MLG Prizefights #6 eSports Central

The MLG Prizefights, sponsored by BIC Flex 4 Razors, is a weekly showmatch where the winner takes a 1,000 USD cash prize and gets an invite to the upcoming showmatch. This week Team Curse and CLG "All Stars" (a combination of the Counter Logic Gaming teams) faced off in a best of three casted by MonteCristo and Optimus Tom. VODs should be available for all the games played within roughly 24 hours.

Curse played with their typical roster but putting their substitute, Salce, in as their top lane. CLG took an "All Stars" format, rotating their players from their multiple teams and their roles between games.

Game 1

CLG Roster Rotations:
Voyboy: Top Lane
GosuZuna: Jungle
Froggen: Mid Lane
Chauster: ADC
Bloodwater: Support

The the first game CLG 'All Stars' threw Curse through a loop, putting Nidalee in the middle lane whilst putting Katarina in the top lane - both viable options just not seen as 'typical' for those picks. Froggen demonstrated that he was entirely capable of laning against Nyjacky even as a very unconventional mid lane champion - but he wouldn't be able to be the backbone of his team like he usually is from the mid lane.

Curse employed a poke composition as is evident from their picks, having Jayce in the top lane as a reckoning poke force as well as Sona and Corki's ultimates to make it even scarier. CLG 'All Stars' countered with their own poke strategy, but their ability to engage on carries was inferior to that of Olaf and fell in Game 1 to Curse.

Game 2

CLG Roster Rotations:
Chauster: Top Lane (Mid Lane Swap)
Froggen: Jungle
Voyboy: ADC
GosuZuna: Support
Bigfatlp: Mid Lane (Top Lane Swap)

Froggen stream viewers would have been in love with the second game of this series where he entered the role of the jungle on his excellent Lee Sin. I would say the fact that CLG were able to beat Curse with their hodgepodge of players and roles speaks volumes about either how much of a skill differential there is or how seriously Curse took the showmatch. I will once again go with the former. Very few players on CLG played the roles they are most known for in this game, and it probably says a lot about the state of Curse. It is admittedly speculation, and should be taken as such, but one might assume that CLG's communication wouldn't have been on par with Curse's.

CLG.EU Froggen Lee Sin (Jungle) CLG.NA Chauster Singed (Mid)

Game 3

CLG Roster Rotations:
Voyboy: ADC
GosuZuna: Support
Chauster: Top Lane
Froggen: Jungle
Bigfatlp: Mid Lane

CLG were evidently pleased with the roster swap in game 2, and continued with it into the third game - and it worked again. Nyjacky was able to get his beloved Morgana, but having Bigfatlp laning against him this time meant he wasn't going to get a free ride. Voyboy's Ezreal was allowed to snowball with a whopping 11/1/7 score making any Curse resistance fairly futile. CLG surprised me personally throughout the showmatch with their ability to play their 'non-professional' roles at such a high level.


CLG.NA Voyboy Ezreal
Overall, MLG Prizefights was treated as simply a showmatch with little preparation going into it from either team but produced some interesting insight into the abilities of the CLG roster with their 2-1 victory over Curse. I think it says a fair amount about Curse's communication and perhaps something about CLG's individual skill levels. Regardless, congratulations to CLG 'All Stars'.

Prizefights offers a great lead up into MLG's next LAN event, make sure to tune into MLG Dallas on November 2 - 4. 8 invited teams will be competing for a 30,000 USD prize pool. Look out for the list of invited teams in the weeks to come, and our coverage of the event here on the eSports section.

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