CLG Contractz on EG comeback: “I am so proud of my team […] I am really proud of the resilience we showed”

The faithful have been rewarded, Counter Logic Gaming are sitting pretty alongside longtime rivals TSM and Cloud9 atop of the LCS ladder. CLG are off to the perfect start in the LCS after taking down league favorites in Evil Geniuses. This win sees CLG remain undefeated with a 2-0 record.

CLG are the only organization in the LCS to not make a single change to their roster, rewarding them for their impressive progress in 2022. Following their match with Evil Geniuses, Esports.gg sat down with Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia for an exclusive interview.

The game did not start off well for CLG. Evil Geniuses picked a team comp that wanted to play on the front foot early. CLG struggled to keep up with the pace, and quickly found themselves down a large deficit.

With losing lanes across the board by the halfway mark, CLG was down over five-thousand gold. With Evil Geniuses' composition, it should have been impossible for the comeback to happen. Joseph "Jojopyun" Pyun's Ryze was too far ahead for any player on CLG to contest in the side lane. Combined with the fact the Jax counter-pick into K'Sante had been completely nullified.

Despite what should have been a guaranteed defeat, CLG stuck in and was rewarded for their efforts. Ryze was longer in the side lane which may have been an error on Jojopyun's part, and come the late game, a buffed-up level 18 Sivir is going to be a problem for any champion.

Contractz was quick to praise his team at the start of the interview, elated with how they were able to comeback in this game.

"Man, I am so proud of my team, I think everyone was very resilient. Everyone seemed pretty calm and focused. And, you know I think we all did what we had to do to you know to claw back into the game."

"We played well around vision, we played our team fights well, and everyone was on the same page regarding how we wanted to play. Which was front to back, taking it slow and playing off our cooldowns. I am really proud of the resilience we showed today."

As was mentioned earlier, Counter Logic Gaming are the only organization this season to see all five players return. Their players were rewarded for a strong finish to the 2022 campaign after pushing both Cloud9 and Team Liquid to five games.

It is evident by the way the CLG players interact with each other that they genuinely enjoy competing with them. There seems to be a special brotherhood brewing. This special bond stemmed from the fact CLG were picking up five players with a point to prove.

Contractz opened up about the past year on CLG, and what has kept them together.

"We've had a lot of growing pains throughout the past year, but something that's kept us together and kept us so strong is our bond together and being able to be very open with each other. And being able to communicate well with each other is very important."

In competitive League of Legends, longevity is never the aim of the game. Players rarely stay in one place for too long. This is why CLG getting off to a strong start was important. The management decided to run back the same five players, putting faith in the lessons they learned in 2022 which should make them a better proposition.

Contractz was really pleased to find out that CLG would be running it back with the same roster for the 2023 season.

"I'm glad that we were able to come back as five and you know, really prove ourselves again. It's just super nice to be able to come back as five because we had that synergy that we built off last year. We're very hungry to prove ourselves again. Last year we, unfortunately, fell short but we have a lot of hunger in ourselves for sure."

In the Jungle position, the LCS is stacked. Going down the list on every team there is a really strong jungler who can carry his team. Having played against many of the world's best junglers, both in the LCS and at the 2017 World Championship, it is safe to say Contractz has come up against many different styles.

Contractz took no time telling us who his favorite junglers are to play against in the LCS:

"I have to say Blaber and Inspired. I think they both play pretty creatively. They are really creative with their pathing and they keep you guessing. They keep you on your toes and you really have to be aware of what they can do and when they can do it."

Contractz will not have to wait long to face another one of his favorite junglers in the LCS when CLG takes on Cloud9 next week.

Stay tuned to Esports.gg for the latest League of Legends news and updates.