time.” They are the quintessential “team’s team”, more akin to a band of brothers than any other team in the NA LCS. The worry is that with the addition of Dardoch, is this going back to the old-CLG?

CLG has always held the moniker of a star player’s team. Up until recently it has transitioned from that core concept into more of a team focused environment. Doublelift was the star, and CLG played around his dominant bot lane shimmer. Now with the acquisition of Dardoch, is this going to be another “star-struck” team that is shoehorned into one specific play style? The idea I’m trying to get across is that CLG has changed its mentality over the many years that they’ve been within League of Legends. They’ve gone from being “Doublelift’s team” into something akin to their own team color.

This is where the support-staff really starts to shine. Dardoch joins a historied organization within League of Legends. As one of the earliest professional teams, CLG has always held clout within the League of Legends esports sphere. The size of their sphere of influence can be debated, but the key here is that they remained. This is large in part from their experience within the scene and their coach, Tony "Zikzlol" Gray.

Coach Zikz has seen it all — from MonteCristo, to Coach Chris, to Scarra and now falling into his lap. Zikz has not only proven his worth, but he has insurmountably exceed expectations through his tenure with the team. Promoted up through the ranks throughout his career, he was the brain behind the team’s brawn that lead to their repeat NA LCS titles in summer of 2015 and spring of 2016. Not only has Zikz lead CLG to some domestic victories, but he has under his belt the best international North American performance with a 2nd place finish at 2015 Mid-Season Invitational.

Knowing and looking back on Dardoch’s past, we can see their has not been an archetypal “leader” figure in any of his teams and he would begrudgingly end up wearing that mantle. Now that he has someone to rely on within Zikz and within Aphromoo, he can settle in and find his own role within the team. Now that his shoulder’s are free from any burden that he may have carried in the past Dardoch is freely and fully capable to reach the apex of his play.

Bjergsen looked “good” on Ninja’s in Pyjamas and Copenhagen Wolves, but did not look “great” until he had a team that fully invested and facilitated his needs as a player and a person. Dardoch is the type of player who needs the correct environment to thrive. Dardoch is a vibrant exotic flower, you can not take him, fill a pot with topsoil and expect him to succeed. However, that is not to say that Dardoch could not be great based on his own merits. With his time on Team Liquid and with his time on Immortals, he has looked quite good. But to succeed in a team based environment, Dardoch needs a team around him that can allow him to become the best player he can be. If Dardoch has yet to reach full bloom yet and CLG can help him to unlock that potential then we are in for treat.

Very rarely does a professional player or team ever lose the competitive flame, it can wane and it can roar — but as competitors you always have a certain amount of drive. The addition of Dardoch to the CLG roster is like adding rocket fuel to a team’s collective competitive-campfire. The question remains; will he be too much of a personality and explode within the team, breaking it apart from the inside or will he create a roaring bonfire of the damned that warms and soothes the souls of the faithful?

The curious and intriguing tale of Counter Logic Gaming continues Friday, June 2nd.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLG’s of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transition from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Riot Games, LoL Esports Flickr, and Immortals.