CG ended their run 0-6. You might think that that means Clutch Gaming sucks, that Clutch by the stats was just a terrible team--except. No, they aren't. They were in the group labeled "The Group of Death". Put them into group B, and they'd have been guaranteed to go through. But they were put into the group where they couldn't have possibly gone through.
They were in a group where they couldn't have won. That's not their fault; that's not because they suck. That's because they're fighting with three of the best teams in the tournament, where people were like, "Can't we send three teams through?". Because all of those three teams are good. So Clutch Gaming just...couldn't win against these three. Not like this, anyway.
So given that Clutch Gaming couldn't have won. Given that CG had no chance to win given the group they had the misfortune of being placed in. You can't really say "oh, they didn't win a single game, they suck". Instead you have to look at what they did, how hard they tried, how strongly they performed.
They didn't suck. They didn't drop the ball. They didn't make many mistakes. Most of their "mistakes" were them thinking they had caught out the enemy team, thinking they had a free pick, that they had an advantage, but in situations which were 50/50, them being turned against and Fnatic in the turnaround managing to take the edge.
Clutch Gaming should hold their heads high. The announcers really do say it best. "You can tell who watched the matches compared to who didn't by those who say, 'oh it was 0-6? They must have sucked, that was an inevitable result from a team sucking', because those who watched the matches know better".
Clutch got royally screwed by being placed in the group of death. Place them in literally any other group and they have a chance of making it to quarterfinals. Mind you, not good chances in groups A or D--Griffin probably beats them; G2 definitely beats them; Damwon is basically a better Clutch from Korea (both organizations are fairly new, with new talent and excellent coaching staff) so they beat them; IG probably beats them; Splyce probably beats them.
But they win against the other teams, FPX included, almost certainly. And not all of those matches are guaranteed losses to Clutch. So in any other group, Clutch would've stood a chance; in group B, that isn't chance so much as an absolute guarantee that they'd have gone anywhere from 4-2 to 6-0. With better luck, they'd be in.
So I will fight any of their doubters, any of their haters, by pointing out that even in their losses to the best teams in the worlds group stage, they were fighting tooth and nail every step of the way. I absolutely believe in them going into the future. They are a young organization; assuming their roster doesn't change for the worse, they will be a force to be reckoned with next year.
I think that next year, if they make it to worlds--which again, if their roster remains the same or better, it will--that they could be a contender to take the whole title. No, really. They need time; they need extra experience; they need a little luck; they need to make intelligent decisions; they need to not have their roster go into the dumpster fire (because they're good because of each of their players and their synergy).
Yet if that happens, I have faith that they can do it.
I think that they can potentially win an NA title next year, levels of good. They can fight TSM, they can fight CLG, they can fight Cloud9, they can fight TL, they can fight the Golden Guardians, and cream the other teams. So I think that they can do it.
So hold your heads high, Clutch Gaming. You got screwed over this year and couldn't do it this year because of where you landed, but your performance given where you landed is admirable even if it doesn't show up in the stats. Do that well without being screwed over, and yeah. You win. <3