Clutch Gaming

Clutch Gaming (CG) was an American esports organization started by the Houston Rockets in 2017. It had a professional League of Legends team that played in North America's League of Legends Championship Series (LCS).

In 2019, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment bought most of Clutch Gaming and combined it with another team called Dignitas. During its time competing, Clutch Gaming had some ups and downs. They never made it to the LCS finals, but they did get to the 2019 World Championship by winning their regional qualifier that year.

At the World Championship, Clutch Gaming moved from the early rounds to the main group stage. However, they were eliminated because they didn’t win any matches in a very tough group that fans called a "group of death".

History

Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, announced in 2017 that the North American League of Legends Championship Series would change its rules to work more like regular sports leagues. The Houston Rockets, a famous basketball team, joined this league and created a new team called Clutch Gaming.

Clutch Gaming started with players like Solo, Lira, Febiven, Apollo, and Hakuho. In 2018, they played well but finished lower in the rankings. They surprised everyone by beating a top team called Team SoloMid in the playoffs but didn’t go far after that. In 2019, they kept changing their team members and finally made it to the big international tournament called Worlds. Even though they didn’t win many games there, they still had a chance to play against strong teams from around the world. Later in 2019, Clutch Gaming joined forces with another team called Dignitas.

Season-by-season records

Accomplishments and awards

Clutch Gaming had some great moments in their League of Legends journey. Vulcan was named Second-Place Rookie in Spring 2019. In Spring 2018, Febiven and Hakuho were part of the LCS All-Pro Third Team. Cody Sun also made it to the All-Pro Third Team in Summer 2019.