Counter Logic Gaming bench Stixxay in favour of Wind
Counter Logic Gaming announced they are moving their starting ADC Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes to the Academy team and replacing him with the academy player Oh “Wind” Myeong-jin who will join the team's lineup in Week 7 of League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Spring Split.
Following a rather disappointing beginning of the 2020 LCS Spring Split, Counter Logic Gaming opted for a handful of roster changes in a bid to bounce back and start performing up to par with the expectations.
On February 19, 2020, CLG signed now-former Team Liquid's positional coach Eugene "Pobelter" Park as their starting mid laner and earlier on Friday announced they have parted ways with their former mid laner Lee "Crown" Min-ho, who is currently a free agent.
Although the arrival of Pobelter proved to be beneficial for the team as they started playing better, however Counter Logic Gaming still left a lot to be desired, as it became clear they are not up to par with the quality of other North American League of Legends teams. Hoping to see more success, CLG have announced on Saturday, March 7, they will be removing their long-standing ADC Stixxay in favour of a 20-year-old Wind, who joined their Academy team in December 2019.
Entering Week 7 of Spring Split, Counter Logic Gaming sit last in the LCS standings, winning only two games out of 10 played. Although six weeks already passed, the team failed to show any signs of improvement. Unlike other teams in the league, who had a slow start but managed to pick up the pace as the season went on, CLG remains at a standstill which is a concerning sign for a team that finished 2019 Spring Split at a third place.
To say CLG are not enjoying their journey into 2020 Spring Split would be an understatement, however, there is a reason for optimism. Seeing how the doors for playoffs are sealed shut for Pobelter and company, the North American organisation seemingly decided to spend the rest of the Spring Split as a rebuilding period in order to enter the Summer Split better prepared.
The departure of Stixxay might come as a shock to many, as he hasn't had a terrible year so far, which suggests he might return to CLG's roster sometime in the future. Throughout the Spring Split, Stixxay produced a 3.78 KDA, averaged 9.01 CSPM, 391 GPM, 75.6% KPAR and 25.2% KS, which are not spectacular numbers, yet not all that bad either. Stixxay was also the longest-standing member of Counter Logic Gaming, having joined the team in June 2015 as a substitute for Yiliang "Peter" "Doublelift" Peng, who notoriously left the team in October, the same year, to team up with Team SoloMid and later jumped ship to Team Liquid.
Before playing for CLG, Stixxay played for Misfits NA, CLG Black, Cloud9 Tempest and Denial eSports. Although he hasn't won LCS since 2016, when CLG defeated TSM in NA LCS 2016 Spring Playoffs, the 22-year-old ADC has quite a few accolades under his belt, including silver medal from 2016 MSI, bronze medal from NA LCS 2017 Summer, LCS 2019 Summer and 2019 LCS 2019 Regional Finals. Stixxay also appeared at 2016 Worlds, where CLG finished ninth-12th.
His replacement, Wind, has started his career in December 2018, when he joined a Korean team bbq Olivers which competed at CK Korea, and later in June 2019 left for XYZ, where Wind remained for whole 12 days before CLG signed him to their academy team. During his three-month stint at CLG Academy, Wind established himself as a promising ADC and although he failed to produce any remarkable numbers throughout eight games he played, the Korean pro became well known for his aggressive playstyle and high mechanical skill.
Seeing how Stixxay became somewhat of an iconic player of Counter Logic Gaming, many CLG fans were understandable with the announcement of his departure into the Academy team, however, there is a reason to believe Stixxay might return. Wind, while a solid player, was most likely brought into the squad to test our there will be any notable difference in the performance and teamwork of the team.
CLG’s first test with a new-look squad will come this Saturday, March 7, when Wind and co. will face off against Team Liquid at 16:00 PST. Interestingly enough, Team Liquid also replaced their starting ADC Doublelift and are currently fielding former academy team ADC Edward “Tactical” Ra as his replacement.
Counter Logic Gaming roster is now:
Kim "Ruin" Hyeong-min
Raymond "Wiggily" Griffin
Eugene "Pobelter" Park
Oh "Wind" Myeong-jin
Andy "Smoothie" Ta
