CLG close down male CS:GO divisions

30/11/2017 - 21:08

CLG, an organization that has been unable to field a top contender for over a year, have announced that they have decided to pull the plug on their male squads.

CLG, who had a team that was a regular at top-flight events in 2015 and early 2016—with players like Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik and Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano on the roster—and even made the playoffs at the MLG Columbus 2016 Major, have announced it will no longer field its male team.

After subpar results, including two failed Minor bids and not being able to qualify for the ESL Pro League Finals, its roster, which includes longtime CLG stalwarts Stephen "⁠reltuC⁠" Cutler and Pujan "⁠FNS⁠" Mehta, will no longer represent the organization moving forward.

CLG's core will remain together, at least for the CyberPower tournament

According to a statement issued by CLG, the decision was made "after several months of analysis and internal discussion" around the organisation's "business strategy" and the "economics of the sport". With players still under contracts, CLG have vowed to help the roster to find "new homes in the next few weeks".

While it is speculated that FNS will no longer be a part of the team, and it is unknown if Ricardo "⁠Rickeh⁠" Mulholland will come back to North America, the team's core will stick together, with three players signed up for CyberPower's upcoming tournament: reltuC, Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen, and Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold.

Zack "⁠XotiC⁠" Elshani, from CLG Academy, which will also be dropped from the organization, is signed up as the fourth, leaving the last spot in the team open as of now.

When CLG's contracts expire, the following players will be free if they are not bought out before:

Pujan "⁠FNS⁠" Mehta
Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen
Stephen "⁠reltuC⁠" Cutler
Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold
Ricardo "⁠Rickeh⁠" Mulholland

Steve "⁠Ryu⁠" Rattacasa (coach)

CLG Academy had the following players:

Jonathan "⁠djay⁠" Dallal
Tyler "⁠Char⁠" Wallace
Alex "⁠aproto⁠" Protopapas
Gage "⁠Infinite⁠" Green
Zack "⁠XotiC⁠" Elshani

Corey "⁠ruin⁠" Hartog (coach)

LOL shit team anyway, who cares. only nathe thats good.

2017-11-30 21:08

17 replies

Thank you Choke Loving Gaming

2017-11-30 21:09

11 replies

Rip fns

2017-11-30 21:15

5 replies

shock

2017-11-30 21:18

2 replies

wtf why clg was doing ok

2017-12-01 00:21

1 reply

CLG stickers new iBP PogChamp

2017-12-01 01:37

youll prove it or ill kill you

2017-11-30 22:45

LUUL +1

2017-12-01 10:07

As u sit behind ur comp with a silver 1 rank. If they suck what does that make u? Lol they played in PRO events for years. 1 dude would wreck u and 4 others by himself. Grow up and actually play something competitive oh wait my bad u already are. Your the hltv keyboard warrior. Hope they find teams. Always sad to lose a respected pro team. Every team that drops hurts our beloved sport and game. GL CLG guys bounce back hard.

2017-12-01 04:08

4 replies

you dont need to do that yourself to criticize someone

2017-12-01 13:18

So you can't call any movie bad unless you produce a better one? Or you have to write a better music before calling any other track bad? That's exceptionally dumb. You dont need to be genius to see CLG weren't good enough.

2017-12-02 13:12

Saying a team needs improvement is different than just plain talking shit thats the point im making here. Yep they were on the low end of the scene but they still were there unlike loads of others. Huge difference from talking shit and pointing out mistakes. Anyone can talk shit but it take a real person man or woman, to show respect to them while pointing out mistakes and not just talkjng mad shit and name calling. Thats the difference

2017-12-02 19:07

I know plenty of non-pro players who are better then some "pro" players, but they are not interested in a career in esports because they are happy with their lives as is with their current job or education. Not everyone aspire to play professionally despite having the skill to do so, not only because they are happy with their current life situation but also because they care for several children in their household and do not feel like being away from the kids for longer then 8 hours a day.

2017-12-02 20:59

NathE and Rickeh

I hope they find good teams, especially Rickeh, dude is a beast. Gl fellas!

2017-11-30 21:59

Rip

No Rickeh is good aswell

2017-11-30 22:38

Yeah, kinda sad what this team has come to, the tarik-hazed-reltuc-fns-jdm lineup was my favourite NA team

2017-12-01 06:45

LuL

Bye FNS Karma it's a bitch!

2017-11-30 22:49

the law of retribution

2017-11-30 23:16

Karma for what?

2017-12-01 00:42

I think he's talking about that kNg drama. lul

2017-12-01 06:43

so is your mom

2017-12-01 01:48

I tried to be first :(

sad

LOL

Noooo

expected

ye took long enough really

2017-11-30 21:56

wtf

but they are keeping red?? AHAHAHAHA

8 replies

CLG Red probably making more sponsor money tbh

2017-11-30 21:17

3 replies

And they cost less

2017-12-01 04:10

cuz they’re shit

2017-12-01 06:53

2017-12-01 14:25

+1 its a joke

This was all about $

2017-11-30 21:28

All this shows is how little CLG brings in for their org. CLG.red is deemed more of a valuable asset. That speaks volumes about the current lineup.

2017-11-30 21:34

lower salaries, and ez win in female tourneys = profit $$

2017-11-30 21:57

RIP :((((

Villa Mix????????

-bit +FNS

2017-11-30 23:34

rape

rip

WHAT? Probably spent too much on their LoL squad :/ They just bought some insane players.

2017-11-30 21:10

True. They probably make alot more out their lol squad as well

2017-12-01 02:27

buy clg stickers

12 replies

Yes

2017-11-30 21:11

safecall

2017-11-30 21:39

bad call no one cares about CLG.

2017-11-30 22:15

7 replies

+1 better buy imt stickers

2017-11-30 22:35

like some1 care about imt lul

2017-11-30 22:46

loke some1 care about clg lul

2017-11-30 22:56

more relevant than clg, imt reaching major finals while drunk

2017-11-30 23:19

and they look ugly on top of it all. and its crap team why would even want to get the sticker

2017-11-30 22:53

? they have a sick logo

2017-12-01 01:56

mmmmmmm nope

No who cares about CLShit

2017-12-01 02:41

Ye someone should be utterly dumb to throw money on their stickers lmao.

2017-12-01 02:58

Rippp

i want to die

>close male division >keeps female division wtf

Clg red do well in the female scene though

2017-11-30 21:25

i mean who can't do well in female scene

2017-11-30 21:29

Doing well in a scene of 4 esea main teams isn't hard

2017-11-30 21:30

Didn't say it was

2017-11-30 21:35

Lol

no fucking way

Shit. Feelsbadman.

Prove it or I'll kill you

Karma it's a bitch indeed

2017-11-30 22:51

Oof

Team with no future who carrs

It's not about the team tbh. Any major org pulling out is a damn shame.

2017-11-30 21:13

obviously gonna buy villa mix.

SHIT TEAM ANYWAYS LUL

Bring back koosta

CLGG

Good lol

-nitr0 +fns ez liquid xD

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! wtf m8 save them plz #PRAY4KOOSTA #PRAY4ETHAN #PRAY4RICKEH

MingLee is azz

2017-11-30 22:54

Stickers inc. ?

2017-11-30 21:12

CLG to buy ex-IMT?

Hehehehehe, you'll prove it or I'll kill you.

2017-11-30 21:16

EZ FNS to Torqued

nah bro. fns-igl/support swag-lurk/entry azk-2nd awper/support nathe-entry koosta-main awper top 5 na team

2017-12-01 01:25

im liking the swag/azk/pollo/witmer/dapr combo they even beat luminosity which is OMEGALUL

2017-12-01 04:35

true but they could be better. if they add fns i think they can be little better

2017-12-01 17:36

FNS: The teams destroyer LOL

Come home Rickeh?

ofc, its not worth to have a shit team, pay them salary to play a fkin game and they don't even take it serious and play like its mm.

koosta lul

2017-11-30 21:19

then the CLG core can might as well join IMT as the team's breaking apart for their BR squad and its prob better if IMT switch from BR to NA squad

It isn't better, IMT would be stuck with shit players. They are better off with BR talent.

except BR talent is dead now

2017-11-30 21:20

Per sauces

2017-11-30 21:21

R.I.P one of my favorite teams in na. Koosta who got a good potentual to be one of the best awpers ( who the hell cares about the time he was in liquid ) Richeh and nathE prob the best ( i hope nathE go to GX and Richeh to AU back to RNG instead of USTILO ) FNS and cutler - the oldest but still the best <333 GG GUYS

2017-11-30 21:22

who is nathE?

2017-11-30 22:10

ethan was a really talented dude they picked up from premier. if you've watched any of clg's games you'll see that nathe is well above average for north american epl. very good both online and on LAN.

2017-11-30 22:33

I don't know who nathE is. I think you're talking about nahtE. He's an amazing player love to watch him.

2017-12-01 08:50

when dazed got unbanned he wanted him to be on his team ( GX ) with brax azk and brehze ( another good talented player in na )

2017-12-01 07:57

Lol rickeh has nothing to look for in renegades, as nifty doing amazing job as the awper, they don't need another one

2017-12-01 04:09

RIP. Fuck CLG Red.

lol so they are on contract but with no org to pay them atleast keep paying until they are buyed out

inb4 clg pickup the kng mix

RIP a decent team. They looked promising in the beginning of this year but they really fell off. Sad to see it happen but I understand why. It will be interesting so see how this plays out with the immortals situation. If ethan joins gx (which really isn't much of a step down at this point) theyll be super sick, and rickeh replaces ustilo (but I havent watched him play much so idk) it will be an interesting shake up

2017-11-30 21:32

Ustilo is fine they should drop Cutler keep rickeh and link up with Stan & N0thing N0thing Nahte Rickeh Stanislaw Koosta

That's a good point. I didn't even consider the number of rosterless NA players The probably won't be great but they definitely can compete in the middle of Pro League

2017-11-30 23:45

Yeah probably 3rd best NA but like its the best they can get pretty much N0thing will be a major upgrade from Cutler

2017-11-30 23:48

With how abysmal viewership has been for the online seasons and 3+ rosters leaving (CLG, IMT, OpTic) ... the beginning of 2018 will be interesting for NACS. We need a catalyst. Where you at Trump.

Lets build a wall and make EU/BR pay for it. We're gonna drain the EU/BR swamp.

2017-11-30 21:44

In this instance, I think it'd be the opposite... build a tunnel to* any non-EU region with a significantly sized fanbase and let them in. We need to fill the NA pool.

Id say making NA into The Americas is a good move. Im a bit disgruntled and angry though at the fact that ESL Pro League North America isnt really North America at all. It's just ESL Pro League EU and ESL Pro League EU-but-the-EU-that-couldnt-quite-make-it-in-EU

2017-11-30 22:12

Nice one

Take on more Australians in the lower tier teams. Plenty of our players are looking for a way in.

2017-12-01 00:16

Ethan is a good upcoming player that can become a solid piece to a lot of T2 teams.

He could definitely replace nitro

2017-11-30 23:04

Isn't Nitro calling some parts of their game though?

2017-12-01 00:17

Steel is a more experienced igl anyway

2017-12-01 01:21

CLULG

2017-11-30 21:31

HAHAHA RIP CLG KNG GETS HIS REVENGE!

"Revenge"? Also, why are you on KNGs side in that fight? KNG told someone that he would kill that person, are you fucking kidding me? lol. EDIT: Also, how is it "RIP CLG"? Its more RIP to the squad, and they will most likely find a new org within a few weeks.

6 replies

I'm against kNg in that case too but I think it's not the fact that he told FNS he would kill him (which people on the internet could dismiss as a nonthreatening threat) but the fact that he was in the same hotel as FNS and was actually looking for him. Even then he would at most just physically assault FNS, which isn't something light, but isn't killing. What puts the cherry atop this shit sundae is when kNg refuses to apologize, when FNS apologized when he wasn't even in the wrong. Theres doubling down on stupidity and then theres kNg

2017-11-30 22:14

Doesn't even matter, rules are rules IMT deserved what happened, but FNS took to another lvl when he roasted the players to the public opnion. He didn't make any joke he tried to put an end in brazilian's carrer saying that shit. But like always Karma it's a bitch, the drunks will play the major and the pro one will retired.

2017-11-30 23:01

"Tu acha mesmo que eles vão pickar cache o melhor mapa do NiP e o pior deles? o.0 Posso estar errado, mas dúvido muito o FalleN fazer isso." So you are a Brazilian fakeflagger so its ok to disregard your opinion because you will not be reasonable. Have a nice day

2017-11-30 23:09

have you ever heard about google translate? Welcome to 2017.

2017-11-30 23:13

No its not the first thing I think about. But I doubt its google translate because your english is shoddy. "FNS did not make a joke he tried to ruin the players career" Yeah thats an opinion an Australian will hold about the situation, not a Brazilian fan

well pointed. I will not make that mistake again mate.

2017-11-30 23:26

nahtE to GX

Aay lmao, you shut down CLG male, but not CLG Red with feminst Miss Harvey??? LOL I would rather shut down the female team.

Except in this case the women are paid less and earn more...

Wowowowow... hold on. The female CLG team have won a total of 29,649$ The male CLG team have won a total of 434,910$ So...? Female CS tournaments blows, they get like 25K$ as first price (if even that). So male CS > female CS.

2017-11-30 21:40

Lol who the fuck cares tournament money. Sponsors makes the big money. Also tournament prize directly goes player/coach/analyst in most of the teams, orgs doesn't make money from prizes

Yeah? So TL:DR CLG Male earned more cash and shouldnt be shut down.

2017-11-30 22:02

Did you not read his reply. The organisation gets nothing much from prizemoney. They get back money from the sponsors, and i dont know about CS but in other sports sponsors pay you bonuses for doing well. So if I'm a sponsor, am I going to pay CLG more for a subpar tier 5 csgo male team that is essentially a running joke atm or pay for my brand to be shown one of the better female teams that will actually have a reputation in their scene and get some exposure. Its a no brainer.

2017-11-30 22:24

CLG male and CLG female have same sponsors tho? T5 CSGO male team?? lol.

2017-11-30 22:47

In sports specifically, there is a considerable difference in wages and salary between the genders. They wouldn't have to pay Red as much but get roughly same amount of sponsorship as before.

WOW, if that ain't sexism... then what is? disgusting

2017-11-30 21:33

LUL

rip fail defuse koosta

2017-11-30 21:37

CLG Red > CLG male teams LUL

sacking the male team for a 7 season main team, nice decision! LOL

2017-11-30 21:43

finally

Totally unexpected... But yeah when they can't achieve anything as a team and they are really well paid, it's hard for the org to be able to have a stable budget.. A good team to watch when they had taric, cutler, jdm, hazed and FNS... rip CLG

Also, mind you how much they spend with LoL franchising this year and recent transfers/players.

2017-11-30 22:01

I dont know how well paid they are... Thooorin and Richard Lewis were talking about it awhile ago and sounds like CLG are one of the cheapest paying org's around. So you have to consider their results to what kind of money they were paying to pick up and salary players. Imo they over achieved for what CLG was paying when you compare them to some of the bigger NA org's.

cs go is dying slowly

2017-11-30 21:47

Not CSGO. Just NA. And maybe thats for the better

Is it our turn yet?

2017-12-01 00:22

FNS koosta nahtE ryx reltuC

FNS destroyed clg

2017-11-30 21:48

You'll prove it?

Fns destroyed 2 teams *

2017-11-30 22:00

buying 10 stickers rn

They could try to invest in some decent EU players instead of these rank S pug players

NA Orgs don't understand if they would sign a young and hungry EU/BR Squad they could have a insane future. These NA Pug stars (Remember the time when freakazoid leaked that c9 dont pracc for weeks cuz they stream a lot (for example)) need to work and stop just doing ESEA rank S + stream.

2017-11-30 22:41

Yeah sadly. I can see Liquid being a serious team and maybe C9, need more time to tell. But the others... I remember shroud streaming the same day C9 got eliminated on cs_summit lmao, just a few hours after the game. There's also talent on Brazil, people who want to go pro, but our scene isn't so strong right now. But if you give support to a promising brazilian lineup, they'll definitely improve a lot with decent competition, unlike this washed up CLG lineup

2017-12-01 01:01

good, one greedy org less

2017-11-30 21:58

ethan was 18 now he's 17 what?

never forget youtube.com/watch?v=EfmYXjYlhZA

2017-11-30 22:40

cs is slowly dying

2017-11-30 22:09

These scene isn't dying because a t3 team got released LMFAO.

2017-12-01 15:13

fns fnx hen1 lucas1 kng fns wanna join a major team, while kng's team needs an experienced igl perfect :)

I can just imagine how awesome the environment would be

2017-11-30 22:21

No communication and all screaming = major

2017-12-01 10:21

There is so much more promise in the female cs scene lmao

2017-11-30 22:23

Kng laughed last

this happens when you have tier 1 salaries

no org would want these trash players anyway.

2017-11-30 22:37

Good for ethan, now go to a decent team at least.

2017-11-30 22:39

FNS Karma'd XD

2017-11-30 22:43

Don't Worry they kept the most important part of CLG, the female team..... HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHa

2017-11-30 22:48

ez upset vs LDLC at MLG Aspen 2015

welp at one point CLG was contending with liquid over the #1 spot of NA... now they got kicked altogether. I can't say that I liked them very much still it is sad to see a major org disappearing. end of an era #

2017-11-30 22:58

-nitro +nahte? Steel can igl easily

2017-11-30 23:02

No :(

2017-11-30 23:05

tyloo +koosta please :>

2017-11-30 23:08

RIP They had one of the coolest names from all pro teams, at least.

the amount of chokes and bad decision making every single deciding game made ORG lose faith on then.

2017-11-30 23:23

team villa mix

2017-11-30 23:28

LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL LUL wtf LUL

2017-11-30 23:29

rip to my 3rd fav team

2017-11-30 23:33

Expected from FNS

2017-11-30 23:42

C Ya Later Gaming

2017-12-01 00:11

Echo fox inc

2017-12-01 00:39

FNS will join in KNG's team

koosta 2 liquid

2017-12-01 00:43

csgo is dead, lulz

2017-12-01 00:47

my CLG sticker M4A1-S is worthless now. Oh wait, it already was before.

2017-12-01 01:16

Heartbreaking.

2017-12-01 01:26

I 100% knew this wud happen

2017-12-01 01:28

im just wondering how tf they got a LCS franchise slot ... reportedly money problems, i've heard this for months now... sure they'll have to invest more into LoL now with having all the franchise shit around... but other orgs lost their LCS slot bcuz riot said they werent sure if those orgs can ensure the money needed... (envyus for sure has more money then CLG)... fishy to me..

2017-12-01 01:59

get rekt FNS

2017-12-01 02:45

RIP IN PIECES

2017-12-01 02:54

So many jobless people, probably will start doing drugs.

2017-12-01 02:55

new lineup: n0thing Ethan jasonr koosta cutler

2017-12-01 02:57

Can't wait 4 'Washed Up Gaming' stickers.

2017-12-01 04:02

how greedy can they be? why do orgs do this? so what if ur not at the top u are still generating revenue. so dumb.

2017-12-01 03:45

They're dogshit and deserved to get dropped.

2017-12-01 15:14

indeed but they act like they have the ability to field a better team. they clearly have morons working in management/scouting ect.. if anyone deserves to be dropped its the management scouts CEO whoever else is responsible for picking up horrible CSGO teams as well as their league of legends team is a joke also not to mention how horrible their CLG academy team was in csgo. its like a retard scouted that team. Like honestly is CLG's scout a 15 year old

2017-12-03 01:09

They can pick up GX or some other promising team with n0thing coming back. C9s just as shitty, just look at when they picked up ShitZam and freak afterwards. Both busts.

2017-12-03 08:09

I am beginning to like the current coL team, but they shouldn't pass up trying to get n0thing, stanislaw and now FNS. Potentially: n0thing, yay, Android, stanislaw and FNS That sounds like a good number 2 team in NA.

2017-12-01 04:25

thats ironic since the female team wouldn't rank even near t3 male teams hahahahahah

2017-12-01 04:24

This wouldn't be happening if they didn't bone that defuse at the Eleague Major qual. They'd be rolling in sticker money and the new ownership would be chill with it. hltv.org/matches/2307147/clg-vs-vega-squ..

2017-12-01 04:39

So they are keeping the shitty girl team? Wow.

2017-12-01 05:04

Rip Aussie AWP God Rickeh

2017-12-01 05:27

Sad for HotshotGG

2017-12-01 06:22

finally , kng kills FNS and CLG goes down

2017-12-01 06:40

Legendary team Fns , cutler , ptr , tarik , hazed

2017-12-01 07:39

Liquid; Nitr0, Steel, EliGe, Twistzz & Koosta. Renegades: Nifty, Naf, Nahte, Jks & Rickeh. CoL: Stanislaw, Jdm64, yay, Android & dephh. EchoFox: FNS, Reltuc, Ptr, AZR & Ustilo. Those changes would make Liquid and Renegades look scary. Which would be great for NA leagues having more contenders. Suddenly NA league qualifiers would look like; SK, VillaMix, C9, Renegades, Liquid + 1 With these lineup's it is solid.

2017-12-01 07:44

that lineup on renegades is insane.

2017-12-01 07:56

Indeed. Would be top NA contender

2017-12-01 07:58

Rickeh is not a good pick since Nifty is already the awper. Replace jdm and Nitr0 with Nafty and liquid will win a major.

2017-12-01 18:26

I'm sorry, but none of those are tier1 lineups anyway But, you can make 1 good team out of those four

2017-12-01 11:32

RIP NA

2017-12-01 08:48

Should I buy CLGoddam stickers?

2017-12-01 09:21

Idg why people here are laughing at NA; you kinda need NA so a lot more sponsors can come in a similar fashion that is happening for League of legends.

2017-12-01 10:40

Show that hltv are full of silver kids who dont love this scene anyway. They just bunch of kids who doesnt have any clue about sponsors etc.

2017-12-01 17:30

rip ;'(

2017-12-01 11:13

kng has killed them all

2017-12-01 13:22

It's kinda ironic, the same day CLG fires their CSGO team, former immortals players are going to Europe right to the next major, with a better organization and better incomes. . kNg was right, metaphorically, he did kill them all. Nothing speaks louder than skill in csgo, sry clg, sry fns

2017-12-01 16:20

O mundo da voltas ;)

2017-12-01 16:41

damn that's deep. Expecting kNgV- and CO. to close some mouths ;)

This is called karma

2017-12-01 16:40

Not really. Now that they are franchised in League of Legends, they're going to make millions of more dollars than ever could be even imagined from the CSGO scene. CSGO scene provides scrap compared to that, so I can see why they are banking everything on league.

2017-12-01 23:11

Despite LoL stuff tho, immortals pretty much lost their entire team due to the reaction of kng regarding fns's tweet. Now the clg lineup (including fns ofc) were "fired".

2017-12-02 20:17

Its kinda sad to lose another pro cs team. Who love this game and scene probably knew this feeling. Its not how good or how bad the team. Its show that csgo scene seems unprofitable anymore like before. And more org are prefer to put big money on other games and lower their budget for csgo.

2017-12-01 17:28

Seems like people dont know but u should know that the reason why clg.red even exist is intel

2017-12-01 18:39

RIP

2017-12-01 20:53

fucking get fns as a igl c9 ffs

2017-12-02 09:26