After 5-13 record in the summer split and playoff chances diminishing, CLG has decided to sign free agent mid laner Tanner “Damonte” Damonte in hopes of righting the ship. This comes in the wake of CLG general manager Daniel “Tafokints” Lee stating that the team was looking at roster swaps after another bad week in the LCS.
Damonte’s LCS history
Damonte has not played professional league of legends since May. He started the year as the starting mid laner for 100 Thieves. However, poor performance made 100 Thieves decide to promote Tommy “Ryoma” Le to the starting roster. The move relegated Damonte to the academy roster. With both Ryoma and Damonte underperforming, 100 Thieves acquired LEC mid laner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun from Schalke 04 in April. With three midlaners and only two starting spots, Damonte was the odd one out. He decided to mutually part ways in May. Now in July, Damonte and another organization have found a mutual agreement.
CLG’s reputation has been hurt in the last week. This is due to a controversial “roster swap” video went up on the team’s twitter page. The video depicted a private meeting after the team had another poor week in the LCS that put them out of the playoff picture. The meeting discussed the potential of roster swaps due to poor performance. After facing fierce backlash, CLG issued an apology and took down the video. Since Damonte is a fan favorite personality, CLG may be attempting to win back the fans not only on the rift but off of it.
CLG and Damonte
CLG’s old mid laner, Eugene “Pobelter” Park has been a weak point for CLG all Split. According to stat site, oracleselixir.com, out of all the mid laners in the LCS with at least 10 games played, Pobelter ranks last in KDA. He also has a negative gold difference at 10 minute, experience difference at 10 minutes, and creep score difference at 10 minutes. Simply put, Pobelter is a big reason why CLG hasn’t been able to win games.
During the games he played in the Spring Split, Damonte actually had similar stats to Pobelter. His KDA hovered around the middle of the pack among LCS mid laners but he also had a negative gold and experience at 10 minute stat. In fact, he was last in those two stat categories.
From the stats, Damonte seems to be a side grade from Pobelter, but with CLG desperately needing to enact change, Damonte hopes he can help CLG make a last minute push into the playoffs. Fans can watch Damonte’s CLG debut and first LCS action in four months on Friday July 16th as CLG takes on Team Liquid in their opening match of week 7 of the summer split.
