TEAMS
Professional gamers, or "pro gamers", are often associated with gaming teams and/or broader gaming associations. Teams include Evil Geniuses, Fnatic and Team Liquid. In addition to prize money from tournament wins, players may also be paid a separate team salary. Team sponsorship may cover tournament travel expenses or gaming hardware. Prominent eSports sponsors include companies such as Razer. Associations include the Korean e-Sports Association, United Kingdom eSports Association, and the International eSport Federation.
Teams and associations
Team SoloMid (TSM) is a North American eSports Team, created around the community website SoloMid.Net by brothers Andy "Reginald" Dinh and Dan "Dan Dinh" Dinh in September 2009. The team was first seen in early 2011 after being formed to participate in the Riot Season 1 Championship later that year. The organization has also previously hosted the now-disbanded Team SoloMid Evo.
Cloud9 (C9) is a North American League of Legends team competing in the North American League Championship Series. The team is notable for winning two LCS seasons, as well as a top eight finish at the Season 3 World Championship.
The team currently competes under the name Cloud9 HyperX, in representation of their sponsor Kingston HyperX. It was initially formed by the roster of Quantic Gaming after leaving the financially struggling Quantic Gaming organization and currently also features divisions in DotA 2, Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft, CS:GO, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Halo and Heroes of the Storm.
The team currently competes under the name Cloud9 HyperX, in representation of their sponsor Kingston HyperX. It was initially formed by the roster of Quantic Gaming after leaving the financially struggling Quantic Gaming organization and currently also features divisions in DotA 2, Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft, CS:GO, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Halo and Heroes of the Storm.
Fnatic is a professional eSports organization consisting of players from around the world across a variety of games. On March 14th, 2011, Fnatic entered the League of Legends scene with the acquisition of myRevenge. Fnatic is one of the strongest European teams since the early days of competitive League of Legends, having been the champion of the Riot Season 1 Championship. Fnatic have also gone to the finals of all five of the LCS playoffs.
Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) is a North American eSports organization. Founded in April 2010 by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis, CLG is the oldest League of Legends team still active to this day. Counter Logic Gaming currently only hosts their flagship team, as well as CLG Halo, a team based on Halo 2: Anniversary. However, they have previously sponsored Counter Logic Gaming Black, Counter Logic Gaming EU, and one Defense of the Ancients 2 team.