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League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) franchise, Counter Logic Gaming, announced Thomas “Thinkcard” Slotkin as the new head coach of their LoL team. The news surfaced on Tuesday, November 9.
New Coaching Personell for CLG
In a bid to bounce back from a disappointing finish to the 2021 LCS season, CLG decided to make changes to their coaching personnel. As revealed, the NA LoL team acquired Thinkcard, former head coach of Golden Guardians Academy.
Thinkcard will replace Galen “Galen” Holgate, as the former professional jungler’s future remains uncertain. Beyond that, CLG also signed former GG Academy assistant coach Chris “Croissant” Sun, who will work alongside Thinkcard.
The 29-year-old joins CLG as a highly experienced coach and former pro player, whose LoL esports career started in 2014. Thinkcard started as a jungler for GamesterGear and has spent short stints with Evil Geniuses and CLG as a substitute.
In January 2015, Thinkcard joined CLG Black and served as a substitute for the Counter Logic Gaming main roster for the next year before leaving for Enemy in January 2016, where he served as a coach for three months. Thinkcard returned to pro play in April 2016 as a substitute jungler for Cloud9, and in July, he decided to hang up his mouse and keyboard to focus on a coaching career.
Thinkcard has since coached Cloud9 Challenger, FlyQuest, Echo Fox, Clutch Gaming, Dignitas, and Golden Guardians Academy. His most notable success came last season when he led GG Academy to a third-place finish at the 2021 Summer Proving Grounds.
“It’s incredible to be back with CLG,” said Thinkcard. “This is an organization that I know well, and I cannot wait to get started with putting down a foundation for what we want CLG to be for years to come. I know working with Jonathon, Chris and the rest of the staff at CLG that we have the tools to create something amazing.”
CLG Absorb Former GG Academy Members
By adding Thinkcard and Croissant, CLG have signed both GG Academy. Adding to that., CLG have also acquired a new general manager Jonathon McDaniel, formerly an assistant GM for Golden Guardians.
“In our search for a head coach, we were looking for someone with experience as an LCS head coach and one who valued player development as that is a vital aspect of what we are trying to accomplish at CLG,” said Jonathon McDaniel.
“Thomas [Thinkcard] and I have worked together in the past, and his work ethic is unmatched. We know he will help us continue to build towards what we are trying to accomplish as an organization.”
Changes Were Needed
Seeing CLG make changes to its coaching personnel make sense, given the team’s lack of success during the 2021 season. CLG, who were still a competitive team in 2019, haven’t had the best run since, particularly in 2021.
CLG began last season with a ninth-10th place finish in the LCS Lock-In tournament, and they never recovered. In the LCS 2021 Spring, CLG finished ninth, with a 5-13 record, and they hardly improved in the summer season.
The team ended the LCS 2021 Summer with a 7-20 record and finished the season with a combined 12-33. It was the worst league record, two wins short of FlyQuest, who landed in ninth place with 14-31.
Even though CLG have made changes to their coaching personnel, the LoL esports team has yet to unveil any roster changes. As it stands now, CLG is still fielding the same five-man roster from 2021.
CLG’s current LoL roster is:
- Finn “Finn” Wiestål
- Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen
- Tanner “Damonte” Damonte
- Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
- Andy “Smoothie” Ta