LCS Legacy:Meet Curse Gaming

In a time frame that no one would expect, Curse Gaming swept the world by surprise competing and destroying already prestigous and valued teams and has become a representative and dominant force in the North American scene. Through a grueling amount of practice and a dedicated commitment to the fans, Curse puts on a show and proves their worth by performance while still maintaining the charisma to hold on tight to the hearts of viewers. What was once a team that could be brushed off on a global scale without a second blink has fallen and risen like a phoenix, reshaping themselves entirely and building themselves up towards becoming an E-Sports phenomenon. Rise of the Flames: Late 2010 - November 2011 From a time before Curse Gaming even hit the radar, or even League of Legends eSports for that matter, Liquid112 founded the first team under "Team XXX". The team would go without a sponsor until they were picked up by unRestricted and played under the "unR" tag. Although the original roster of Curse saw little success as a whole, it contained many of today's most popular personalities and stars, such as the paragon of mechanics Doublelift, the proclaimed "theorycraft master SYDTKO, and the prodigal young solo laner Pobelter. Loyal to the team for longest of all the current line-up is Nyjacky who has consistently been improving to reach the current form he's in today. https://www.gosugamers.net/general/images/2013/february/doubleSYDTKO.PNG" border="0">

Though many of these figures are now celebrities, it took them awhile to hit the radar and be seen as viable scrim partners to the, then, top of the food chain in the North American scene. Soon enough, Curse Gaming would take interest in dabbling in the E-Sports realm and deemed the roster of unRestricted worthy of carrying the torch. The beginning of Curse wasn't the prettiest, but they were still a strong team in the grand scale of competitors for League of Legends and eventually earned the respect to be not only viable scrim partners, but capable of attending some LANs. Though falling behind from the top contenders, in the grand scheme of things, Curse eventually was recognized as a 4th place contender and later went to take 4th at MLG Raleigh. Unfortunately, the team as it was then would not be banded together long, as Dontmashme and Doublelift would exit with Doublelift joining Counter Logic Gaming. Curse carried on with the weight, however, and continued to compete among the best of NA. A Fragile Beginning: May 2012 - August 2012 When it was decided Curse would be getting a gaming house, Crumbzz and Pobelter left the team. Crumbzz wanted to continue his studies and Pobelter was too young to move out. Saintvicious from Counter Logic Gaming would replace Crumbzz as jungler and Westrice would replace Pobelter as top laner. With less than a month to adjust to a new jungler and top laner, Curse felt their chances at winning MLG Anaheim 2012 (Spring) rested on Westrice’s ability to play as a team. After an awkward tower dive by Saintvicious and Westrice against CLG, a team they had to defeat to prove themselves, it was clear that Curse’s communication was not up to par yet. Knocked to the losers bracket by CLG and eliminated by Team Dynamic, Curse gave a poor showing. With another month of practice, Curse defeated Team Dynamic 2-0 in the MLG Summer Arena qualifiers, earning them an invitation to New York City. They could not stop the top-form TSM or Azubu Blaze, however. The team gained recognition, though, as the only team to take a game off of Azubu Blaze, who otherwise had a perfect sweep for first place. In the IPL Face-off qualifiers, Curse lost 0-2 to their rivals Team Dynamic, but took revenge on them in the loser’s bracket by defeating them 2-1. Curse would find another rival in mTw.NA (now Vulcan Gaming) in the finals, losing but still managing to qualify. Curse had an impressive run through the IPL Face-off. Being sent to the loser’s bracket immediately by Singapore Sentinals, they crawled back by defeating Orbit Gaming, World Elite, Team Legion, and their new rivals mTw.NA... Only to be smacked down in the grand finals by TSM - another 0-3. MLG Raleigh 2012 (Summer) came to be an interesting event. The only team Curse could never take a game from, CLG Prime and TSM, decided to sit out the event to practice for the upcoming Season 2 World Championship Regionals. Curse tore through the bracket, defeating mTw.NA 2-0 along the way to the grand finals versus Team Dignitas. The first game of the best of five is a game that will live in infamy; The famous ARAM in the grand finals of a major tournament. Dignitas wins the ARAM. Both teams deciding to play normally, Dignitas wins game two. One game away from dropping another finals, Curse rallied together to win game three, four, and five. Curse finally managed to win a live event.

https://www.gosugamers.net/general/images/2013/february/curse-apologise-league-lege.jpg" border="0"> But did they really win? Riot and MLG disqualified both finalists for collusion, due to rumors of splitting the prize money evidenced by the ARAM game 1. Naysayers had a point when they brought up the fact that CLG and TSM had sat the event out - both teams Curse had yet to take a single game from. The event win had lost much of its value, and Curse’s one result they could take pride in was thought to be a joke and Curse had to face the shame, making an apology video to their fans. Finally, the Season Two World Championship North American Regionals come around in September. Curse Gaming handily defeat TSM.Evo 2-0 in the round of 8. However, they solidify their Season 2 place as “The best North American team that isnt TSM or CLG” by losing to TSM in the semifinals, then CLG in the 3rd/4th place match - failing to qualify for the World Championship. The Renaissance: November 2012 - Present The S2WC came as a reality check not only for Curse but the entire North American scene. The culling had clearly shown: “NA is trash, Asians are to rule” (approximately half of the reddit posts at that point of time). Yet a strange opportunity presented itself thusly to Saint, Elementz and co. After all, it is easier to ascend on the back of the shaken confidence of your competition. On September 28th, Curse sign ex-TSM Evo AP Salce, put him on top lane and ready themselves for the post-S2WC events, World E-Sports Masters the first of them. But faith would not have Curse reap success. With Salce away from his usual role and with disruptive turmoil within the team, Curse fail miserably in China, losing their games to Acer and WE iRocks to be among the first teams eliminated from the tournament. A statement from Salce later hits the Internet and although it is quickly removed, it gives fans a more or less clear understanding of the situation in Curse: things are not great cohesion-wise and blame is assigned left and right for the fiasco and China, painting the picture of one very dysfunctional roster. It was apparent that more changes needed to be made. Just a week after World E-Sports Masters, Salce is announced to have left the team, swapped with the world-renowned Voyboy, at that time deemed to be the best top-laner on the continent. The signing made fans of Curse and Voyboy alike excited and restless at the same time; what if Voyboy doesn’t click with the team, or his teammates’ playstyle, or under performs altogether? What would become of the top lane king now that he’s circuited the better part of the top NA teams and, more importantly, who else is there for Curse to pick up?

Fortunately for both parties, none of this happens and Voyboy’s arrival onsets a true renaissance for the team. The first order of business with the new top laner is IPL 5, the biggest congregation of LoL teams bar S2WC, and the audience is given an entirely new Curse. Curse that can go head to head with CLG and finish top eight, eliminated by the world champions themselves. Not the most optimal placement, but a decent one nevertheless. And decent, as we pointed out earlier, is something that Curse had not experienced in a long while. Things quickly pick up for Curse and a silver medal is awarded to them for their run in Lone Star Clash 2 after a nail-biting grand final against CLG.eu, a team which had just finished top four at S2WC and third at MLG Fall. Curse’s momentum gains even more velocity and a month later they are crowned Solomid Series and NESL Season 5 champions, pushing them atop all NA teams in the GosuRankings. With the LCS NA qualifiers crushed, the rivalry with CLG tilted into their favor and with TSM and Dignitas massively underperforming, Curse storm into Season 3 as, unofficially, the best team in North America. The boastful title is quickly defended: Curse go on a stomp in the first two weeks of Season 3 and by the time this article is out, they are the only team with flawless 5-0 score and the only NA team in the top 10 of GosuRankings. Although it is way too early to speak out definitive sentences, one thing is clear: Curse have never been stronger and they have no intention of slowing down.