Author: Nik Ranger

Full Division B Schedule for Week 7 of the CWL Pro League (Stage Two) – Matchups, Playoff Picture, Standings, and More The Playoff race will be heating up as the second half of Stage Two at the CWL Pro League is set to kick-off with some high-profile matchups in Division B. With the new format for the 2018 Call of Duty: WWII season, each “Stage’ of CWL Pro League competition contains eight weeks of matches, with each ‘Division’ consisting of four weeks. While the regular season has a prize pool of $200,000, teams are on the hunt to qualify for the $500,000 Playoff bracket by finishing in the top four of their respective Division at the end of each Stage. More: NFL Lineman Rodger Saffold on Owning Rise Nation and the Organization’s Recent Success “At first we were thinking this was more of a hobby” – Rise Nation will be coming into their second slate of Stage Two competition following a win at the $200,000 CWL Anaheim Open where they took down Red Reserve for their third major victory of the season. While Rise, OpTic, and UNILAD sit in the top three spots, eUnited, Luminosity, and compLexity will all be fighting for the fourth and final position in the standings in order to qualify for Playoffs down the road, with some important matchups taking place in week 6. More: Mochila, MBoZe and Nelson Try to Recruit Karma for Champs Run Mochila, MBoZe and Nelson Try to Recruit Karma for Champs Run – However, with two full weeks of matches set to take place, anything can happen in the standings. A full list of matches for week 6 can be viewed below, along with the current Division B standings at the time of writing. Tuesday, July 10th Wednesday, July 11th Thursday, July 12th Standings

Full Day Two Schedule for Division A of the CWL Pro League: Stage Two – Matchups, Playoff Picture, and More Day two of Division A at the CWL Pro Leauge it set to feature a collection of high-profile matchups which will be important to playoff hopes down the road for various teams. First created during the Infinite Warfare season, the CWL Pro League features 16 of the top teams in the world competing in a LAN environment at the MLG Arena in Columbus, Ohio. For the CoD: WWII season, the Pro League is split into two Divisions of eight teams each, with competition stretching over four weeks per Stage on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. More: CoD Cast Members Discuss What the ‘Blackout’ Battle Royale Mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Needs to Compete With Fortnite and PUBG – Now that Division A is in full-swing, teams will need to turn on the gas if they have not already in order to keep them in the running for the $500,000 Playoff at the end of the Stage, with only four squads from each Division qualifying. Day two will feature matchups such as Red Reserve vs Echo Fox, Red Reserve vs Team Envy, and Team Envy vs Team Kaliber, with the matches having major implications down the road. More: NAMELESS and MadCat Recall Hilarious Story from Simpler Times When Gamebattles Credits Could Buy You a Hot Meal – A full list of the matches can be viewed below for Wednesday, May 23rd. Wednesday, May 23rd Tuesday, May 22nd Scores Division B Standings After Day One of Week Two – Top Four Teams Advance to the Playoffs

Full Day Three Schedule for Division A of the CWL Pro League: Stage Two – Matchups, Playoff Picture, and More Day three of Divison A at the CWL Pro League is set to include a collection of high-profile matchups to help determine the Playoff picture. First created during the Infinite Warfare season, the CWL Pro League features 16 of the top teams in the world competing in a LAN environment at the MLG Arena in Columbus, Ohio. For the CoD: WWII season, the Pro League is split into two Divisions of eight teams each, with competition stretching over four weeks per Stage on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. More: CoD Cast Members Discuss What the ‘Blackout’ Battle Royale Mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Needs to Compete With Fortnite and PUBG – Now that Division A is in full-swing, teams will need to turn on the gas if they have not already in order to keep them in the running for the $500,000 Playoff at the end of the Stage, with only four squads from each Division qualifying. Day three will feature matchups such as Evil Geniuses vs Team Kaliber, Red Reserve vs FaZe Clan, and Echo Fox vs Team Envy , with the matches having major implications down the road. More: NAMELESS and MadCat Recall Hilarious Story from Simpler Times When Gamebattles Credits Could Buy You a Hot Meal – A full list of the matches can be viewed below for Wednesday, May 23rd. Thursday, May 24th

Full Call of Duty League 2021 regular season schedule revealed Call of Duty LeagueThe Call of Duty League appears to have accidentally leaked the full schedule for the 2021 season, right up to July, prior to the World Championship event. [jwplayer seN10a3q] At the CDL Kickoff Classic, teams had their first competitive outing with fans able to watch, with each franchise playing one match to showcase what kind of action we can be expecting over the coming season. While fans eagerly anticipate the first of the five CDL Stages this year, kicking off with the Atlanta FaZe Home Series from February 11-14, the full schedule has appeared on the Call of Duty League website, showing fans when they can expect to see their favorite teams in action. It’s not quite clear whether this full schedule was supposed to be revealed yet — when you head to the actual CDL schedule page, it only shows Stage 1 — so some of these may change over the course of the coming months. Here’s how each stage is set to play out, as of right now: Stage 1 Feb 11-14: Atlanta FaZe Home Series (Week 1) – Feb 18-21: Week 2 – Feb 25-28: Week 3 – Week of March 1: Stage 1 Major – Stage 2 March 18-21: Toronto Ultra Home Series – March 25-28: Week 2 – April 1-4: LA Guerrillas Home Series – Week of April 5: Stage 2 Major – Stage 3 April 22-25: London Royal Ravens Home Series – April 29-May 2: Paris Legion Home Series – May 6-9: Dallas Empire Home Series – Week of May 10: Stage 3 Major – Stage 4 May 27-30: OpTic Chicago Home Series – June 3-6: Florida Mutineers Home Series – June 10-13: LA Thieves Home Series – Week of June 14: Stage 4 Major – Stage 5 July 1-4: Seattle Surge Home Series – July 8-11: New York Subliners Home Series – July 15-18: Minnesota ROKKR Home Series – Week of July 19: Stage 5 Major – As mentioned before, this could all be subject to change, especially as it’s not clear whether this was meant to be made public yet. That said, it definitely gives us a lot of action to look forward to, and means we can probably speculate about when Champs will be. It is presumed, at this point, that all matches will be held online, but it would be great for fans and players alike if the world champions could be crowned on LAN once again. The action definitely seems to be picking up in the latter stages of the season, with Home Series’ every weekend. That said, be sure to check out the Stage 1 groups to see which teams are likely to get the easiest or hardest starts to their 2021 season; it could have huge implications on the rest of the year.

Full-auto conversion kit turns one of MW3’s worst ARs into one of its best ActivisionThanks to MW3’s JAK Patriot Kit, the M16 may see a rise in usage in your Warzone lobbies, especially after JGOD’s latest YouTube video. In recent entries, burst rifles have found themselves at the bottom of COD’s weapon tier lists, with the M16 one suffering such a horrid fate. However, thanks to a massive buff with Season 3, the M16’s fortunes have reversed, as it’s become a very good assault rifle in MW3. It seems the M16’s buff may start to take over Warzone, with well-known COD YouTuber JGOD thinking MW3’s JAK Patriot Kit may give the weapon meta-shifting capabilities. Completing five of Week 7’s challenges unlocks the aforementioned Aftermarket Part, converting the burst rifle to fully auto mode with a fast time-to-kill. Comparing it to the BP50, JGOD was critical of its vertical recoil and bullet velocity, both areas that cannot be improved with stocks and rear grips. Players lose the option to mitigate those detractors since the conversion kit removes the ability to add a barrel. However, the loadout he assembled does lean into the kit’s weaknesses, with an increased bullet velocity and larger magazine size to shred in Resurgence playlists. Muzzle: ZEHMN35 Compensated Flash Hider – Underbarrel: Bruen Heavy Support – Ammunition: 5.56 NATO High Grain Rounds – Magazine: 60 Round Mag – Conversion Kit: Jak Patriot Kit – That said, JGOD did state the JAK Patriot M16 works great as a good sniper support option since some of the meta weapons still outclass it. If players focus on a sniper support role, they can remove the 5.56 NATO High Grain rounds and add an optic like the JAK Glassless. With or without the conversion kit, it can’t be understated how much of a better place the M16 is in. With more players getting their hands on the JAK Patriot, don’t be surprised if your Resurgence or MW3 lobbies are full of the M16.

Frustrating Warzone wall glitch is back and ruining games Irons21A familiar bug is currently ruining many games in Warzone, denying squads and solo players the chance of a well-earned victory. [jwplayer ljpFaE9y] Warzone is notoriously competitive and it requires a huge amount of teamwork and game knowledge to pull off a dominant victory. If that wasn’t enough, players must also contend with numerous game-breaking bugs, exploits, and hackers when they queue up for games. From the recent unlimited Juggernaut exploit to the infamous ‘demon gun glitch’, there have been several problems that have plagued Warzone since its launch. However, numerous Warzone players are now reporting the return of an old Season 1 bug that has reared its head once again. This notorious glitch has been floating around Verdansk for a while now and it seems Activision has yet to patch it. If you wish to avoid being eliminated by pesky squads using this glitch, then be sure to read all the details below. Reddit user, Irons21 and his squadmate had been looting in Hills when they came across an entire squad using this wall glitch. At first, everything looks normal and the player simply scours the area for money in order to buy his two teammates back. However, upon entering the garage he notices a parked jeep. As soon as Irons21 steps a single foot into the garage, a hail of shotgun rounds and assault rifle fire spew out of the wall. At first, it looks like the enemy squad is hacking, but it’s only until we see the killcam that the exploit is finally revealed. “What the f**ck is this”, the player cries as they quickly realize that an entire enemy squad had been shooting at them from within the confines of the garage wall. The glitch is incredibly easy to pull off and only requires players to simply park a vehicle next to the garage wall, then look at the garage and get out of the truck. While this glitch may be incredibly easy to pull off, it’s also very easy to counter. All you have to do is simply blow up the vehicle next to the wall. This will trap the enemy squad inside, forcing them to exit the game entirely or die to the gas. Activision has yet to make an official statement on this glitch, so make sure you stay well away from any of the game’s garages and nearby buildings that have cars/trucks parked next to them. If you’re looking for more Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War news and updates, head over to @DexertoIntel for all the latest info.

Frustrating Warzone & Vanguard bug is making players’ controllers useless ActivisionBoth Warzone and Vanguard are no strangers to the occasional glitch, and the latest issue is causing the right stick to completely stop working mid-match for controller players. Luckily, there is a really easy way you can fix it. Ever since the launch of Vanguard and Warzone Pacific, the CoD series has been plagued with bugs and glitches. Some of these have been so strange they’re hilarious, while others, like the freezing Buy Stations, have been totally game-breaking. The latest issue that players are running into sees the right stick become useless for controller players, leaving them unable to do anything but run straight ahead. It’s a problem that popped up recently after a Warzone cheaters aimbot stopped working. But, now, it seems the right stick bug is affecting average players. The issue seems to crop up whenever a player’s controller disconnects mid-game, whether it’s lost all charge or the user has quickly swapped the batteries. Once the controller reconnects, be it on console or PC, the right stick stops working entirely. As you can see from the clip posted by Reddit user spiderpunk92, although they remained in the game, they could only run and shoot without being able to aim. This is the result of the game automatically changing your input settings from controller to mouse and keyboard. If this happens to you, there are a few different ways to solve the problem. How to fix Warzone & Vanguard right stick not working issue Your first point of call if you run into this issue should be simply hitting right on your controller’s D-pad, the button that normally accesses scorestreaks. This appears to help Warzone or Vanguard realize that a controller is connected rather than a mouse and keyboard. Read More: Will Call of Duty still be on PlayStation? – At the time of writing, this appears to be the only method that won’t disrupt your game slightly. If using the D-pad doesn’t work, other players have reported that the right stick issue resolves itself after death. Of course, on Vanguard multiplayer this could be a small blip in the match, but having to do this in Caldera could completely ruin the game for you and your squad. It’s far from ideal, but it’s a small price to pay to regain full control of your character. Failing all of this, the third and final option is to simply close the application altogether. Once you boot the game back up, your controller will be fully-functioning once again. While it may seem minor, there’s no doubt this is an incredibly frustrating glitch that can easily disrupt play sessions. If you want to avoid the bug altogether, we recommend trying to make sure that your controller is fully-charged or sorted with fresh batteries before playing. So, to recap, these are three best ways to solve the right stick bug in Warzone and Vanguard: Hit right on the D-pad – Allow yourself to be killed in-game – Close the application – If you’re in the middle of a long session, try and wait until between matches to start disconnecting the controller. If not, and the right stick goes missing, be sure to use these helpful tips to get it back on track. For more handy guides, as well as the latest news, head over to our dedicated Call of Duty page.

Frustrating Warzone Season 5 bug makes players invincible in the Stadium Infinity Ward[jwplayer JDHBpZxG]While Season 5 of Warzone opened up the Stadium, turning it into one of the most popular hotspots in Verdansk, a frustrating issue is seeing teams gunned down by invincible enemies. After weeks of teasers, Infinity Ward finally opened the Stadium with the launch of Warzone’s fifth season. The explosive opening cinematic tore the roof off and allowed players to drop inside for the first time. It quickly became the most popular landing spot in Verdansk with plenty of loot up for grabs. The newly revamped location also came with its own unique easter egg that the community quickly solved. While dozens of players drop here every single match, there’s a frustrating new reason to avoid the hotspot. An old exploit has returned to the Warzone fray, with the Stadium now giving certain Operators the power of invincibility. Verdansk Stadium is a massive chunk of the map. The multi-level facility can be approached from any angle with tons of items scattered throughout. However, you’ll need to be extra vigilant when walking through this point of interest moving forward. Certain pillars within the stadium can be broken into thanks to a familiar exploit that plagued Warzone’s earlier seasons. Enemies could be hiding inside of a wall just waiting for you to run around the corner. Call of Duty League commentator Joe ‘MerK’ DeLuca learned this the hard way during an August 9 Twitch stream. Almost ziplining out of the Stadium, the CoD veteran was left speechless as he was gunned down in the blink of an eye. Seemingly out of nowhere, damage was coming through and MerK had barely a second to react. With his mouth wide open in shock, he watched the killcam to discover his opponent was actually inside a wall right next to him. Not only was the enemy immune to return fire, but they were invisible as well, save for a gun barely peeking out of the wall. This invincibility exploit can be replicated in a number of spots across the map too. Stadium is the most popular location for now, however, so expect to see it more often than not at this particular site. Enemies have to remain in this glitched position for the entire game. So there are ways around the issue if you’re able to spot cheaters out early. In the meantime, try to steer clear of the Stadium until a patch is released to address the issue.

Frustrating Warzone revive bug takes away your weapons Infinity WardAn odd bug in Call of Duty: Warzone is leaving players defenseless after attempting to revive their squadmates, or being revived themselves, as their weapon just totally disappears. Reviving is a crucial part of Warzone, allowing teammates to bring their ‘downed’ friends back into the fight, and has been used in some way in almost every battle royale game. In Warzone, it’s a snappy and simple feature, with the player sticking their friend with some kind of syringe to give them the health boost needed to stand and fight again, and saving them a trip to the Gulag. Given how central it is to the gameplay loop, it’s imperative that it works flawlessly – something that can’t be said for reviving recently. A number of players have reported a serious bug, where if they are interrupted part-way through reviving a teammate, they will be left holding the syringe in their hand, with no option to bring out their firearm again. It’s possible that the glitch only happens if the teammate is finished while you’re attempting to revive them, as shown in this example. As the player scarpered for cover, they were dumbfounded to realize that they simply had no option but to lay down and accept their fate, as their M4 had simply disappeared. Meanwhile, other fans have reported a similar issue, but on the opposite end of the revive. After being helped up by their teammate, this player reports that they too had no weapon. “A teammate revived me but after being revived I had no gun or hands or anything,” the player explained. “The space where hands or a gun should have been was completely empty.” It’s not something that features on Modern Warfare’s Trello board of known issues, so either Infinity Ward are not yet aware, or the bug is too rare for them to be monitoring at this stage. But, even if it doesn’t happen every time, it’s a serious enough issue that the developers will definitely want to straighten things out sooner rather than later.

Frustrating Warzone RC-XD bug is completely ruining matches Treyarch/ActivisionAn RC-XD bug in Warzone is completely ruining player’s games by locking them in the deployment animation, making it impossible for them to move or defend themselves. Since its release back in 2020, Call of Duty: Warzone has become one of the most popular FPS and shooter titles in the genre. With millions of players across the globe, fans eagerly await any new content or major updates to the game. However, despite having a dedicated player base, the title has garnered a poor reputation for the overwhelming amount of bugs and glitches that players experience. While some of them can be shrugged off as an inconvenience, others completely ruin player’s games and force them to quit or wait to be eliminated. Well, that’s exactly what happened to Evening_Positive9001 when they decided to use an RC-XD on Rebirth Island. Warzone RC-XD bug is freezing player’s games A thread posted to the CODWarzone subreddit has showcased an RC-XD bug that is ruining player’s games and forcing them to quit their matches. Evening_Positive9001 experienced the glitch when playing Duos on Rebirth Island. After finding an RC-XD, they deployed the vehicle and began driving it towards a set of enemies. They then detonated the killstreak next to a set of opponents and soon realized they were stuck on the deployment screen with no ability to move or shoot. Evening_Positive9001 tried everything to get out of the animation but seemed to work. It’s hard to know why this bug occurred as there was nothing abnormal about the way in which the player deployed the RC-XD. The issue just appears to be affecting players occasionally when they use the killstreak. This is an incredibly frustrating bug to experience as it guarantees that you’re going to be eliminated from the match. This is definitely an issue Raven Software needs to address as it’s not a problem that players can just ignore. Let’s hope this bug is just limited to Rebirth Island and that the developers can find a fix to the glitch as soon as possible. In the meantime, you might want to avoid using any RC-XDs on Rebirth, at least for the time being.

Frustrating Warzone invisibility glitch is back as players rack up free kills ActivisionCall of Duty fans are once again finding a strange glitch in Warzone that’s turning people invisible – frustrating those who have to contend with players abusing the bug in the battle royale. It’s been a winding road for Warzone players since the game releases. While the developers have given audiences a steady supply of in-game content, expansions, cosmetics, and the like, the battle royale has also been marred by glitches and exploits for a long time. There’ve been heinous bugs before that give people an easy way to cheat in the game, but there aren’t many that have been so bothersome as those that give people a perfect camouflage to get an advantage in Verdansk. According to widespread reports among the Warzone player-base, the bug that once turned people invisible is back, and it’s just as frustrating as the exploit found a few weeks prior that essentially had the same effect. In the clip above, the match winds down to its last dozen contestants and there’s heated action happening around the Torsk Bloc. The only problem being that the player is only hearing someone stomp on the outside, but not actually seeing anyone. That’s when the player decided to wait for them to push into the threshold and listen for the proper sound queues that would let them know where the threat was. Unfortunately, even though he got a couple of hitmakers on the glitched opponent, they were no match for the unseen target. At this point, it’s not clear exactly what’s allowing this exploit to continue existing in Warzone. When it was discovered the first time back at the start of Season 1 in early December, the trick involved using the new Attack Helicopters to gain invisibility, which prompted Raven Software to disable the choppers until the glitch was patched. This time, however, Raven have yet to comment on the issue or disable anything that may be related to the exploit, so for the time being it’s going to continue to be used until something gets done. On top of this, there’s another game-breaking glitch that’s returned to Warzone – unlimited stims, which allows players to stay in the gas and get win after win since everyone else eventually ends up dying out in each match. So consider this a warning if you’re planning on diving down into Verdansk or Rebirth Island anytime soon; things are a bit wild in the battle royale at the moment.

Frustrating Warzone glitch makes sun glare even stronger ActivisionThe sun glare in Warzone has become an increasingly frustrating visual feature for players in Verdansk, but now it’s gone even further and becoming a bigger issue than ever before. In previous seasons, many players complained about Warzone being too dark. It was a huge contributor to the rise of the Roze skin, which is perfect for players looking to hide in corners and go undetected, getting the jump on unsuspecting enemies. As a result, devs Raven Software made some significant changes to the lighting in the game, making it much brighter. While it’s still not perfect, and the Roze skin is still capable of running riot across Verdansk, it is an improvement. One problem players have frequently encountered now, though, is sun glare. Some angles are almost impossible to look at with the sun in the way, and the situation seems only to be getting worse. While Raven devs have confirmed that they’re looking to fix sun glare issues in Verdansk ‘84, there have been no notable changes yet. They’re likely looking for the best way to remove it without returning to the dark Verdansk of old. In the wait for a lighting fix, though, the sun seems to be lashing out at its Warzone overlords and taking matters into its own hands, appearing where it simply shouldn’t. As shown in the Reddit post below from LegendWho, the sun has become so strong that it is literally shining through rocks. Of course, without question, the sun shouldn’t have this power and it’s something Raven will want to take a look at to find out why it’s happening. There are definitely changes coming to the lighting in Verdansk ‘84 at some point, but the devs might have quite the task on their hands by the looks of it.

Frustrating Warzone glitch completely breaks in-game operator menu Activision/Raven SoftwareA frustrating new Warzone glitch has completely broken the operator menu in-game, preventing players from choosing different characters before they head into a match. There’s no denying that Call of Duty: Warzone is one of the most popular and successful battle royale titles in the genre. From the game’s impressive gunplay to the diverse and expansive landscape of Verdansk, it’s easy to see why so many players choose to play the title every single day. Despite this, the game certainly isn’t without its faults and issues. Game-breaking glitches have plagued the title since its release and the player base is beginning to lose its patience with the developers. Now, the February 5 update, which was intended to fix a number of issues in-game, has introduced another bug that is affecting players before they enter a match. February update introduces new operator glitch After installing the recently released February 5 update, some Warzone players realized that their in-game operator menu was completely inaccessible. If a player attempts to click on the Operator menu in-game, it simply returns them to the play tab, making it impossible for players to choose their character before they head into a match. Although this glitch doesn’t directly affect Warzone’s gameplay, for the community, it just feels like another slap in the face after installing an update that was meant to fix the game’s problems, not cause more. Uh oh… The #Warzone update has broken the Operators tab – now you can’t access it to check or change your Operator 😐 pic.twitter.com/WMVBe2VDPT — Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) February 5, 2021 In terms of a fix, it’s difficult to tell how long it will take the developers to resolve the issue. Countless bugs have been left unfixed throughout 2020 and into the new year, but as this one is affecting a large majority of the player base, hopefully, it is prioritized and sorted as quickly as possible. These types of bugs coupled with the title’s severe cheating and hacking issues mean Warzone isn’t having the greatest start to the new year. Fingers crossed the developers can get it together in 2021 and start ironing these major issues that are massively affecting the gameplay experience.

Frustrating Warzone cheaters are getting easy kills by hiding in walls Infinity WardCheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone are getting easy kills to their name by glitching into walls, letting them freely walk within a structure’s barriers to pick people off. There have been a few sightings of this happening around Warzone’s City of Verdansk’s Port, inside of the two-story ‘Gardar’ building. The exploit has been giving cheaters a way to eliminate unsuspecting players without a chance for a counter-play. One of the worst things about this cheat is that it doesn’t appear to be the work of a third-party hack. By using an exploit to glitch into the walls, it appears as if any player can squeak their way inside of the building’s parameters. What results from the exploit is a permanently shielded player with the ability to not only see into the many rooms and hallways of the building, but also have the ability to shoot into them. From user ‘Cheeky-Bean’s perspective, it looked as if they had walked into an invisible turret mounted onto the ceiling since he was greeted with a barrage of gunfire moments after entering the structure’s open doors. But the kill-cam moments after their demise revealed a pair of players making quick work of anyone in or around the building from within the walls. “In order to clip into walls like we keep seeing, they are abusing glitches that are inside of everyone’s game,” user ‘sir_lurkzalot’ said in response to the clip. “They’re due to an oversight of the developers. Now that people have figured out how to glitch into one or two places they’re seeing if the same methods work in other places.” This is something that the Warzone community would like to see patched up, seeing as it makes it nearly impossible to beat players using the exploit sans avoiding buildings all together. @infinityward @Activision so here’s some more evidence of hackers in #warzone ! Look at killfeed for the names. pic.twitter.com/qmlvXQqp5h — Calisco (@calisco513) April 12, 2020 But the exploit is just one instance of ways players have been cheating in Warzone. The problem has gotten so out of hand lately that developers have had to address what they’re doing to get rid of hackers. With the team at Infinity Ward working to make progress on the numerous issues in Warzone, hopefully at least one of their solutions will prevent players from exploiting this problematic wall glitch.

Frustrating Warzone Buy Station freeze bug is now effecting Loadout Drops ActivisionWarzone players have been plagued by lag spikes and dropped frames when using Buy Station, and now their games freeze when opening Loadout Drops. Call of Duty Warzone is riddled with bugs and glitches that infuriate its players. When one bug is addressed, another takes its place, and the cycle continues. But what’s even more frustrating is when a bug that was seemingly dealt with makes a return. This has happened with the Demon Gun glitch and a Gulag bug that killed the winner. Now, players are dealing with game-ending lag spikes when performing essential tasks. The game freezes when they use Buy Stations, are around floor loot, and now when opening Loadout Drops. Loadout Drops lag players to their deaths Reddit user br4ndnewbr4d posted a clip from an encounter in Warzone featuring an awful amount of lag. The lag started as soon as he and another player came within range of each other. After winning the gunfight, the player moved in on a nearby Loadout Drop. It wasn’t until the animation for the loadout dropped played that their game froze for 10 seconds. When Warzone finally caught up, they were nowhere near the Loadout Drop and was killed shortly after. According to the comments on Reddit, br4ndnewbr4d isn’t the only one suffering from this bug. Some claim they played for hours and constantly experience similar lag spikes. Others say they only experience lag during their first few interactions. Regardless of when it happens, a number of comments state the same. They are playing normally, they encounter lag, and then the game resumes only for them to watch a killcam of how they died while they were frozen. Some players state that they have been encountering lag since the beginning of Warzone Season 2. Others claim they have been dealing with this issue for over a year. However, Raven Software has stated that they are looking into fixing these lag spikes with Buy Stations, but the issue seemingly affects more than one aspect of the game. Fans are hoping that Warzone 2 won’t come with the same bugs they have to deal with now.

Frustrating Warzone bugs are sending players under the battle royale map Infinity WardWarzone players are already stumbling upon game-breaking glitches in the new battle royale, as various bugs are forcing players underneath the map. While Verdansk may be one of the biggest maps in Call of Duty history, incorporating a number of full-scale multiplayer maps from earlier titles, the sprawling landscape hasn’t quite come in perfect shape. From awkward trees that send vehicles flying, to confusing texture glitches that completely alter the game’s appearance, Warzone has already seen its fair share of bugs. However, even more new complications are being uncovered that could spell disaster for your next match. Having made it through until the final third of the lobby in a March 25 game, Reddit user ‘yyyt’ had a stacked loadout and both of their teammates were still in the action. All seemed to be in their favor until disaster struck out of nowhere. Dropping off of a rooftop in the Downtown Tavorsk District, they pulled their parachute just inches away from a wall and suddenly found themselves floating straight through the building. With no way to launch themselves back into the map, they were forced to slowly sail down as textures became smaller and smaller. Before long, they had reached an elevation that completely bugged the game and resulted in instant death. Seemingly an issue that has impacted Modern Warfare since its release, Ground War players reported similarly frustrating bugs just weeks into the latest CoD. While the Warzone glitch can be frustrating and result in immediate death, others have found ways to exploit the bug and take down enemies in the process. Somehow glitched under the Verdansk train station, Reddit user ‘neatzi’ showcased an opponent that was able to wipe out their squad without even being spotted. Peaking through numerous textures, the enemy was able to fire through the floor no different to players that exploited earlier Ground War bugs. While developers at Infinity Ward are yet to comment on the map-related issues impacting the game, as these bugs become more prevalent, it’s likely that we’ll see them patched out sooner than later. The next Modern Warfare patch was set to release on March 24 but was held back as the studio appears to be implementing new modes across the board. Perhaps a few wrinkles will be ironed out the next update is released.

Frustrating Warzone bug lets vehicles kill enemies through buildings ActivisionAnother Warzone bug has come to light that is annoying players, and it involves being killed by vehicles through walls with absolutely no chance to counter. Vehicles are already well-established as one of the most powerful weapons in the game. Although they were probably intended purely to help with rotations and getting across the map, they’ve become a favored tool for simply mowing down any enemies in your way. If this wasn’t frustrating enough, it appears that vehicles – and the large truck most persistently – have powers we previously hadn’t discovered, and the bug is becoming quite a nuisance. While you might think that being inside a building and tucked away is one of your best chances at avoiding being spotted or ran into by a truck driver, it turns out that even brick walls can’t protect you. Many Warzone players have complained to Activision about the issue at this point and will be desperately hoping for a fix to come, as showcased in this clip, where the truck clearly didn’t make contact with the player it killed. @Activision @ATVIAssist @InfinityWard BUG: you can kill people inside buildings with the cargo truck on #calllofduty #modernwarfare #Warzone pic.twitter.com/YUL1gJIcij — Luke (@EKULPlayz) March 30, 2020 It’s not only standing buildings that trucks can kill through, either. It appears there isn’t much that can stop it, as Call of Duty League commentator Thomas ‘Chance’ Ashworth showed in a clip he posted to Twitter on April 1, in which he is looting a plane and someone simply rams into the side of it, downing Chance who was left in complete disbelief. “Uh, f**king excuse me?” he asks in shock after being downed. “I’m in an airplane!” Clearly there is an issue with vehicles, and trucks in particular, and there’s no doubt Infinity Ward have already seen clips such as these and will be planning to address the bug imminently. Until then, though, maybe try to protect yourself in the upper floors of buildings if you think there’s a truck around.

Frustrating Warzone bug has players avoiding Airport at all costs ActivisionPlayers have discovered a frustrating wall breach glitch in Warzone that is ruining Airport and other points of interest on the map for them. Despite how well-loved Warzone has been in the time since it was released, it’s impossible to deny that cheaters and hackers are ruining the game experience for many people. Whether it be aimbotters or unlimited health god mode glitches, players have found new ways to unfairly steal wins in Verdansk. The issue has become a huge one, so much so that Infinity Ward announced on March 31 that they’ve already permanently banned 50,000 players that they have caught cheating or using hacks in some form. Now, a new wall breach has been found near the Airport area of the map, and it’s impossible to counter and ruining games for players. Posting to Reddit on March 31, derkerburgl showed himself being killed by some invisible being, with shots seemingly coming out of thin air near a wall. It soon became apparent that he was actually being shot through the wall, but he had no hope of anticipating the gunfire or responding to it at all – which must be especially frustrating when there’s only 25 left in the game. As mentioned above, this isn’t the first time someone is using in-game exploits in Warzone and it probably won’t be the last. Other players have reported various wall breach spots (which, for obvious reasons, we won’t go into detail here) but a number of respondents in the Reddit comments explained that it’s likely something to do with the nearby truck. They say that as it was parked in such a narrow space, the game simply clipped the player into the wall when they exited the vehicle as there was no space for them to actually stand in the tight gap. With 50,000 players already permanently banned from the game, we would imagine Infinity Ward are working particularly hard on identifying cheaters and repeat offenders to make sure issues such as these don’t persist. But, for now, if you ever see a truck randomly passed in that little space at Airport, assume the worst and get out of there as soon as possible.

Frustrating Warzone bug “handicaps” snipers with broken reticle Treyarch/ActivisionA strange glitch in Warzone is removing the indicators from sniper scopes, making it almost impossible to land any shots. Despite Warzone’s overwhelming popularity, the game is far from perfect and has garnered a reputation for its frustrating glitches. Although the majority of these bugs can be overlooked by the community, some of them directly affect the gameplay experience and make it impossible to perform in a match. Well, that’s certainly the case for a recent issue that has popped up with reticles, effectively making them a spyglass with no indicators. This makes it unbelievably difficult to land shots as it’s impossible to aim your bullets accurately. Warzone glitch makes sniper scopes completely useless Posted to the CODWarzone subreddit on April 5, user ZagureppinSG showcased a glitch that’s making it extremely difficult to utilize snipers at long-range. After getting into a power position with their Kar98k on Caldera, ZagureppinSG zoomed in with their scope and noticed there was no indicator or reticle. This effectively meant the scope was just a spyglass that could only be used to zoom in on enemies. Despite this, they somehow managed to land back-to-back headshots on a set of enemies, picking up two clean kills. Although the bug didn’t affect ZagureppinSG in this scenario, it would have been almost impossible to land a shot at long-range. It’s hard to know why this glitch is occurring with snipers but based on the Reddit thread, it seems to be affecting console players more than those on PC. Not only that, some players have reported that the Axial Arms 3x scope is also experiencing this bug, so it may even be ruining the scopes on ARs and LMGs as well. For now, we’ll just have to wait for an announcement or patch from Raven Software that hopefully addresses the frustrating issue.

Frustrating Warzone bug gives PC players ‘wall hacks’ with scopes ActivisionA frustrating Warzone bug is letting some players see through walls and track their enemies’ movements, making them nearly impossible to play against. Warzone players are becoming increasingly incensed with some of the bugs that pop up in the game. Most notably, with the launch of Season 6 on September 29, players found their apps crashing and being kicked out of servers on a regular basis, and it was completely unavoidable. On October 1, Infinity Ward revealed that they’ve banned 200,000 players that have been found to be using cheats in their various forms, which has been a major sticking point for players worldwide. Now, some players appear to be getting what are essentially ‘wall hacks’ for free thanks to a bug in the game. Anti-cheat update: Since launch, the team has banned over 200,000 accounts for cheating across #Warzone and #ModernWarfare, including a new wave this week. We are continuing to deploy additional security updates and added backend enforcement tools. Zero tolerance for cheating. — Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) October 1, 2020 The footage below was captured by Dustinthemighty and, although the video has been compressed slightly, you can see exactly what they’re talking about with an ability to see his enemy through walls if you look closely — though it apparently is significantly easier to see in-game. After finding a Kar98k in a Scavenger crate, Dustin started staring through the window of the next house over, which could just look like they know someone is there and are waiting to see movement. Although the video compression makes it hard to see, there is a slight glint around the reticle of Dustin’s scope where the opponent is moving, clearly having jumped out of the house and attempting to run to the right of the screen — something Dustin can basically see in its entirety, despite several walls between them. In the comments, one respondent said they believe it’s tied to their NVIDIA GPU as they have seen it before, which could possibly be the case, though there’s no real explanation or reason that can be proven as of yet. Obviously, with Activision seemingly looking to ramp up the number of cheaters they ban, it would be a shame to see innocent players get roped in with actual hackers because they’ve been reported over suspicious deaths, so it will be interesting to see whether the Warzone devs can fix this any time soon.

Frustrating out-of-map glitch spot in Capital is ruining Warzone matches ActivisionWarzone players have discovered a crazy wallbreach spot in the Capital POI that is ruining matches and leaving victims absolutely dumbfounded. Warzone cheaters have always found a way to stretch the game to its limits, and a lot of the time that has come through wallbreach glitches, allowing players to hide inside the walls of the map and pick off unsuspecting enemies. The problem was particularly notable in Verdansk, with spots such as these regularly popping up in areas such as Prison and Airport. While it’s not been so common in Caldera, some of these areas have started to pop up — including this one at Capital. Warzone Capital wallbreach spot Capital is a pretty popular hot-drop, which just makes matters like these even more infuriating — but at least it answers some questions you might have over some suspicious deaths in the POI. As shown in the TikTok below, which is going viral on the platform, it’s incredibly easy to get inside one of the roofs at Capital, run around and cause chaos from total safety. All it requires is a deployable shield, and you can mantle your way right into the walls and take down any opponents that happen to run past. Click here if TikTok doesn’t load This appears to have been in Warzone for a while now, though it’s not clear exactly how long, but it’s picking up some serious steam online. For that reason, you should expect to see it happen a lot more — or devs Raven Software patch it out before long.

Frustrating Modern Warfare glitch stops players from reloading YouTube: Drift0rAn annoying glitch in Modern Warfare is preventing players from reloading their weapons for seemingly no reason at all. The game has seen its fair share of bugs, glitches, and exploits since it released in October 2019, with bizarre events occurring including turning maps into a psychedelic experience and weapons simply not running out of ammo… ever. This is all par for the course of a popular game such as Call of Duty, and the developers will often work endlessly to try and negate the number of bugs operating in their game – but this one seems to have slipped through the net, and it’s pretty annoying. Posted to Reddit by a player called CHARL13is, they appear to be playing a game of Infected when his Model 680 shotgun simply stops reloading. As the enemies make their way up to the top of Rust where CHARL13’s team is situated, it seems obvious enough that reigning shotgun shells down upon them is a guaranteed route to success, simply picking them off as they head in a straight line towards you. This wasn’t the case, however, as soon enough CHARL13’s shotgun just stops reloading. While the character is still doing the animation of putting the slugs into the weapon, the number simply flickers between 0 and 1, while never actually filling up. The Redditor was forced to switch to their pistol, instead, packing a lot less of a punch than the shotgun, and no matter what they tried they were unable to reload the Model 680. Eventually, the gaggle of infected managed to overrun the top section of Rust and take them out, but this may never have happened had the reload not bugged out. It’s not clear yet whether Infinity Ward is aware of this issue, but they’ll want to find out why it happened as soon as possible so they can get a fix out and stop this from happening in the future.

Frustrating Modern Warfare bug gives enemies a head start in rounds Infinity WardA bizarre Modern Warfare bug is letting players get a head start in matches, giving the other side no chance to counter. There have been instances in the past where players can’t help from dying immediately after a match starts, but this time it looks like some people could be using an early game exploit to get an advantage. It’s unclear how the player in question is able to move before the round’s countdown timer elapses, but they were consistently able to set up early picks by abusing the technique throughout a match. The gameplay captured by Reddit user ‘knestleknox’ shows them and their teammate loading into the map and waiting for the Gunfight match to start. Before the countdown goes to single-digits, the red silhouette of an enemy is already making its way up the Docks steps to get a clear vantage point of the players who have yet to be released from the countdown’s hold. Five seconds were still on the clock for knestleknox to move when their opponent was already looking through the window and lining up a shot. With three seconds left on the countdown, the glitched player was already taking shots waiting for the round to start and get a quick kill. “They started every round after this in a position I know they couldn’t have gotten to in time unless they were able to keep doing this,” knestleknox explained. “I was wondering how they were 6-0 on all their prior games.” The bug has cropped up during Season 1 but more players have been coming across the glitch ever since the Season 2 update with similar effects. “This is a bug,” user ‘RealDrMToboggan’ said. “Since the update, I’m able to move around the map a few seconds before everyone else can move. I’m sure it’ll be fixed soon.” Though knestleknox isn’t convinced it’s simply a bug since the other player “immediately took off to kill me as you can see and didn’t even hesitate over the fact that they could move.” In either case, this is something that Infinity Ward would be quick to fix since it could threaten the competitive integrity of matchmaking games.

Frustrating Cold War Season 2 bug is locking players out of the game ActivisionSeason 2 of Black Ops Cold War is upon us, and while most players are excited about all of the new content arriving in the game, some are literally being prevented from playing the game after downloading the update. Call of Duty is no stranger to bugs and glitches, ranging from minor annoying graphical bugs in Warzone to game-breaking glitches in the multiplayer experience. Now, players are experiencing a whole new level of game-breaking bugs, as they can’t even get into the game. The February 24 update was due to be an exciting one for fans, but now players are reporting that they can’t even load up the game at all. BOCW players have to buy the game again? After sitting through the painstaking download process, with Call of Duty games these days always growing in size, you just want to start the game up, see what’s new, and start ranking your Battle Pass up. However, multiple players are reporting that the BOCW Season 2 update is leaving them in a loop, with the game asking them to purchase it, even though they already own it. One user who experienced this was eortiz13 on Reddit, who reported that the game is asking him to re-purchase it before sending him to a screen that says he already has a copy. How to fix the issue It seems that most people reporting this issue are playing on Xbox, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s limited to Microsoft’s console. Here are some suggested fixes from other users on Reddit or those who have experienced it: Contact Activision and Microsoft Support to see if they can help – Go to ‘Manage Game’ and ensure all content packs are installed – Uninstall then reinstall the game – It’s unclear what exactly is causing this issue, but it’s something either Activision or Microsoft will want to ensure is fixed as soon as possible,

Frustrating Call of Duty: Warzone bug breaks respawning teammates Infinity WardA bug has been popping up in Call of Duty: Warzone where players are unable to buy their dead teammates back, despite having enough money to do so. Picture this: You and the boys have dropped hot in quads. You all found recon drones while your opponents found legendary crates—a tale as old as time. You all hit the gulag. Only one of you makes it out, it’s you. The boys refuse to give up on you, they tell you to hit a Scavenger mission and try to buy them back. A couple Scavengers and some near-death experiences later, you have $1,3500—enough to get everyone. You hit the buy station, only to be hit with the following error: “The selected squadmate is already back in action.” It’s an annoying bug and one with no clear solution or cause. The best part about making money is spending money, especially when the entire point of squad-based modes is to play with your team. A few homeopathic remedies appear to exist: players have found success by giving money to another teammate who is somehow then able to purchase the re-deployment or, most commonly, by trying out different vendors. But sometimes you might not be afforded the luxuries of time or a teammate, as evidenced by Redditor ‘krisluck’ who was fortunate enough to accrue $10,000 as the last of four teammates still alive—and then unfortunate enough to be hit with this bug. In their case, the startling error turned what would have been a smooth re-deployment effort into a frenzy of confusion. After a few attempts to bypass the game’s lies, an enemy team popped up and put him out of his misery. At the moment, there appears to be no fix in the works as the glitch is not included on Infinity Ward’s Trello board. Since another Redditor, ‘Mr_Tailmore’ has suggested the bug has been around for ‘at least a month,’ it’s possible that it is relatively infrequent and lower on IW’s list of priorities. Since it’s not on Trello, we can’t track its importance to the developers, but can be sure it is annoying people enough that they should consider bumping it up a few spots. On the plus side, IW has extended their double-XP offerings because of all the miscellaneous bugs that came with the latest major patch—so maybe that extension will get pushed further back.

Frustrating Buy Station bug makes Warzone players lose control of their movement ActivisionWarzone Season 5 is finally here bringing new content from perks to weapons. This has players rushing to Buy Stations to be able to use their new unlocks — but it’s not as simple as you’d have thought. With Season 5 upon us and hints of an anti-cheat coming soon, players are starting to get back into the CoD Battle Royale. All the new content including two new Warzone exclusive perks has players excited to visit buy stations, and get their loadouts to dominate games. Unfortunately, there seems to be an issue when interacting with these stations. This is causing players to lose their mind as they are just thrown into the open. Buy Stations causing movement glitch in Verdansk Players are reporting an issue with their movement when using a buy station. This is causing them have zero control over where they are going. This Reddit clip posted by ‘El_Nieto_PR’ shows how this “auto move bug after you interact with a Buy Station,” can be extremely annoying. After using the station you see the player start to walk forward. However, you can see that there are no hands on the keyboard, and the player is moving on its own. The clip explains that whenever you finish using the Buy Station it will start to walk in the direction that you last pressed, before opening the buy menu. The player also shows that there is no way to stop it from moving in the direction that it is going. It’s frustrating for players and the Redditor claims that this resulted in them getting killed in a previous game. However, some people are saying this issue isn’t for controller players. Through testing this on console, we can confirm that this glitch is not occurring to players on that platform. So if you’re a PC gamer, to prevent this you need to come to a complete stop before opening the buy station. In your next Warzone game you might want to be extra cautious before rushing to revive a teammate or get that loadout.

Frustrating Black Ops Cold War bug sticks players in the sky on Sanatorium ActivisionWithin hours of the new mid-season update in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, players were being faced with an incredibly frustrating bug that is getting them stuck in the sky when respawning into the new Sanatorium map. Sanatorium arrived in the January 14 update as a new map for the Fireteam Dirty Bomb game mode, and there’s even rumors that it could contribute to a new Warzone map, though no leak or reliable source has said as much so far. Sanatorium offers large-scale warfare that brings in a huge number of players and, generally, is being well received by the community. That said, it’s clearly going to have some growing pains as most new features in games do, but this one really is ruining the game for players — both those affected by it as well as those who have to play against it. A large number of players are reporting that when they respawn and are dropping back into Sanatorium, it’s like there’s an invisible floor holding them up in the sky, unable to drop all the way down and rejoin the battle. This is clearly a major issue, with several threads across social media of players complaining about being affected, and it looks about as ridiculous as it sounds. As you see in the clip below, imisslandryttp and their team were simply walking around in mid-air, miles above the ground, able to throw projectiles and equipment down but not actually being able to engage in gunfights on the ground. It’s a truly bizarre issue, and this is just one example of many, ruining the game for people who were looking forward to dropping into some brand new content. That said, it’s definitely something Treyarch will be looking to fix as soon as possible — this is as close to game-breaking as it gets without literally crashing the game, and has helped dampen the excitement of the new update.

Frustrated Warzone star Aydan outlines ideal ranked play system & rewards Twitter, @aydan / ActivisionOne of Call of Duty: Warzone’s biggest names, Aydan, has been vocal about his displeasure with the game. But now, he’s turning that frustration into constructive criticism – outlining his ideal Warzone ranked playlist. While the Warzone Pacific update hoped to revitalize the battle royale, bugs and issues have stunted that renaissance. Instead, one of the game’s all-time top earners and top-ranked pros, Aydan, joined thousands of fans in complaints about the game’s state and new map. Like console players considering ‘retiring’ from Warzone, Aydan sharply criticized Caldera before considering a switch back to Fortnite. While he’s now balancing his tilt out by playing some Apex Legends, the streamer has a vision for what could bring him back to Warzone full-time. And that vision is a “Ranked Play” mode, similar to what already exists in Apex and what players have been asking about for months. In a new tweet, he outlined precisely what this playlist would need. Aydan describes ideal Warzone Ranked Play Imagine: Warzone “”Ranked Play”” with no cheaters, different divisions up to Master rank, Ultra Rare Operators, weapon skins and charms that show you’ve earned it by being a DEMON. I’m playing that 8 hours a day MINIMUM. — Aydan (@aydan) December 27, 2021 Logistically, Aydan’s wishlist for a ranked mode is fairly simple. Zero cheaters, a ranking system with separate tiers, and a variety of rewards would be enough to get the streamer back involved. While hackers should be handled by RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, the other elements shouldn’t be too far-fetched. Divisional ranks already existed in Black Ops Cold War’s League Play, as did rewards – although Aydan wants more extensive rewards and would likely prefer a different ranking system. Unlike BOCW, a Warzone ranked system could operate similarly to Apex, with points awarded for placement and kills. And, with a tier system scaling to “Master” rank, Aydan suggests incentives like “Ultra Rare Operators, weapon skins, and charms.” At the moment, Vanguard doesn’t have ranked play and issues surrounding the lack of its inclusion have lowered hopes. OpTic Gaming founder H3CZ bashed the devs for ignoring the competitive scene and fellow streamer Swagg replied to Aydan saying the ranked dream is “chopped.” Still, Warzone already lost thousands of viewers when NICKMERCS left to Apex’s ranked mode. If they want to stop other big names from doing the same, then maybe this outline can prove useful.

Frustrated Warzone players hit out at Welgun’s bizarre audio issues ActivisionWarzone’s issues are seemingly infinite, as now for some players, audio issues causing the Welgun to sound extremely bizarre. As Warzone players dig deeper into the depths of Caldera, unfortunately, persistent issues keep hindering their experience. The severity of glitches is growing in size as the battle royale looks like something from Roblox and even has a building mislabeled on the map. One player has come across an incredibly strange bug is not only ruining the Welgun, but playing tricks with their audio. “Bugged” Welgun audio is truly strange Redditor ChoiceBurrito69 found themselves completely stumped on Rebirth Island, due to the Welgun’s audio projecting incorrectly. Fired by a member of his squad, who was in another location, it appeared as if the Welgun was audibly firing behind the player. Clearly confused by the fright of gunfire, the player looked around to survey his surroundings but found no enemy in sight. However, another element that is very peculiar is the brief appearance of bullet trails/muzzle flash on the floor at 7 seconds, despite no indication of enemy fire. Fellow players are equally as confused as ChoiceBurrito69 too. Redditor Sup3rB000t3r said: “The Welgun is so bugged. The barrel is invisible when I used it.” Another Redditor was quick to respond in regards to the disappointing power of the weapon itself: “Yeah the barrel that’s supposed to improve range is nonexistent.” The oddly specific glitch hasn’t just caused chaos for ChoiceBurrito69 either, as another frustrated player chimed in: “You have no clue how often I almost s**t myself because I thought an enemy was right on top of me.” It seems the Welgun has more than its fair share of audio issues outside of this instance, as one player said the “same thing happens to me but a Molotov, like I hear the Molotov all game it’s mad loud.” Redditor drayray98 claimed that his Welgun “doesn’t have any reload sounds.” This is definitely one of Warzone’s strangest bugs yet, but who knows if and when it may get addressed.

Frustrated Warzone players demand even more changes to Gas Mask animation ActivisionWarzone Pacific changed many basic features in the battle royale, but players are still demanding more revisions to be made to the annoying Gas Mask animation. When the new Warzone season started, the devs made what players thought would be a massive change to Gas Masks. This change said it would, “Now wait for reloading, Armor Plate insertion, or Grenade throwing animations to complete.” However, players are starting to realize that this update didn’t make the Gas Mask less annoying and is frustrating players are it continues to go on and off. Warzone players want Gas Mask toggle option In a Reddit post by ‘FallingSolstice’ this player shows a clip of them in the later stage of a match and struggling to shoot their weapon due to the mask animation. You can see that in the span of about 10 seconds the mask goes off and on three different times, causing the player to lose out on accuracy. This has them and others wanting a toggle option for the protective piece of equipment. “They could easily make it your choice whether you want a manual or automatic gas mask.” The proposed change would make it that players can pick to automatically put the mask on when in the gas or have to press a button to put it on so you can control when the animation occurs. Warzone players are looking back at the patch when the Gas Mask update came out and they said this change is aiming to “provide more control around the mask.” If the devs truly want players to have more control then the community believes that a toggle option would be the best improvement for the item.

Frustrated competitive Call of Duty fans are celebrating the rise of Halo Infinite Activision / MicrosoftHalo Infinite’s competitive season set records at HCS Raleigh and the frustrated Call of Duty community is now hoping the competitor’s success will help CoD in the long run. When Halo Infinite debuted its competitive plans, Call of Duty pros were knee-deep in Vanguard and already jealous of the rival title. At the time, Halo was only in online play, but the quality of its competition and emphasis on ranked play had CDL pros demanding change. Now, following Halo’s first LAN event, those sentiments are resurfacing. The Halo Competitive Series (HCS) kicked off with open-bracket play on LAN in Raleigh, North Carolina. The prize pool was a whopping $350,000, viewership hit an all-time high 260,000-plus, and CoD fans took note. There were a number of reactions – some angry, some hopeful – from fans and members of the scene alike, including streamers, pro players, and OpTic Gaming’s founder, Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez. CoD community looking on bright side of Halo success Halo might help COD get our shit together. This is just such a well executed launch by Halo that it isn’t even surprising that we are seeing this sort of success. have a lot to say re: this. Gimme a camera & a mic so I can continue to say what I said years ago on the matter. — OpTic HecZ (@H3CZ) December 19, 2021 The H3CZ reaction to HCS Raleigh is pretty emblematic of an optimistic camp in the CoD community. The hope is that Halo’s success can “help CoD get our s**t together.” As far as what “s**t” he’s referring to, there’s a number of qualities pointed to. The CDL’s 2021 MVP, Chris ‘Semp’ Lehr emphasized Halo’s crowdfunded prize pool while his peer Dillon ‘Attach’ Price noted the hype of open play. Former CoD caster and current 100 Thieves co-owner and streamer, Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop, got involved from a fan’s standpoint too. He listed seven ways Halo esports excelled, from ranked play to viewership rewards, seemingly focusing on the features CoD doesn’t have. But H3CZ isn’t the only one who’s trying to look on the bright side. While everyone is impressed by Halo’s success and seemingly rooting for the game, some are hoping the competition is a good thing. The frustrated competitive CoD community reacted by saying “you hate to see it, but you also love to see it.” And, with comments noting that competition could be a good thing, it appears that CoD players are watching Halo intently – and hoping Activision are, too.

Frustrated Call of Duty: Vanguard players call for fix to unlimited armor glitch ActivisionCall of Duty: Vanguard players are concerned as a new armor glitch is causing them to lose composure. It appears that the Armor Plates field upgrade is bugged, allowing players to become quasi-invincible. Call of Duty games typically have pretty fast TTKs (time-to-kill), but Warzone’s armoring mechanic definitely slowed things down a little. Now, Vanguard players can get a taste of that in multiplayer too, thanks to a new field upgrade. Unfortunately, that taste is quite quickly turning into a buffet of seeming impenetrability. Pros and casuals alike are noticing that Vanguard players appear to have a lot more armor than intended, with some even spawning in already-shielded. The game just launched on November 5, so bugs are to be expected. But this one, which has yet to be officially confirmed a glitch, is at the center of community backlash. Call of Duty: Vanguard players react to armor bug Is there a glitch with the armor plates in this game? I just played a game where I was putting an entire clip in people from behind and not even breaking the plates — Brian Baroska (@BrianSaintt) November 8, 2021 Has anyone seen a glitch in this game with armor plates where people legit have 3x health? — Jordan Kaplan (@JKap415) November 8, 2021 Almost simultaneously, two Call of Duty League coaches tweeted asking about the bug. The LA Thieves’ Jordan ‘JKap’ Kaplan and Minnesota ROKKR’s Brain ‘Saintt’ Baroska each hit social media wondering if there’s a glitch going around. In JKap’s experience, it felt like “people legit have 3x health.” In Saintt’s, he “was putting an entire clip in people from behind and not even breaking the plates.” Both situations were bizarre enough to concern these two vets, who have over a decade of pro CoD experience each. In the replies, people confirmed that yes — there is a bug. And other videos and tweets brought more evidence to light. Call of Duty: Vanguard glitch spawns players in with extra armor? Yooo @PrestigeIsKey Hacking or glitch??? @SHGames he spawned in with armor pic.twitter.com/d6LbJeDNnG — Joseph Spurlock (@JosephcSpurlock) November 7, 2021 In a separate video, someone asked Sledgehammer Games if an enemy was hacking or using a glitch. In their case, enemies seemed to be spawning in with a ton of armor already equipped. And then, in a reply to a JGOD tweet, another player also asked about the armor spawning. They were immediately responded to with a call to the devs: “It’s an armor glitch that needs to be patched asap.” It’s unclear precisely what causes the glitch or how it works. But, whatever the case (instant armor spawns, extra armor plates, etc.), it seems that Vanguard’s shielding field upgrade is working much better than intended.

Fresh CoD leaks claim to reveal real-life location of Warzone 2’s map Unsplash: Mike Swigunski / ActivisionFresh Call of Duty leaks from renowned insider TheGhostofHope appear to confirm the location of Warzone 2’s battle royale map, and it could also corroborate information relating to Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare II. Warzone’s issues with bugs and prolific cheating have led many to grow frustrated with the Call of Duty battle royale in the years since its launch. While frequent patches and RICOCHET anti-cheat have been introduced to try and improve both situations, many players are looking forward to the confirmed Warzone 2 – a sequel BR expected to drop in late 2022. Much about WZ 2 remains unclear but new information from reputable leaker TheGhostofHope could well confirm a setting for the map. On April 23, they tweeted: “The Warzone 2 map will heavily take inspiration from Medellin, Colombia.” The city is located in the Aburra Valley of Colombia, a central region of the Andes mountains. As such, it features a variety of regions including downtown skyscrapers, thick jungle, and densely populated urban areas. The Warzone 2 map will heavily take inspiration from Medellin, Colombia. pic.twitter.com/3W7EOi4Kda — Hope (@TheGhostOfHope) April 23, 2022 Of course, the information is not confirmed until we hear officially from Activision or Infinity Ward. The leaks, though, seem especially viable given what we know about 2022’s Modern Warfare II. According to leaks about the annual installment, it will focus on the conflict with Colombia’s drug cartels. A major cartel – the Medellin Cartel – was run under the leadership of the infamous Pablo Escobar and originated in the city. We also know that Warzone 2 will be developed by Infinity Ward, so a consistent setting between the annual installment and Warzone 2 seems likely. It would also continue a trend started in Black Ops 4’s Blackout which saw POIs from multiplayer maps carried over into the BR environment. Plenty responded positively to the news and remain excited to see what Infinity Ward has in store in both the upcoming titles.

Freaky Warzone glitch adds a third player to the Gulag ActivisionLike a jump scare in a horror movie, a new Call of Duty: Warzone glitch is freaking players out by adding a third combatant to their 1v1 Gulag matches. Picture this: your palms are sweaty, knees weak and your arms are heavy. Holding a Crossbow, you’ve got a foe in the opposite corner already. But as you prepare to fight, a third duelist appears in the Gulag. It’s a scary thing to imagine, much like Warzone meets Five Nights at Freddy’s. But, for some of Verdansk’s competitors, this nightmarish scenario has actually proven to be a reality. While the third opponent was unable to fight, there is a glitch causing them to show up as the Gulag duel begins. In a video shared online, a player spawned into the Gulag and, to their immediate surprise, was side-by-side with another Crossbow-wielding player. For the clip in question, the apparition disappeared by the end of the countdown timer, but no one knows exactly what happened or why. As shared by ‘Minimus Max’ on YouTube, they spawn into the Gulag as normal and see their enemy’s silhouette in the opposite corner. Then, when perusing the perimeter, they notice a third person in there, also wielding a weapon and also staring forward. Read more: 10 most popular weapons in Warzone – Chuckling and confused, before they can even assess whether or not this Gulag phantom is friend, foe or even real at all — the third prisoner vanishes as suddenly as they appeared. Unfazed, Minimus Max proceeds to laugh it off and land a smooth headshot, securing their release back onto Verdansk. As of yet, this glitch doesn’t appear to have registered on Raven Software’s radar at all. Going through the developers’ shared Trello board with Treyarch, there is no card listed either marking awareness or an intended fix for the weird, ghostly bug. That doesn’t seem to be too damning for the time being, as the worst the glitch seems capable of is distracting a player at the start of the Gulag. If you have nerves of steel like Minimus Max, then this will have no effect on you. Nevertheless, all bugs are spooky and this may be worth nipping in the bud. Aside from the countdown timer jump scare, it could be horrifying if the glitch lasted for long enough that two separate Gulag fights played out at the same time.

Freaky Warzone bug turns teammate into a giant grenade ActivisionThe Warzone Pacific update has been plagued with visual bugs but this one could take the cake as a teammate turns into a human-sized grenade. The battle royale got a huge overhaul after the latest Warzone update brought a new map, over 40 Vanguard weapons and, sadly, some glitches. Players have been complaining about numerous visual bugs ranging from buildings not loading to audio issues throughout the game. Caldera has been a walking nightmare for some. Speaking of nightmares, hopefully this latest glitch won’t haunt your dreams since a player was turned into a lethal piece of equipment. Warzone visual bug turns player into grenade Warzone has had its fair share of visual glitches. Players have grown an extra arm, turned into a bird, we’ve even had the demon glitch return, but a new bug is making an appearance on Caldera. This YouTube clip posted by ‘CubKulAid’ shows them looting up after wiping a squad but what happened next, no one saw coming. Out of nowhere, their teammate transforms into an enormous walking grenade. This clip was also posted to Reddit where fans got a good kick out of it. One person used this to reference a famous Hollywood line from Captain Phillips. “Look at me, look at me, I am the grenade now.” While another Redditor just thought that map one of CoD’s previous modes was brought into Warzone, “Prop hunt confirmed.” Other people joked around claiming that this is a hidden operator skin players can get. “Legend has it that when you throw too many games in a row you unlock the nade skin.” It is unknown if they appeared like this for enemies but if they did it could provide a competitive advantage as it could be difficult to locate the hitbox of the player while disguised as a grenade.

Freaky Vanguard glitch turns players into floating bodies that can’t be killed ActivisionAn insane Call of Duty: Vanguard glitch is making it so that players can effectively become dead bodies that can’t be stopped and can roam around freely and complete objectives unscathed. The latest glitch in Vanguard is a humdinger and one we’ve never seen before. The game’s most recent, major disturbance was Warzone’s infamous gun glitch infiltrating the game and messing around with maps. Now, it’s the turn of a new glitch that is causing corpses to behave rather unusually. Instead of being dead in the traditional sense, bodies are randomly gliding around Vanguard’s maps, completely immune to damage, but are still capable of capturing objectives. It’s definitely not a one-off instance either as at least two Reddit users have revealed their run-ins with this extremely bizarre glitch. One player asked “Anybody witness this yet?” and shared a video of them trying to capture the Patrol when they suddenly encountered not one, but two floating bodies. In the first couple of seconds, you can clearly see an allied body zoom straight past them on the floor. But before that can properly register with the confused player, the Patrol zone was suddenly being contested. It’s another floating body, this time an enemy one. The player fired at the living corpse, but they seemed to be impervious to any damage. Reddit user u/thisISben90 also had the same experience with a post titled: “The best glitch I’ve come across. It also makes [you] invulnerable.” Once again, a game of Vanguard became overrun by lots of free-roaming corpses that all have their player IDs displayed above their heads to signify they are still very much active. It’s hard to say what is causing this to happen though. At the beginning of the second clip, a player is just effortlessly bonked on the head and it registers as a kill, but we can’t say for certain that it turned them into one of these invincible dead bodies.

Fox News Criticized for Headline on Censor Dumping Yanet Garcia to Play Pro CoD American television network Fox News has come under scrutiny following what people are deeming as a rather inappropriate headline. News outlets across the world jumped on the story of professional Call of Duty player Doug ‘Censor’ Martin choosing competing over his girlfriend of three years, Yanet Garcia. Censor explained in a video that he wanted to dedicate his time to winning championships and with Black Ops 4 getting released in October 2018, and with Yanet working as a weather woman in Mexico City, he had to ‘pick his poison’ and decided it was unfair on her. Due to Yanet’s status as the world’s hottest weather woman, with her Instagram pictures usually having the emphasis on her behind, the story made its way out of the esports centric media and spread across the internet like wildfire. The idea that a ‘gamer’ would choose competing over the beauty of a girl has led to some rather amusing headlines, but there has been some questions raised when Fox News used the title ‘Duty or Booty’. The Most Awkward Esports Handshake of All Time?“Douglas Martin is a video game player. He is a professional gamer. So, they are dating for a while and things are going great, and this guy Douglas dumps this woman here — dumps, Yanet Garcia because he wants to dedicate more time to playing video games full time. Can you guys believe it?” The two guests on the show went on to say that he probably left her because she was leaving too little to the imagination. You can view the segment below at 4 minutes 15 seconds below. Please note that some users have reported seeing just a black box due to having the incorrect plugin. Please try another browser if the problem persists.

Only four teams remain in the CMG ProDown Black Ops 4 tournament after exciting day one matches The first installment of the $2,500 CMG ProDown tournament for Black Ops 4 has reached the final stages with just four teams remaining heading into the second day of competition. As has become the norm in online competition so far this season, OpTic Gaming looked to be in fine form on day one, cruising past some of the best teams on the planet in the upper bracket. Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and crew defeated the likes of Splyce, eUnited and 100 Thieves to secure their spot in the Grand Final, where they will meet one of the remaining lower bracket teams on Monday, November 19. Those three teams consist of 100 Thieves, Splyce and Luminosity Gaming, with 100T already holding a losers bracket final spot by virtue of their upper bracket final loss to OpTic Gaming. Luminosity Gaming defeated G2 Esports and eUnited in the lower bracket after a tight upper bracket loss to Envy, while Splyce bounced back from their loss to OpTic and managed to eliminate Envy in losers round four. CMG ProDown Bracket The first match of day two will see Splyce and LG face off for a spot in the lower bracket final against Austin ‘SlasheR’ Liddicoat and the rest of the 100 Thieves team. For Luminosity, this is the first time that fans have seen a hint of the level that was expected from them at the start of the season. The CMG ProDown consisted of eight invited professional teams and eight qualifiers. First place will take home $2,000 and second will net $500. You can keep up-to-date with the matches and streams on day two by visiting our event hub. The standings at the end of day one are as follows:

Fortune’s Keep out-of-map glitch is giving Warzone cheaters free kills ActivisionWarzone’s Fortune’s Keep map is the newest hotbed for chaotic Call of Duty combat, but despite all the praise it has received so far, the map is being spoilt by exploiters who are picking up free and easy kills. Aside from age-old lag issues in Warzone Season 4, the new content drop has been viewed positively with many of the community lapping up the new guns, changes, and the arrival of Fortune’s Keep — a new, smaller map like Rebirth Island. However, the update hasn’t been a completely smooth ride with the aforementioned lag issues returning and concerns over cheating in Warzone Pacific. One of the main concerns has been aimed at the ability to get out of the map to easily kill enemies, with Caldera recently suffering from the same issue. Warzone Fortune’s Keep map exploits frustrating players With so many variables to control at once when a new map launches, there can always be the occasional hiccup that disrupts games of Warzone. One of the main issues that can occur in the game is the ability to seep through the cracks of the map and get underneath it / in it. Fortune’s Keep is a solid map, but as shown by one Reddit user, it’s not completely foolproof just yet. WorkerLegitimate8223 and their squad were shot at in a game of Fortune’s Keep and couldn’t figure out for the life of them where the bullets were coming from. After one barrage of fire, a second wave ensued, and it wiped out the squad. The replay showed two players tucked away within the map itself, invisible to the naked eye. The response to the exploiters was understandably one of displeasure and condemnation for their actions: “How is this fun for people? Just toxic trolls…the only game they’ll get more than 2 kills in their life,” said one angry Redditor. The glitchy spot will inevitably be fixed by Raven Software and it shouldn’t be too long until players can breathe a sigh of relief.

Fortune’s Keep lobby size increased in Warzone Season 5 ActivisionWarzone’s Fortune’s Keep has established itself as one of the most popular maps since its introduction, and Raven are upping its player count across all game types in Season 5. The addition of Fortune’s Keep has been welcomed by the community with open arms since its debut in Warzone Season 4. As a smaller, more forgiving option to Caldera matches, players quickly took to the new map and labeled it “better than Rebirth Island.” One of the common calls has been for Raven to raise the player count, allowing even players to drop into a single match on Fortune’s Keep. Their wishes were answered briefly in July when the lobby size was raised, but this was part of a limited-time mode and they soon reverted back to the original setup. Now, in Warzone Season 5, the last chapter before Modern Warfare 2 arrives, the devs have taken the decision to increase the player count across the board on Fortune’s Keep. Prior to the Season 5 update, Fortune’s Keep could only accommodate up to 40 players in Quads, and slightly more in matches featuring smaller squad sizes: Solo: 47 – Duos: 46 – Trios: 45 – Quads: 40 – Going forward, Raven have opted to raise the size of lobbies in each different mode to make games even more frantic, with Quads allowing 52 players to drop in at the same time. We’ve listed a full breakdown of the new player counts below: Solos: 50 players – Duos: 50 players – Trios: 51 players – Quads: 52 players – These new lobby sizes should make use of Fortune’s Keep slightly bigger size than Rebirth Island and help ensure that the next fight is never too far away. That’s not the only change coming to the map in Warzone Season 5. The devs have also confirmed that they are increasing the availability of Supply Boxes during matches, meaning should be far easier to find weapons, Killstreaks, and cash right from the jump. Warzone Season 5 may well be last the season of the battle royale as we know it, but it’s great to see the developers making improvements right until the end. With a revamped Caldera and Umbrella Academy crossover to look forward to, Season 5 could be the best yet.

Fortnite star Aydan issues $10,000 challenge to CoD pros and snipers Instagram/GhostAydan/YouTube/MerkmusicDespite being known for his incredible Fortnite skills, Ghost Gaming’s Aydan ‘Ghost Aydan’ Conrad has sent out a challenge to all Call of Duty professionals and FaZe Clan members. Aydan has found fame as a professional Fortnite player in Epic Games’ third person battle royale, to the point where he has over 300,000 YouTube subscribers. The American has featured at numerous Fortnite tournaments, notably pairing with fellow console player Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff, and has won over $140,000 in prize money. It seems that Aydan believes his skills are transferrable though, and has taken aim at Call of Duty pros and their sniping ability. A game which is synonymous with consoles and controllers, Call of Duty has a large community who focus on the popular art of ‘quickscoping’; the ability to kill an opponent while scoping in and out of your weapon with incredible speed. This has become a sought after skill among CoD players, with many entertainers in FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming renowned for their talents in this department. On March 14, Aydan tweeted out that he “will challenge any pro or FaZe member to a $1,000-$10,000 1v1 quickscope match”. He also said he’d be happy to do this on four CoD games, listing Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops 2, Modern Warfare or Modern Warfare Remastered as potential games for this challenge. I will challenge any pro or FaZe member to a $1,000-$10,000 1v1 quickscope match on Mw2, Bo2, CoD4 or MWR. — Ghost Aydan (@aydan) March 14, 2019 The tweet provoked a significant response from many members of the CoD community, with numerous notable figures replying. Austin ‘FaZe Pamaj’ Pamajewon has been considered one of the best CoD snipers of all time, and tweeted a suggestive gif of his interest, showing pro golfer Tiger Woods limbering up. Other responses came from pro players Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell, who simply replied “Interesting”, while James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks suggested Aydan doesn’t “want this smoke”. At the time of writing, Aydan’s tweet has amassed over 12,000 likes, suggesting significant community interest in a potential match. Who do you want to see Aydan take on?

Fortnite pro Aydan defeats CoD legends to win $10,000 Code Red 2v2 Ghost Gaming Fortnite professional, Aydan ‘Aydan’ Conrad, managed to scoop up the $5,000 grand prize from the $10,000 Code Red 2v2 Gunfight event in Modern Warfare alongside rising CoD star John ‘2Pac ThuGLorD’. The Code Red events, which span across a wide variety of games, pit some of the best players in the world against each other. That was no different in the November 25 installment, which saw players dive into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s 2v2 Gunfight mode. Call of Duty legends like Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper and Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow paired up with the likes of Dr Disrespect and Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, as well as professionals from Apex Legends and Fortnite also joining the party. While some fans may have been backing the Call of Duty professionals to dominate their own game, it didn’t quite shake out like that. Fortnite professional, Aydan, who paired up with 2Pac ThuGLorD, run through a different bracket on their way to the final. The pair defeated Mendokusaii and cali before taking on Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag and Seth ‘Scump’ Abner. After taking down the former OpTic Gaming duo, Aydan and his partner overcame Team Summertime duo Davis ‘Hitch’ Edwards and Jorge in a tightly-contested winners semi-final match-up. It didn’t get easier from there, but they managed to beat the Seattle Surge duo of Karma and Sam ‘Octane’ Larew, before finishing off Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly and Josiah ‘Slacked’ Berry in the Grand Finals. 🏆Code Red CHAMPS!🏆 1st – @aydan & @x2Pac_ThuGLorD 3rd – @DKarma & @OctaneSam Thank you @Zippo_Gaming for powering this Event! Additionally, thank you to all those that watched and participated! pic.twitter.com/UysP8JsgmN — BoomTV (@boomtv) November 26, 2019 Of course, some fans may raise a few eyebrows at seeing a Fortnite player take down Call of Duty pros at their own game, but the pair had a solid run with a few 2-0’s in their back pocket. The victory only added to a successful day for rising star 2Pac, who managed to grow his Twitch viewership by an insane amount in the aftermath. What a crazy crazy day. Won the 10K 2v2 Tourney with Aydan. Reached 5k subs on my twitch! Got over $1000 in a bit war! Got hosted by Aydan and Formal!I just can’t believe all the things happening in my life right now. I just want to say thank you to everyone again > — FaZe 2Pac (@x2Pac_ThuGLorD) November 26, 2019 Code Red Modern Warfare 2v2 Gunfight final placements A rundown of the final placements for the three teams who walked away with prize money can be found below, while the extensive winners and losers brackets can be found via BoomTV.

Fortnite players create incredible playable replicas of iconic CoD: MW2 ‘Terminal’ map in Creative mode Since the launch of the new Creative mode in Fortnite Battle Royale, there has been a growing trend of using it to recreate classic Multiplayer maps from the Call of Duty series. As one would expect, one of the maps that players have commonly chosen to rebuild in Fortnite is the iconic Terminal map from CoD: Modern Warfare 2. Terminal’s Multiplayer version was based on the layout of the airport from the controversial campaign mission called ‘No Russian.’ The map is an airport terminal full of luggage, bars, and small shops in the interior, while the outside areas feature multiple planes and pieces of cargo sitting at various parts. While the internet is now full of average attempts at remaking Terminal in Fortnite, there are some that have stood out above all of the rest. The great thing about all of these remakes is that, not only do they look fantastic and extremely well done, they are also full playable, which means that players can just join in and run deathmatch games just like the old MW2 days. I made Terminal in #fortnite sub to the channel I’m hosting lobbies #FortniteCreative #fortniteblock #FortniteBlockParty pic.twitter.com/9nlJSY9CgJ — Mista J Gaming (@MistaJGaming) December 12, 2018 Wow, this man really recreated Terminal from MW2! :love_you_gesture::skin-tone-4::drooling_face: Full Video: https://t.co/5bUzecvWKI@XVNDERKVI1 pic.twitter.com/CG6gJ7w6hG— Fortnite Creative (@CreativeModeFN) December 13, 2018 After 4 long days of grinding I finally finished Terminal:fire::airplane:️ #Fortnite pic.twitter.com/LD9VI779oA — Bear:bear_face: (@ItssBear) December 18, 2018 Upon first glance, it’s almost instantly obvious that all of these players spent a lot of hours and hard work getting their version of Terminal to look like the original. The close attention to detail is applaudable, particularly with the interior areas, and that has directly resulted in the maps being very much playable and not just cool to look at. This can only mean that Fortnite players who have an extra spark of creativity and inspiration will continue to dazzle the internet with amazing recreations of nostalgic things from the past, such as Call of Duty maps.

Fortnite players accuse COD Mobile of “copying” POI for new Season 8 map Activision / Epic GamesFortnite fans slammed Call of Duty Mobile after a new map looks very similar to the fan-favorite Fortnite location Mega City. COD Mobile Season 8 launches on September 6 with all-new weapons, grenades, operators, and modes for fans to enjoy. The season, titled ‘Error 404’, has also revealed that a new sci-fi-themed multiplayer map is joining the game. It has been called Kurohana Metropolis and features a futuristic downtown setting that boasts bright Japanese-inspired lights reminiscent of Tokyo. However, shortly after the map was revealed to fans, Fortnite players noticed its similarities with the fan-favorite POI Mega City, which was added to the Battle Royale game in March 2023. Fortnite players slam COD Mobile for “copying” Mega City POI CharlieIntel posted the announcement of Kurohana Metropolis coming to COD Mobile for Season 8 to paired with images of the map, and Fortnite fans soon flooded the comments. “Activision saw mega city from Fortnite and called it a day.” One said. “Literally MEGA City.” Another said. Despite the comparisons made by the Fortnite community about the map being a copy of the Mega City POI, some seemingly unaware COD Mobile fans have praised the map. “Looks better than any new map they released for regular cod.” A commentor said. When comparing both maps, the similarities are obvious as the two maps pull on the same influences of Tokyo’s infamous city nightlife, featuring bright pink and blue lights, with Japanese lettering, and Japan’s infamous Cherry blossom trees throughout. COD Mobile Season 8: Error 404 is set to release on September 6 at 5 PM PT.

Famous Call of Duty: MW2 map reimagined in Fortnite as ‘Risky Rust’ looks incredible Fortnite players have been uploading a lot of designs to social media since Creative mode went live, but not many of them look as game-ready as this ‘Risky Rust’ creation. Based on the classic Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 map, Risky Rust features a tall metal structure in the middle with obstacles all around it, just like the classic version of Rust. A rather dramatic video of the design was posted to YouTube by Team Creativity, showcasing a CoD-style loading screen, how spawning into the map would look and much more. Team Creativity’s video editor, Joey Veekens, told Dexerto: “I picked Rust because when I was young it was all about Modern Warfare 2. I was a huge console gamer and I loved to have the old school 1 v 1 sniper battles on Rust.” Read More: Fortnite: Epic Games announce ‘The Block,’ where best Fortnite creations will appear in-game – This is one of the more complete designs which has been posted online so far, and when asked about Risky Rust potentially taking the place of Risky Reels on ‘The Block’, the editor said: “If it’s possible that this will be on The Block then yes, for sure, I would like to see that”. Veekens understands, though, that Risky Rust is unlikely to feature on the Fortnite map in the future, due to its association with Call of Duty. Read More: Some of these Fortnite Creative map creations will pull on the heart strings – Call of Duty classics and more – A flood of gamers have been quick to upload their designs to social media to share their designs since Creative mode was introduced in Fortnite’s v7.00 patch, with some garnering more attention than others. The more popular ones tend to be inspired by destinations from popular gaming culture. For example, people have created Call of Duty: Black Ops’ Nuketown map, Pokémon’s Twinleaf Town and The Walking Dead’s Alexandria Safe Zone.

Fortnite Creative Champ Cizzorz explains how Call of Duty and Halo influenced deathruns Epic Games/FaZe Clan/TreyarchFaZe Clan’s Cizzorz has revealed how Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Halo influenced his Fortnite deathruns, which have taken the community by storm, and now offer incredible monetary prizes. Cizzorz has long been one of Fortnite’s most influential creators, particularly in terms of its Creative modes, not to mention his impressive in-game talents. This is epitomized by his victory – alongside his Fish Fam team – in Fortnite’s Creative World Cup on July 26. However, just before his attendance at the World Cup, he joined Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop and Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag for their latest podcast instalment, where he spoke about how his infamous Fortnite deathruns were heavily influenced by Call of Duty and Halo. “What was the deathrun experience like?” asked Nade. “Because it took over all of Fortnite – every creator played it.” Cizzorz reveals that he was trying to make early versions of deathruns before Creative mode was even an in-game mode; explaining the difficulties of trying to do it in Playground mode. “I was making these types of maps in Halo, back in the day,” he explained. “In Halo Forge. I would always build shit – I would build race tracks in Forge, I’d build like parkour maps. I loved Halo Forge, so that’s where I started my building stuff.” Halo’s Forge mode was originally released in Halo 3 offering players some of the earliest opportunities to customize, save, and share maps for Custom Games. (Timestamp: 19:15) However, it was not just Halo that influenced the Fortnite deathrun, as Cizzorz explained. “Throwback to Black Ops III,” he said. “That’s kind of where my YouTube channel started. I was doing these Free Runs. Remember the G-Slide?” He went on to explain that he was a speed runner in Free Run mode, but struggled after Treyarch patched the G-Slide. Regardless, he talks of how he “combined” his love for speed running and building into his Fortnite deathruns. Black Ops III’s Freerun mode offered players the opportunity to test their advanced movement skills, by maneuvering round a number of courses as fast as possible. The ‘G-Slide’ was an unintended movement glitch that enabled players to fly forwards, and quickly became a key feature used by professionals and freerunners. It was patched by Treyarch a few months into the game’s lifespan. All three of the men described Black Ops III overwhelmingly positively, and it’s fascinating to understand how Cizzorz’ Fortnite deathruns were influenced by some of the biggest FPS games ever.

Fortnite blamed for permanent “damage” to gaming as CoD chicken skin goes viral Epic Games/ActivisionCall of Duty has released a new weapon skin that lets you cook and eat a whole chicken in COD Mobile, and Fortnite has been catching the blame for causing damage to the “art style” of multiplayer games since its popularity. The ‘Extra Crispy’ bundle in COD Mobile features a gun blueprint that, when inspected, pulls out a chicken which is attached to the end of the gun, cooked, and then eaten by your character. It’s one of the more outlandish cosmetic features in the game, which has regularly received complaints for failing to remain “authentic” or “realistic”, and has launched a huge debate online over whether these kinds of cosmetics have a place in Call of Duty. One player, though, put their opinion very plainly: “The damage Fortnite has unintentionally done to the multiplayer game aesthetic is unrepairable,” said Kelski on Twitter/X. “Let’s keep giving every game wacky and zany cosmetics like this until it’s all just a big blog of indistinguishable mush. Who needs a consistent art style, right?” This post was met with many in agreement, who called for Call of Duty to tone it down a little. “Agreed, stick to your own style,” one response said. “Everyone is now trying to come up with their own gimmick and they are losing the soul of what made their original games great to begin with. It’s obnoxious.” Another echoed that sentiment, saying: “They’re trying too hard to appeal to children. But they’re ruining everything.” Some, though, said that Call of Duty players themselves are to blame for this — and that it’s not entirely a new thing in COD anyway. “Advanced Warfare, BO3, and other CODs all had goofy aesthetics to them years before Fortnite, this is on brand for them,” explained tylerduran21. Another player added: “It’s not Fortnite’s fault, it’s the culture of copying popular things that did the damage, within COD’s development,” while one simply said: “COD players bought goofy skins so they made goofy skins.” Call of Duty has been regularly bringing out these kinds of cosmetics that some argue break the realism barrier too much, including multiple full-size operator outfits that let you traverse the battlefield as a rat, or a dog, or as Nicki Minaj, among many others. If you have bought these skins, though, at least you’ll be able to carry them forward into Black Ops 6.

Former Team Kaliber Member FooYa Leaks Intel on CoD Pro Kenny’s Future Former Team Kaliber member and streamer FooYa has given fans some early RosterMania intel, by claiming that Kenny is set to leave the organization. FooYa, who announced she was parting ways with Team Kaliber on August 20, was live on Twitch when she casually remarked on Kenny’s future with her former team. The subject of Kenny was first brought up by a commenter in FooYa’s stream, who claimed he had heard that the reason she had left Team Kaliber because she had fallen in love with Kenny, an idea that brought a hearty chuckle from the streamer. In response, FooYa immediately stated “You know Kenny is leaving tK, right?”, adding some credibility to the rumours that Kenny would be leaving the organization during this off season. The rumors regarding Kenny Williams’ future on Team Kaliber are nothing new. Back in July, Kenny took to Twitter to criticise tK’s owner Justin ‘KOSDFF’ Chandler for what he felt was a disrespectful prank, where Chandler and Clayton ‘Nuddah’ Huddleston posted a video clip wearing Kenny’s clothes. While live on Twitch, Williams went on to add that he couldn’t wait to leave the “trash ass org” and claimed that he wasn’t being paid the minimum CWL Pro League salary. If Kenny does leave Team Kaliber, it seems that it won’t take long before the offers start rolling in. After a Call of Duty: World War II season where he cemented himself as one of the top submachine gun players in the world, Williams found himself as the subject of a congratulatory tweet from Immortals CEO Noah Whinston, while 100 Thieves owner Matt ‘Nadeshot’ Haag has made no secret that his organization intends to pick up a CoD team before the Black Ops 4 season begins. The Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 season officially gets underway at CWL Las Vegas from December 7 to December 9. What organization Kenny will play for at the tournament, still remains to be seen.

Former Team Kaliber CoD Pro ‘Fero’ Declares Free Agency; Others May Follow Soon [UPDATED] Team Kaliber / MLGUPDATE – 7:04 PM PT It has since been announced that Fero will be joining 100 Thieves’ new Call of Duty roster, along with former Team Kaliber teammate Kenny. More information can be found here.UPDATE – 7:36 PM PT Enable has announced that he will also be leaving tK, confirming the previous speculation. Details of his departure can be seen here. Call of Duty pro player Maurice ‘Fero’ Henriquez has announced that he has left Team Kaliber and entered free agency ahead of the Black Ops 4 season. Fero is the second tK player to declare free agency, joining Kenny ‘Kenny’ Williams, who also announced that he has left the org on August 28. Fero’s announcement came via a post on his Twitter page, shortly after Kenny had tweeted his own farewell. I’m no longer apart of @TeamKaliber I would like to personally thank @KOSDFF for all he has done for me from the get I received nothing but love from the org and fans and couldn’t be more grateful but I am excited for the future BELIEVE THAT He quickly established himself as an important player, and was instrumental in their road to winning the Pro League Stage 2 Playoffs and placing second at the CWL Championships.

Former Team Envy star Fero announces CWL Miami team Team Envy / MLG / CWLProfessional Call of Duty player Maurice “Fero” Henriquez has finally revealed his roster for the CWL Finals in Miami on July 19. The former Team Envy star hasn’t quite reached the success many fans were expecting of him in the Black Ops 4 season, following his breakout year on Team Kaliber during Call of Duty: WWII where he won Season 2 playoffs and placed 2nd at the CWL Championships. After some mixed performances throughout the year on Team Envy and 100 Thieves, Fero is looking to turn things around for CWL Miami and qualify for CoD Champs at the end of the season. The former 100 Thieves star is looking to replicate his success at the final events of the year. Fero recently announced that he was a free agent after his stint on Team Envy, which included a disappointing T16 placing at CWL Anaheim, which saw the 20-year-old’s squad fail to win a map in a dismal showing. Although he did not manage to find his way onto a Pro League team during the most recent CWL Rostermania period, the young star seems to have found himself a solid amateur squad heading into Miami, revealing the roster on July 10. Fero announced that he will be teaming up with the former Halo World Champion, Anthony ‘Shotzzy’ Cuevas, as well as three of the top North American amateur players in itsSpart, Teskiy8 and PaceR. The new roster announcement comes a shock to many fans as Fero was previously expected to compete alongside a star studded lineup of former pro players such as FeLo and Nagafen for the CWL Finals. His initially planned line-up for Miami seems to have completely disbanded, which was likely a result of CWL Pro League team, Gen.G, looking to add Nagafen back to their starting roster for the remainder of the Black Ops 4 season. Going to be teaming with @Nagafen @f3rocitys @Parzelion and @EricJetLii heading into #CWLMiami and we are looking for an organization to represent. If you are interested feel free to contact the email in my bio! — Tyler (@FeLo) July 4, 2019 Although it is unlikely that Fero will be able to replicate last year’s success at the final events of the year, the former 100 Thieves star will be looking to prove his worth heading into the franchised CoD league. Fero’s new CWL Miami roster: Fero – Shotzzy – PaceR – Teskiy – Spart –

Former Splyce Player Tommey to Appear on CoDCast as NAMELESS Announces Date and Lineup Thomas ‘Tommey’ Trewren will appear on the next episode of the CoDCast following his removal from Splyce’s Call of Duty: WWII roster. The Call of Duty: WWII season started strong for Tommey and Splye as the European team achieved a second place finish at the first major event of the year, CWL Dallas. Unfortunately things quickly deteriorated with a 9th – 12th at CWL New Orleans and 13th – 16th at CWL Atlanta, both of which meant that they finished out of the money. The CWL Pro League didn’t go much better as they missed out on the Playoffs but an incredible run through the losers bracket at CWL Birmingham showed what they were capable of when they were on form as they secured another second place. But that high was followed by their biggest low of the year with a disappointing 17th – 20th at CWL Seattle and the team eventually made the decision to bench Tommey and look for a new player for Season 2 of the CWL Pro League. The move came as a surprise as some people believed Tommey was the strongest player on the roster over the course of the year. Now those people will get to hear from the man himself as he will be joining NAMELESS on the next episode of the CoDCast. THE CODCAST EPISODE 5 – 05/02 10 PM EASTERN GUESTS: @JoeDeLuca @Tommey @Clayster @Maven https://t.co/1YZW8eYTzy pic.twitter.com/WCwGa70Oh2 — Anthony Wheeler (@NAMELESS) May 1, 2018 It will be interesting to hear Tommey’s thoughts on his removal as well as his predictions for what Splyce will do in the future. Fans might also find out once and for all whether he will be playing for a team in Season 2 or sitting it out. Also appearing on the show will be CWL commentators Joey ‘MerK’ Deluca and Clint ‘Maven’ Evans along with eUnited’s James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks. The CoDCast continues to go from strength to strength and the next episode is sure to get even more exposure after NAMELESS officially announced his retirement on May 1st. The show will air live on NAMELESS’ Twitch channel on May 2nd at 10pm Eastern.

Former Seattle Surge star Mack reveals why he won’t play start of MW3 season Twitter: Seattle SurgeMakenzie “Mack” Kelley stated that due to his mother battling cancer, he will not play at the beginning of the MW3 season. New York Subliners was Mack’s debut on the big stage back in March of 2020. He was an integral part of the team and spent the entire year with them before transferring to Seattle. While in Seattle, Mack won Major 3 in Toronto during Vanguard and placed third at Champs that same year. Mack was released from Seattle Surge at the end of MW2 alongside his teammates. Instead of keeping their original roster, Seattle opted to start fresh for the upcoming year. Unlike the rest of the Seattle roster from MW2, Mack was the only one who was not rumored to be signing with another team. Mack explains why he is taking a break before MW3 season With only a few months left before the season begins, Mack shared his plans for the future. In a tweet, Mack described that his mom had been battling with cancer. “I won’t be competing to start the MW3 season,” said Mack. “The past few months, those close to me have known that my mom has battled with cancer and continues to undergo treatment. I don’t know what’s next, but family is everything to me, and I want to take this time to spend with them.” Those within the scene shared their support for Mack beneath the Tweet. His former teammate Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi shared that he was there for anything he or his family needed. Other accounts such as The Flank and the official Call of Duty League account also posted in support of Mack. As Mack stated in his tweet, he does not know when he will return to competitive play. However, he has only spent three years in the Call of Duty League and still has plenty of time to compete again.

Former Rising CoD Star Set To Quit After Being Made Homeless – “My only hope is Champs” Aspiring professional Call of Duty player Anthony “DraMa” Padilla has opened up about difficult life circumstances, leaving him effectively homeless unless he can perform a miracle at the World Championships. DraMa was an up and coming pro player during the Infinite Warfare season, where he placed top 12 at three separate open events with The Gosu Crew. But after the Gosu roster split, with Maux, Xotic and Priestahh all moving on to professional rosters, DraMa has struggled since. The WWII season has been particularly trying, as he has bounced around teams, placing no higher than top 28 all year, and even a top 64 and top 80 finish. His team, Vertacon, have qualified for the Last Chance Qualifier for the World Championship, but for DraMa it is a last chance in more ways than one. Posting a Twit Longer to his followers, he explains that his family have been evicted, leaving him in desperate need of some winnings, else he will need to quit and find work. I hate sharing my life with social media but I just hit rock bottom and felt like I had to let you guys know. As you guys know I love Call of Duty. I grinded so hard this year to show everyone that I was good at CoD and had potential to be a top player. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to grind anymore. 2 days ago my family was Evicted from our home and 4 days before that I was kicked out by my parents. I have no home and no family to stay with. I’m homeless after Champs and am going to have to work multiple jobs to keep on living. Unless a Miracle happens, it looks like I’m done with gaming for a while. DraMa at the 2017 Champs LCQ He finishes by thanking fans and supporters he has gained over the years, and that he will give everything at Champs to bounce back. Just wanted to say Sorry to everyone that supported me throughout my career, I had my shot and blew it. I’m really sorry > Only hope is Champs right now, I’m going to try my hardest to make that event. Hopefully I can place well enough to put my family back in a home. DraMa’s team, Vertacon, will play Spanish team Heretics in the first round at the LCQ, and should they win that, will need to defeat the winner of Morituri vs Mentality, to get a spot at champs.

Former Red Reserve Call of Duty roster may have already found new org for CWL Pro League The Call of Duty pro roster that formerly represented Red Reserve may have already found a new organization for the remainder of the Black Ops 4 season. Sudden Twitter activity on February 10 suggests that the squad featuring European stars Joee, Rated, Zer0, Skrapz, and Bance may be close to joining Ghost Gaming. Fans noticed that Joee and Rated both began following Ghost Gaming’s General Manager Rob on Twitter at the same time, which hardly seems like a coincidental considering the circumstances. The ex-Red Reserve players are all keen on finding a new org to represent, while Ghost Gaming are one of the few prominent esports orgs that are currently not fielding a competitive CoD team. According to unofficial reports, Ghost Gaming are one of three prominent orgs that are looking to pick up the ex-Red Reserve roster, along with G2 Esports and FaZe Clan. However, the reports claim that the players are heavily pushing for a team house, and apparently it’s a decisive factor in the negotiations, which means that the org that is willing to offer a team house will be the one that gets their signatures. As things stand now, Ghost appears to have agreed to the players’ terms and unconfirmed sources indicate that an announcement could be coming as soon as Monday, February 11. For Joee, Rated, Zer0, Skrapz, and Bance, finding a high profile org this quickly would be the dream outcome of what has been a messy couple of days. Of course, shocking news broke out on February 8 that Red Reserve had apparently severed ties with all of their esports teams and players, along with several key members of their staff. Although the CoD team’s spot in the CWL Pro League is not in jeopardy, the players have certainly been thrust into a very uncomfortable and awkward situation. As far as Ghost Gaming go, picking up a strong and reputable CoD roster such as the ex-Red Reserve squad would be a formidable re-entry for them into the competitive scene. Although they had limited success during the WWII season, the org decided to part ways with their players and CoD esports in general, although the door for them to return has always been left open. With the ex-Red team currently sitting at 2-2, good for fourth place in Division A, the timing of this could not have been more perfect from Ghost’s perspective, assuming they do want to get back into CoD esports. You can keep updated on the Pro League, including standings, schedules, scores, and more, by visiting out dedicated CWL Pro League hub. Make sure to monitor our Twitter @DexertoINTEL and the Dexerto Call of Duty page as more information about this roster situation is revealed.

Former OpTic YouTuber Pamaj explains why he’s rejoined FaZe Clan After leaving OpTic Gaming just on October 10, popular Call of Duty YouTuber Austin ‘Pamaj’ Pamajewon has already found a new organization to call home. Pamaj’s latest team is a familiar one, as he has found himself back with FaZe Clan after a five-year absence. He announced his return to FaZe with a simple post on his Twitter page, much like the one he had posted when joining OpTic years ago. As simple as the Tweet was, it was likely prompted by the fact that FaZe Clan actually let the cat out of the bag themselves before Pamaj could even announce the news. Just a few minutes before Pamaj posted the above tweet, FaZe Clan uploaded a video to Twitter featuring their latest recruit as he gives fans a tour of the team’s house in Toronto. Welcome to our new Toronto winter home. :flag-ca: Thanks @RaptorsGC for letting us crash! #BellFibeHouse pic.twitter.com/zAERFTyb2i — FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) October 16, 2018 Shortly after word of Pamaj’s return to FaZe Clan broke, Pamaj joined OpTic Gaming CEO Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez on his “The Eavesdrop Podcast” and discussed the reasoning behind the move. The bulk of Pamaj’s motivation for leaving OpTic centered on the lack of commitment from Infinite Esports, OpTic Gaming’s parent company, when it came to moving into new apartments dedicated to streaming and making content. “There was a lot of false promises,” Pamaj said of dealing with Infinite Esports. “We were promised the typical things you have to have to move here. You know, you need visas and all that. And we were promised that and it didn’t work out. Why it didn’t happen? I still don’t know.” That was just the first “red flag” for Pamaj, however, as his move was further cemented when Infinite began making decisions that didn’t go along with the culture that had been fostered within the organization for so many years. The biggest of which was the decision to drop the OpTic Gaming Halo roster a week before the World Championships. “I still don’t fully understand what sense that makes,” Pamaj said of the situation. “It’s a family and to sit here and watch them pick it apart without any, I guess, empathy, just kind of hurt.” All of the negative decisions eventually became too much for Pamaj to deal with, leading to his departure from the Green Wall. Once it came time to find a new home, FaZe Clan was in a unique position to be much closer to his family. “I get to be closer to home,” Pamaj said. “My brother lives in Toronto with his fiancee. My friends are all living out in Toronto now. The people I grew up with.” While one might expect him to take a bit of time after leaving the organization where he’s spent the last five years, Pamaj looked to be right back into the swing of things immediately, not just with his FaZe Clan house tour, but with content of his own. Once the word was out, it was time for Pamaj to show fans that he’s ready to hit the ground running with his content creation efforts by posting a brand-new Black Ops 4 montage to his official YouTube channel. While everyone was anxiously awaiting to hear where Pamaj would end up landing, it looks he was already hard at work making new content. With Black Ops 4 content rush just getting underway, we can expect to hear plenty more from Pamaj in the coming days and weeks. Full disclosure: OpTic CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd

Former NFL star Chad Johnson desperate to attend CWL Anaheim ochocinco – Instagram / Call of DutyThe Call of Duty World League is coming to Anaheim this weekend June 14-16 and Chad Johnson, a former NFL standout, is trying his best to get a look at the action. The CWL continues in Anaheim and with it being at the tail end of E3, there are some additional eyes on it. You can count former NFL pro Chad Johnson as one of those people interested as he’s in Calfornia because of E3 and wants to give the CWL a chance. Since his retirement from the NFL, Johnson has made a name for himself in the FIFA community by accepting challenges left and right on Twitter and posting the results afterward, oftentimes with him beating his opponent soundly. Read More: Call of Duty pro scene. He’s already proven himself with FIFA so CoD is just the next logical step in his journey. @CODWorldLeague Hello, can i get credentials so i can watch all the pros play and get their autographs:question: — Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) June 13, 2019 Johnson has been reaching out to various people in charge of the event and trying to find out how to get involved with this weekend’s festivities. His detective work has paid off and he does have credentials to the event now, but it’s still unclear if he’ll actually be showing up. The former Cincinnati Bengals star is also looking to become a pro both in FIFA and in Call of Duty, making him a dual threat in the video game world. Johnson has always shown an interest in video games and his post-NFL career could see him capitalizing on that. Is it possible for me to be a pro gamer in FIFA & COD:question: — Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) June 13, 2019 Community reactions to Chad and CWL Anaheim A number of big names in the Call of Duty world responded to Johnson’s initial tweet, with some offering him a jersey and some reminding him that he owes them a 1v1. It almost feels like a true situation of worlds colliding but Johnson seems serious about showing up to the event. If you’re watching or attending CWL Anaheim, be on the lookout for Chad Johnson and see if he actually fulfills his end of the deal. –

Former eUnited CoD coach Saint gets emotional on stream after Clayster donates $500 MLG / Saint (Twitch)Brian ‘Saint’ Baroska, former coach of eUnited’s professional Call of Duty team, was driven to tears when James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks donated $500 to his stream. On April 2, just hours after eUnited had officially announced that they had replaced him as their CoD coach, Saint was streaming some Black Ops 4 with a donation goal for his rent and student loans. Seemingly out of nowhere, Clayster donated $500 to the stream, along with the message: “Love you bro. You’re still the A1 homie forever my guy.” Despite his best efforts, Saint was unable to fight the tears that were spilling out, as he thanked his former player for his generosity. “One of the worst days of my life was made so much better by you guys,” he later tweeted. “Thank you so much for the support and a big thank you to Clayster for the $500 donation, as well as everyone else who donated today. Truly don’t have the words that can express how I feel right now.” Why did Saint get so emotional after the donation? April 2 was a very difficult day for Saint, who had found out earlier that he had been replaced as the coach of eUnited’s pro CoD team in favor of the recently-retired Brice ‘Faccento’ Faccento. With financial burdens now pressing upon his shoulders more than ever, Clayster’s massive donation, as well as the support shown by the rest of the viewers, really helped Saint deal with what he called “one of the worst days” of his life. One of the worst days of my life was made so much better by you guys. Thank you so much for the support and a big thank you to @Clayster for the $500 donation as well as everyone else who donated today, truly don’t have words that can express how I feel rn pic.twitter.com/CB0hwmj8xj — Saintt (@BrianSaintt) April 3, 2019 Why did Clayster donate $500 to Saint? It appears that the decision to part ways with Saint was purely for business and professional reasons, and not personal ones, as most of the eUnited players still hold their former coach in high regard, especially Clayster. Read More: OpTic Dashy explains the harsh “reality check” after getting eliminated at CWL Fort Worth – Apart from the $500 donation, Clayster also tweeted out all of eUnited’s accomplishments since Saint had joined them, as a way to promote him to any other teams in the CWL Pro League that were looking for a coach. Placements since @BrianSaintt joined eU: 1x 2nd 1x 3rd 2x 4th (Champs, Stage 2 Playoffs) 2x 5/6th (Stage 1 Playoffs, Atlanta) 1x 9-12th 2x 13-16th.Qualified for every playoffs, and every league. Any org is losing out on a valuable asset if they don’t jump on this. — eU Clayster (@Clayster) April 2, 2019 What’s next for Saint moving forward? Obviously, Saint’s ideal scenario moving forward would probably be to join another CWL Pro League team as their coach as soon as possible. If not, he has made it clear that he’s open to any available positions in esports, even on the business and administration side of things. If anyone knows of any available positions in esports looking for someone with experience in the industry and an bachelors in business administration please contact me immediately. — Saintt (@BrianSaintt) April 2, 2019 Considering his strong resume as a coach, and the fact the he has both extensive experience in esports as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, it would seem as though Saint could find another job in the industry sooner rather than later.

Former eU Cadet TurnUp2ez clutches insane 1v4 vs 100 Thieves roster 100 Thieves found themselves in with a 4 man advantage in the final round of an SnD match, but fell to a ridiculous 1v4 from former eUnited cadet Joe ‘TurnUp2ez’ Sicre. It is possibly the best SnD clutch we have seen so far in the early stages of Black Ops 4 involving a professional team, following 100 Thieves’ own SlasheR’s 1v4 vs the rumored G2 roster. During a $2,500 5v5 tournament, 100 Thieves came up against a team of top SnD players in round 5 and had already lost the first map in the best of three, before taking the next to a round 11. TurnUp2eZ, now a free agent heading into the Black Ops 4 season, previously signed to the eUnited Cadets roster in November 2017, alongside other upcoming players Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr, Inder ‘iLLeY’ Dhaliwal and ‘Cellium’. Now 18, TurnUp2ez is eligible to play on a professional roster, and so has split off from the Cadet’s in hopes of being recruited by a full time 5v5 roster for the upcoming season. And he will certainly have turned a few heads with this incredible 1v4 clutch. Stuck in top control on Summit with only a Sniper and Pistol, he takes out three, one with a slick quickscope, before finding the final kill to take the map 6-5. Watching the play from 100 Thieves’ perspective, via Sam ‘Octane’ Larew’s stream, you can see how quickly TurnUp2ez took out the team in top control, before they could even realize what had happened. The sniper shot on to Maurice ‘Fero’ Henriquez left Octane in the 1v1, pistol vs pistol, which TurnUp2ez played well, coming up behind him on the bomb and giving the former OpTic and Luminosity player no chance. TurnUp2ez has not been announced as part of an official roster yet, but with over a month until the first event of the season, there is plenty of time for a squad to see his potential and pick him up. Other members of the eU Cadets are also expected to have offers waiting when they turn 18, with ‘Simp’ next up, turning 18 in February 2019.

Former Denial CoD pro accuses org of lying and not paying salaries [UPDATED] CWLA professional Call of Duty player who formerly represented Denial Esports has accused the organization of failing to pay players the salaries they were due. On May 13, French player Nathan ‘Natshay’ Dupuis posted a long message on Twitter leveling some serious accusations against Denial and their CEO Zachary Smith. In the post, Natshay claimed that, despite all of the players having signed contracts, the org continued to stall and delay their salary payments until they were eventually released from the team. According to the accusations, Zachary Smith failed to maintain a proper line of communication with the players, and that they continued to compete at the CWL Pro League and CWL Fort Worth, despite not having received any of they money they were due. In addition, Natshay alleged that Denial did not tell them about the impending roster changes until last minute, when Rated, Joee, Bance, Alexx, and Brack were brought on as part of a total roster overhaul. Natshay revealed that, around the time when they were being dropped, they were contacted by a lawyer and told that their contracts were structured in a way where the players were not actually owed any money. “The lawyer said that, on our contract, there was no salary, so we deserved $0,” he wrote. “We signed a paper that is the law, which says we have $5,000 salary per month and this paper was seen by MLG and signed by Denial. But according to them, this paper has no value.” As far as Denial’s involvement in the Pro League goes, Natshay went on to claim that the org did not pay Overtime eSport for their spot in the league, unlike how FaZe Clan and Elevate purchased the spots of Red Reserve and Excelerate Gaming respectively. Natshay and co, of course, were part of the Overtime roster that originally qualified for the Pro League, but the roster was subsequently purchased by Denial prior to the start of the league. His full post regarding the situation is available both as it was originally written in French, as well the translated version in English. UPDATE – May 13 Shortly after Natshay first published his post, CEO Zachary Smith posted a tweet calling the allegations “false,” and saying that he will speak with his team internally about the matter. I’ve been getting tagged a lot in a post in regards to Nathan and his false allegations. I’ll be speaking with my team internally to figure out this following matter. — Xac (@ZachtehCEO) May 13, 2019 Denial in hot water again If Natshay’s accusations turn out to be true, it would not be the first time that Denial would be mired in controversy involving money owed to players. In fact, that was one of the biggest reasons that the org went through a major down period, as unpaid salaries and fees, consistent stonewalling by upper-management, and legal action caused them to slide off the radar. When Denial made their comeback, former CEO Robby Rignalda publicly apologized for his “mismanagement” that led to the org’s initial downfall, and claimed that the new CEO Smith had “righted his wrongs” and “was turning the Denial brand in what it once was.” Made a lot of mistakes leading up to 2017. I’m sorry to anyone that I negatively affected with my mismanagement. @ZachtehCEO has righted all of my wrongs and is turning the Denial brand into what it once was in exchange for my ownership share. Now time to be a fan #wolfpack — Robby Ringnalda (@DenialCEO) January 4, 2019 More salary controversy in CWL Pro League Natshay’s accusations resurface the salary controversy that has struck the CWL Pro League already several times this season. Prior to them selling their spot to Elevate, Excelerate Gaming were accused of blackmailing players and refusing to pay salary. Similarly, Midnight Esports, who are still in the league, had allegedly forced their players to sign contracts they did not agree with. With all that considered, it will be worth keeping an eye on the Denial situation to see what kind of conclusion it comes to. As always, we will update this article with any new information as it becomes available. Last updated: May 13 – 4:00 PM EST

Former CS:GO Pro Turned Battle Royale Streamer Shroud To Feature at Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Reveal Event Left: HLTVA major new partnership has been announced between popular Twitch streamer Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Following retirement from professional Counter-Strike, Shroud has taken his talents to the world of full time streaming, where he is best known for playing ‘battle royale’ games such as PUBG and Fortnite. He is now firmly one of the top streamers on Amazon owned platform Twitch, with much of his fan base developing from the battle royale genre, building on his already established following from CS:GO. With the community reveal event for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 set to take place on Wednesday May 17th, Shroud has revealed some very exciting news. Going to be co-streaming the #BlackOps4 reveal tomorrow at 10 am PST. Be sure to swing by the stream to check it out! #ad — Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) May 16, 2018 If this tweet had come from any other popular personality it may not be such a big deal, however, given Shroud’s prominence as a battle royale streamers, it of course has sparked much speculation. Black Ops 4, of which fans have seen very little, has been rumored to be introducing a battle royale mode for the first time in the series – as replacement for the expected campaign mode. And while there has been no word at all from developers Treyarch or publishers Activision, the hints are all starting to add up. Priority intel incoming. Synchronize your watches. #BlackOps4 pic.twitter.com/eISk7HCCnj — Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) May 10, 2018 Firstly, the few hints and teasers that have been officially released seem to pertain only to multiplayer or Zombies – campaign being a notable omission. Secondly, the community event will have ‘hands on’ time – something again which usually only relates to multiplayer previews. Thirdly, during Activision’s most recent earnings call, the specifically made mention of Fortnite and the battle royale (BR) genre specifically, clearly acutely aware of its popularity. More: Shroud Says No Twitch Streamer Will Get Bigger than Ninja – “I don’t think anyone will ever pass him” – And of course finally, Shroud’s promotional deal is something out of the ordinary for the franchise, as Call of Duty typically only enlists personalities either known in the Call of Duty community, or triple AAA celebrities and athletes. The addition of a former CS:GO pro turned, most notably, battle royale streamer, to the promotional lineup, may be the strongest hint at Call of Duty’s embrace of the BR genre yet.

Former CoD pro NAMELESS witnesses player revive himself in Blackout Call of Duty pro player turned analyst Anthony ‘NAMELESS’ Wheeler caught a player somehow reviving himself in Black Ops 4’s Blackout battle royale mode. Playing Squads with a group that featured OpTic’s MBoZe, NAMELESS was in a medium ranged gunfight with a group of enemy players when he noticed one of them was in the downed position, but yet to be eliminated. He pushed up the spot to get the elimination on the player, only to see him miraculously get up from his downed position and begin firing back, without any teammates there to have revived him. Although NAMELESS managed to get the kill regardless, the enemy player had managed to land some shots and get him hurt, which led to him getting killed by another enemy player nearby. The whole situation blew NAMELESS’ mind, causing him to take a moment to try and digest exactly what had just happened. While some may argue that the player NAMELESS had approached was never actually downed, it’s quite clear that he was. First of all, there is no way for an on-screen character to lay in the position unless they have been knocked down. The player was also very hurt when NAMELESS began shooting at him, which is customary for those who have just gotten revived from a downed position. Finally, and perhaps the most tell-tale sign, is his and MBoZe’s reaction after the whole sequence took place. They was so caught off guard by the player getting up that they had to have been convinced the played had been knocked. Considering what happened to NAMELESS here, it’s best for all players to be wary when approaching a downed player to finish off a kill. You never know who’s going to revive themselves next.

Former CoD Pro MerK Destroys with the Annihilator Specialist on Black Ops 4 Beta Joe “MerK” DeLuca, veteran competitive CoD player turned caster and analyst, proved he still has the skills in game with insane Annihilator killstreaks on the Black Ops 4 beta. The Annihilator is a returning ability from Black Ops 3 – the game MerK was last a competitor in – and is even more powerful than before, with an incredibly accurate one-shot pistol which can be fired continually. As Seraph’s main specialist ‘ultimate’, it is clearly MerK’s favorite, and he has already racked up some impressive rampages over weekend 1 and 2 of the Black Ops 4 beta. In total, the pistol has six shots, and MerK’s first clip, back on the opening weekend of the beta, showed off the power of the upgraded Annihilator, as he went five for six on his shots. And for weekend 2, MerK was still honing his Annihilator skills, again going five for six on his shots with Seraph – clearly his favorite specialist at this point. Finally though, on day two of weekend 2 of the BO4 beta, MerK went flawless with his Annihilator, hitting six for six. Perhaps if competitive Call of Duty does go 5v5 as the rumors say, some pro teams might eye up MerK to be their dedicated Seraph player. MerK even used the Annihilator ability occasionally during the Black Ops 3 competitive season, before his retirement from competing the same year when his Team Liquid side missed out on Pro League qualification. For now, MerK’s place on the casting desk is certain, as he quickly became a stellar commentator and analyst, using his experience as a professional player to give insight not possible from other top casters. He’ll no doubt be back for the Black Ops 4 season with MLG, but first is the CWL Championship for CoD: WWII, starting on August 15.

Former CoD pro KiLLa provides convincing argument for his sister to date OpTic player EsportsNation / OpTicFormer Call of Duty pro Adam ‘KiLLa’ Sloss hatched a hilarious plan to help OpTic Gaming’s Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly score a date for Valentine’s Day – and the plan involved KiLLa’s own sister. It all got started when Renato ‘Saints’ Forza sent out a Tweet on February 15, where he asked for help regarding the romantic prospects of OpTic’s TJHaLy. “My boy TJHaLy is looking for a Valentine,” Saints wrote. “Who wants to give the champion a smooch?” My boy @TJHaLy is looking for a Valentine, who wants to give the champion a smooch — Renato (@SaintsNato) February 14, 2019 KiLLa was quick to hop in on the action, tagging his sister, Alecia Sloss, in the thread. Alecia herself seemed to find humor in the situation, commenting that KiLLa was making some serious efforts to help her find a boyfriend for the romantic holiday. You’re really out here tryna set me up with someone LMAOOOOOOO — alecia sloss (@aleciasloss) February 15, 2019 “You’re really out here tryna set me up with someone,” Alicia responded. KiLLa went on to list Teej’s qualifications for the position, citing his team, income, and location as good enough reasons to link up with his sister. hes on optic , he got bread and he lives in west chester . point blank period — Adam “”KiLLa”” Sloss (@KiLLa_Sloss) February 15, 2019 “He’s on OpTic, he’s got bread, and he lives in West Chester,” KiLLa argued. “Point blank period.” Both Saints and popular streamer ProoFJC laughed out loud at KiLLa’s efforts, while other commenters in the thread likewise posted hilarious responses to the conversation. While Teej has yet to respond to the interaction, he appeared to have a rather difficult Valentine’s Day, calling the holiday “trash” in a tweet after losing to Luminosity’s Josiah ‘Slacked’ Berry in Division A of the CWL Pro League.

Former CoD pro gets ripped & shatters 24-hour pull-up world record CensorDoug ‘Censor’ Martin was a pro Call of Duty player for over a decade before deciding to throw in the towel in early 2024. And, while Censor’s always been in good shape, a renewed focus on fitness and charity as a motivator drove him to break the world record for doing the most pull-ups in 24 hours. What’s more, Censor’s been training to complete this challenge for well over a year. Posts dating back to 2023 show him trying to complete the challenge before hitting a wall, claiming he went until his hands started to bleed. In July 2023, he only had about five hours of pull-ups in him, claiming that the process took its toll on his body as early as the three-hour mark. A year and a half later, Censor beat the record with five hours to spare. Almost 9,000 pull-ups down in 19 hours, showing the record has ample room for new contenders. Warning: The clip below is loud. As if that wasn’t enough, Censor kept going until he hit 9,250 pull-ups and put himself far ahead of the record. At that point, though, he was done. He followed this up by showing what his hands looked like in the aftermath; battered, bruised, heavily calloused, blistered, and close to bleeding in some places. All that effort clearly took its toll on him physically. Censor released a video explaining how long he trained for the event, claiming that he’d been on the grind for over a year and had a goal beyond the one he reached in the record-breaking attempt: 11,111 pull-ups in 24 hours. Though the final number for how much money he raised isn’t known yet, the highest recorded number on his stream was over $8,500. “We’re gonna be raising money for Project Purple, which is a charity to try to save lives from pancreatic cancer. My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer when I was 12. It kind of broke our whole family,” he explained. “I switched schools at that time, too. It was a big change in my life.” The former CoD pro claimed he wanted to take that negative emotion and “channel” it into something else, with his latest effort being training for the world record attempt. “This process makes you the worst version of yourself humanly imaginable, that’s the easiest way I can say it. I feel so happy to be at this point because I know I’ll never have to go through it again, I know I’ll never do another record attempt like this again.” While that’s what Censor claimed before attempting the record, it remains to be seen if he tries to tackle it again to hit the 11,111 goal he initially set for himself.

Former CoD Pro Censor says Scump ‘can’t beat him’ in event finals Former FaZe Clan Call of Duty star Doug ‘Censor’ Martin believes that OpTic Gaming’s Seth ‘Scump’ Abner cannot beat him in a grand final – boasting a perfect record over his fellow pro. Call of Duty pros have never been afraid of trash talking an opposing team or fellow player, especially when one has another’s number and they are able to continually beat up on them. It’s something fans have seen play out over the years between Patrick ‘ACHES’ Price and just about whoever ends up on OpTic. Yet, ACHES remains as an active pro and leaves the trash talk for players on the sidelines – including former teammate Doug ‘Censor’ Martin. Censor also appears to believe that he has OpTic’s number too – especially Seth ‘Scump’ Abner. Censor may have been out of the competitive scene since departing compLexity at the end of WWII, but he has been targeting a return at some point. It appears that, if he does somehow return, he’ll be rubbing his hands at the prospect of taking on Scump – especially in a possible grand final. After one fan tried to rubbish another’s comparison of Censor and Scump, the former FaZe Clan star fired back with: “1-0 vs Mister Scump in grand finals. Aches didn’t have a thumb for that final either AND we had to win two best of 5s! Don’t worry I’ll be back and when my team is on the top I’ll say nothing.” 1-0 vs Mister Scump in grand finals. Aches didn’t have a thumb for that final either AND we had to win two best of 5s! Don’t worry I’ll be back and when my team is on the top I’ll say nothing. — FaZe Censor (@Censor) May 15, 2019 Censor is 1-0 in Grand Finals against Scump, and even though that win came back in Advanced Warfare, he isn’t letting the OpTic star forget about it – even though Scump has a ton more event wins. After another fan pointed out the huge difference in the two pros’ success, the former FaZe star added: “Facts are facts gotta respect them. I love Seth but he knows when it comes to grand finals, if I’m in his way he should just throw in the towel and get ready for the next event.” Facts are facts gotta respect them. I love Seth but he knows when it comes to grand finals, if I’m in his way he should just throw in the towel and get ready for the next event. — FaZe Censor (@Censor) May 15, 2019 While some may have taken Censor’s comments as jokes, he at least still has that trademark confidence that all CoD pros need if they’re going to be a success. Even though he may still be out of the competitive scene, it might not be all that long before we see him back on the main stage if Censor gets his way.

Former CoD pro Censor reveals his own new custom SCUF controller Popular YouTuber and retired Call of Duty pro player Doug ‘Censor’ Martin has received his own custom SCUF gaming controller. The YouTuber announced the news of the controller in a video he posted on December 20, in which he also revealed what the controller looks like for the first time. The design features a white background with red and black strips along the edges and Censor’s name emblazoned across the front facing in a large, jagged font. The version he displayed in the video is the Vantage, SCUF’s newest controller type that features two additional side buttons and a module design that comes fully apart. As of now, it appears the Vantage is the only available version of Censor’s new SCUF controller that can be purchased, and it’s not clear whether the design will be available on the other versions any time soon. The price for Censor’s new SCUF is $199.95 for the wired version and $229.95 for the wireless, both of which are currently available for purchase on the SCUF website. Furthermore, as he explains in the video below, Censor is also giving away the first functional unit that was made with the custom design, which he used for all of his promotional shoots. This controller is unique in that it features a shade of red that is brighter than all of the other units, which is the case because he did not like how bright the red was and asked for it to be made darker. Censor’s new controller joins SCUF’s ever-growing Exclusive Collection, which includes controllers featuring designs from some of the biggest names in the online gaming community, such as NICKMERCS, Crimsix, Clayster, FaZe Clan, Pamaj, Drift0r, and others.

Former Caster CouRage Makes Surprise Return to the Analyst Desk at CWL Anaheim Former Call of Duty caster Jack “CouRage” Dunlop made a surprise return to the analyst’s desk at CWL Anaheim, his first appearance at a CWL event since leaving MLG earlier this year. CouRage was a fan favorite caster and analyst, working full time with MLG for many years, but decided to step away from casting and work on YouTube and livestreaming, building his personal brand. He did say at the time of leaving that he planned on still being around the community and attending events, but didn’t say whether he would ever return to the desk officially. He has certainly enjoyed his time since moving on as well, gaining hundreds of thousands of subscribers on YouTube, and regularly attracting thousands of viewers to his stream on Twitch. But with the biggest open CoD event of the year taking place in Anaheim, CouRage decided to drop by and catch up with a few familiar faces. He announced he would take a few days off from his daily stream to attend, but fans were still surprised to see him up on the desk providing some laughs and insight into the matches. Now a member of OpTic Gaming’s content creation team, he is still very much in the loop with Call of Duty esports, but always the entertainer, he broke the ice with a joke. .@CouRageJD is back and he hasn’t missed a beat!https://t.co/pUVEvOiNYf // #CWLPS4 #CWLAnaheim pic.twitter.com/Jcdt48cM45 — MLG (@MLG) June 17, 2018 He stuck around on the desk for the Luminosity vs Enigma6 match, even discussing the motivation of former OpTic Gaming player Matt “FormaL” Piper to prove he made the right move leaving the team to join LG. If fans are lucky enough, someone at MLG may even convince CouRage to cast a match on championship Sunday, for old times sake. Keep up with all the action from CWL Anaheim with our dedicated coverage hub with streams, schedule, results and more.

Former Call of Duty star upsets Shroud to win ESPN’s Twitter competition ESPN EsportsESPN’s Esports64 Twitter poll tournament came to a close on April 9, and the crowned victor was none other than a former Call of Duty star pro player. Corentin ‘Gotaga’ Houssein, a French former CoD pro, defeated popular Twitch streamer and former CS:GO pro Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek in the Grand Final of the competition. Gotaga, of course, has become a prominent streamer and YouTube himself after retiring from competing, and he currently creates content related to Fortnite Battle Royale. Gotaga upsets Shroud in ESPN Esports64 Grand Final When the finalists for ESPN’s Esports64 were announced to be Gotaga and Shroud on April 8, fans knew that the Frenchman had an uphill challenge against of the biggest names in the online gaming community. Gotaga started off the tournament as the seventh seed in the Tilted Towers division of the bracket, while Shroud was the third seed in the Inferno division. Gotaga took the early lead in the voting, but Shroud made a comeback late in the evening on April 8. However, the Frenchman reclaimed his lead overnight, and despite a late push from Shroud, never gave it up, ending with a final tally of 56% of the 448,000+ votes that were cast. It’s finally time — the ESPN #Esports64 finals. On one side, former CS:GO pro No. 3 @shroud. On the other, The French Monster No. 7 @Gotaga. Cast your vote here on Twitter. Choose your champion. For a rundown of the tournament, head here: https://t.co/CCi5ONADHn — ESPN Esports (@ESPN_Esports) April 8, 2019 How the two got to the Grand Final Gotaga’s journey in the ESPN Esports64 contest started in the Tilted Towers division, where he ended up defeating League of Legends pro Bjergsen (10th seed), Smash player MkLeo (15th seed), personality Sjokz (3rd seed), and last year’s champion Ninja (1st seed). Having won the Tilted Towers division after beating Ninja, Gotaga faced King’s Row champion Scump of OpTic Gaming in the semifinals, which he won 56-44. As for Shroud, he was the third seeded streamer in the Inferno division, which he ended up winning after defeating personality Sadokist (14th seed), Xavier Woods (11th seed), LoL star Sneaky (2nd seed), and popular streamer Tyler1 (9th seed). His semifinal opponent was Smash player Zero, who was the Mid Lane division champion, whom Shroud pretty much domination 66-34. What is the ESPN #Esport64 bracket? For the third year in a row, ESPN has put together a Twitter poll competition to determine who is the most popular figure in esports. This year’s field of 64 candidates included a variety of popular streamers, prominent professional players, and well-known online personalities, all of whom were placed into a seeded bracket. Each round, these figures were matched up with one another and the public gets to vote and determine who advanced in the bracket and got closer to the title of most popular name in esports. More information can be found on the ESPN #Esports64 website, and all voting is done by visiting the ESPN Esports Twitter page and finding the poll you are interested in. Nearly 450,000 of you voted … and it’s GG to @Gotaga as he makes it past @shroud to be the 2019 ESPN #Esports64 champion! Fun fact: over 2.3 million votes total were cast in this year’s event! Gotaga joins @ninja and @LxthuL in the pantheon of champions. https://t.co/WlDaHIGKoa — ESPN Esports (@ESPN_Esports) April 9, 2019 Gotaga’s Call of Duty career As mentioned above, prior to becoming a household name in the Fortnite community, Gotaga achieved stardom in the European Call of Duty esports scene, with many considering him to the best French player to date. His career began in the early 2010s, and he was most notably known for his time with Team Vitality, where his competitive and aggressive mentality and play-style earned him the nickname ‘The French Monster,’ which he still goes by to this day.

Former Call of Duty pro slams Modern Warfare 2’s “backward” Ranked Play system ActivisionFormer Call of Duty pro player TeeP has raised some big complaints over Modern Warfare 2’s Ranked Play system structure. Tyler ‘TeeP’ Polchow is a former Call of Duty World Champion and is currently one of the best Warzone players in the world. He collected multiple trophies over his playing career and also spent some time as the coach for OpTic Gaming in World War II and Black Ops 4. After reading the behind-the-scenes breakdown of how Modern Warfare 2’s Ranked playlist works, he wasn’t happy about how it awards lopsided Skill Ranking depending on a number that is hidden from the public’s view, calling the system “a**-backward” as a whole. TeeP criticizes Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Polchow slammed the Ranked Play infrastructure for how it weighs players’ individual skill levels. While the categories of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and so on look like skill divisions on the surface, the game’s real talent designation is done by Hidden Performance Rating – a number that, as its name suggests, isn’t viewable to the player. This number works separately from Skill Rating, which is simply the number that determines where a player sits in the Ranked Ladder. In simple terms: HPR is what the game uses to determine how good a player is, while SR simply rates how many wins and losses they’ve collected along the way. This is important because HPR also determines how much SR a player will collect or lose from a match. A Diamond player with a high HPR could earn fewer points than a Crimson player with a lower HPR, despite the fact that the Diamond player could be hundreds of Skill Ratings lower than the other person. TeeP believes this is a significant mistake, as it means that good players will eventually meet a wall that’s impossible to get past. “So basically, I play, I play, I play, and then once I run into pros, my HPR comes to a halt, and I get f*cked because of it.” After finishing a fully Iridescent/Top 250 game, the former pro made an astute prediction that he would collect a measly 27 SR despite being the other team by 75 points in Hardpoint. TeeP is the odd man out, though, as other than pros having problems with cheaters, the community largely agrees that this incarnation of Ranked Play is one of the best yet.

Former CoD pro Censor reveals why he wouldn’t compete in Fortnite Censor – YouTube / Epic GamesFormer Call of Duty pro Doug ‘Censor’ Martin has revealed why he loves the popularity of Fortnite, but confirmed he never wants to make the switch to the battle royale. After the success of the Fortnite World Cup showed the entire gaming community the power of the battle royale in a competitive setting, many professional players have been considering making the switch to Epic’s globally-popular shooter. One veteran gamer that won’t ever be making the switch, however, is Censor, who revealed he loves Call of Duty too much to make the swap. He still has a love for Fortnite though, especially what it has done to boost the gaming community to a new level. “Fortnite changed gaming forever, Fortnite is freaking amazing,” said Censor in a video dedicated to addressing his thoughts on the battle royale. “Fortnite is life for a lot of people. Look at the thousands of creators making hundreds of thousands every single year.” Read more: Epic reveals why Turbo Building was nerfed – “Any kid out there that watches this, and you’re thinking ‘Dude I want to do that,’ go do it! Don’t waste your time. Do it 110%, that’s what I always preach. Who doesn’t want to be a pro gamer making multiple millions of dollars? That’s amazing.” Censor compared the boom of the professional and streaming Fortnite scenes to when he first entered CoD competitively. The former FaZe Clan champion began his career during Black Ops in 2011, and found major success during Advanced Warfare. “I started out in gaming making nothing, I was winning majors making a few thousand dollars. These guys making that in a few hours streaming,” said Censor. “I love seeing these guys grow and try to make careers in gaming.” Despite the praise, Censor confirmed what everyone already knew suspected: “For me, I don’t enjoy Fornite, Call of Duty is life. Modern Warfare is coming out, franchising is coming, I can’t wait. For anyone out there that loves Fortnite, play Fortnite, enjoy it. Read more: New leaks suggest Fortnite x IT crossover – “I still support it, don’t get me wrong. Just personally I loved seasons one to three where I could just hop on, point and shoot, and building something simple. Now it’s all ‘duh duh duh, turbo build, pew pew pew.’ You guys do your thing. I’m staying in Call of Duty.” Censor is currently a free agent ahead of the new franchised Call of Duty League. He announced his return to the pro scene early last week, after retiring from the scene for the second time in 2018.

Former Call of Duty League employee exposes “low-to-no priority” Challengers stance PexelsWith the Call of Duty League’s third season on the horizon, a former Call of Duty League employee has exposed the league’s “low-to-no priority” stance on its path-to-pro Challengers scene. From OpTic Texas’ creative director David ‘Hitch’ Edwards and CoD pros claiming Call of Duty: Vanguard “spits in the face” of the CoD esport scene, to Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag and Dr Disrespect slamming the CDL after the HCS’ record-breaking return… the CDL has not been in the most ideal spot in the pro scene’s eyes. While already under fire with constant criticism from both fans and pros alike, a now-former CDL employee has revealed the league’s stance on its Challengers scene, bringing forth even more bad news to the esport. CDL considers Challengers “low-to-no priority”? Upon announcing his retirement on Twitter, former Manager of Competition Operations for the CDL, Matthew Zaborowski explained on Twitter how the Challengers scene is “low-to-no priority for most of the CDL organization.” His work contributed to a plethora of changes for the league’s Challenger scene, including bringing in the Latin America region, more readily accessible VODs, and much more. GG. On the 31st I will be leaving CDL and ending my career in esports Read: https://t.co/Do7lDqg3Lx — Matt (@DotZeb) December 29, 2021 “Over the last 2 years, we introduced events to spotlight the top Challengers talent, brought in the Latin America region, and had broadcasts/VODs where they otherwise wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “It is far from everything I wanted to do, but I do hope I have done right by the community.” But Zaborowski claims that this low-priority stance has “resulted in little internal resourcing, attention, and mindshare given to the program.” Regardless of the stance, the former CDL employee still saw a positive outlook upon his departure from the league. “[I had] conversations with leadership on my out [that] gave me some belief that things will change for the better in the future,” he said. With the CDL beginning on January 21 with its preseason Kick-Off Classic, only time will tell if Activision take action to help appease the CoD esports scene’s concerns.

Former Call of Duty developer making new PUBG game PUBG / BlueholePUBG Corporation have captured the signing of a former Call of Duty developer and they’re already planning the development of a brand new PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds game. Glen Schofield, who worked on the development of three Call of Duty titles in the past, has been revealed as the brand new CEO of independent studio Striking Distance. The Co-Founder of Sledgehammer Games remained tight-lipped about the project during his announcement video, which was posted to the official PUBG Twitter account on June 26, but he has confirmed that it will be very different to the original. “I’m happy to announce that I’ve just joined PUBG Corporation as CEO of a new independent games studio called Striking Distance,” he said to kick off the video. “We’re working together to build a studio from the ground up, so we can begin crafting an original narrative experience in the PUBG universe.” Read More: Michael Condrey claims Activision are making Modern Warfare controversial for “headlines” – Schofield went on to confirm that the title will move “beyond battle royale,” bringing together new designs and concepts with his new team, based in San Ramon, California. Today we’re excited to introduce Striking Distance, a brand new game development studio headed by industry luminary @GlenSchofield. pic.twitter.com/vjkENfT2Jk — PUBG (@PUBG) June 26, 2019 Is it going to be PUBG 2? For those wondering if this would be a future sequel to PUBG, the former CoD developer confirmed that’s not going to be the case in a follow-up tweet. The only thing I can say now is that I’m not working on a sequel to PUBG, but an original narrative in the PUBG universe. — Glen A. Schofield (@GlenSchofield) June 26, 2019 There is no indication, as of the time of writing, about when fans could expect to see this game come to fruition, but based on the fact that the team is just starting out – and is still looking for new recruits, as seen on PUBG website – it’s highly unlikely that the AAA project will be given a release date any time soon. The new Striking Distance is clearly optimistic about the opportunity, though, as many PUBG fans will be as well. Just like many others, we await further information about the title.

Former Call of Duty dev slams Modern Warfare map designs A former Infinity Ward employee who worked on the production of Call of Duty games between 2006 and 2012 has slammed the developer for the map designs in Modern Warfare. Robert Bowling, also known as ‘fourzerotwo’, was a Creative Strategist and Community Manager at Infinity Ward who oversaw the releases of each of the original Modern Warfare trilogy in his time with the company. Since then, he has worked with a variety of renowned gaming and esports companies, including NRG Esports and Electronic Arts, but has not distanced himself from the Call of Duty franchise completely, as evidenced in a tweet on November 5. Modern Warfare released on October 25, and since then players, streamers and pros alike have come out to complain about certain issues with the game and seek out more balance where possible. Posting on Twitter, Bowling shared screenshots of the “Message of the Day” that was on the Modern Warfare main menu on November 5 – and he wasn’t impressed. He said: “Seemingly. Endless. Places. To hide. IS NOT A SELLING POINT” Seemingly. Endless. Places. To hide.IS NOT A SELLING POINT pic.twitter.com/ncHNrOTpSL — Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) November 5, 2019 The message in question was advertising the map Euphrates Bridge, a large map that features an assortment of destroyed buildings, blown up vehicles and a decrepit bridge that offer “seemingly endless places to hide.” In a later tweet, Bowling confirmed that whilst he was enjoying the game, he believes that “words matter and I don’t think we need to promote hiding.” To be clear I am loving this game. Don’t let my “old man yells at cloud” tweets make you think otherwise. It’s just that words matter and I don’t think we need to promote hiding. Get out and fight. Post up and snipe, rush and gun, PLAY. Move tactically, but move. https://t.co/HUSqzaH1j3 — Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) November 5, 2019 Numerous high-profile individuals have come out to speak about the issues they’re having with the game, including Dr. Disrespect raging about shotguns and claymores and shroud addressing what he believes needs to be changed. On the other hand, a number of people are really enjoying the game – as exemplified by Tom ‘ProSyndicate’ Cassell when he ranted at numerous pro players and even Dr. Disrespect on Twitter.

Former Call of Duty dev slams Bobby Kotick for making games ‘worse’ BlizzardBobby Kotick has only been gone from Activision/Blizzard for a few days, but a former Call of Duty developer has claimed his decisions made the game ‘worse’. Bobby Kotick has departed from his role as the big boss of Activision/Blizzard. In light of this, many former workers for the company have been revealing their negative thoughts on the former CEO and how he negatively impacted the games they were working on. Recently, a former Call of Duty developer spoke candidly about the former CEO in a thread on Twitter. “Bobby’s decisions made our games worse.” Said Twitter user chhopsky, a former programmer on Call of Duty at Demonware. She then went on to outline an instance where she was forced to stand up for a fellow employee after Kotick “threatened” to have them “killed.” She wasn’t the only person working at Activision/Blizzard who felt Kotick’s decisions were detrimental to the games, and the teams working on them. Andy Belford, a Blizzard community manager, also spoke about decisions made by the then CEO which caused problems for Overwatch 2’s launch on Steam. Belford’s thread claims Kotick denied the Overwatch 2 community team resources to help them adequately deal with review bombings on Steam. As well as forcing the team to moderate Steam, even though that wasn’t actually part of their roles with Blizzard. “At the end of everything, player experience/worker meant nothing to CSuite and exec leadership. It was all about that quarters earnings call.” He ended the thread. Currently, there’s no official announcement regarding who will replace Kotick as the company’s CEO. While his exit from Activision/Blizzard has been celebrated by fans, it remains to be seen what sort of changes his departure will bring.

FormaL vs OpTic Gaming: Grudge Match at the CWL Pro League – Preview The grudge match that the entirety of the competitive Call of Duty community has been breathlessly waiting for has finally arrived. Luminosity Gaming will meet OpTic Gaming at the CWL Pro League Stage 2, but more importantly, LG player Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper will face his former teammates for the first time since leaving the Green Wall. Anticipation for this match was set in motion the moment that FormaL left OpTic for LG in what will likely go down as the most publicized roster move in CoD esports history. He has been replaced by former LG player Sam ‘Octane’ Larew, who too will be facing his former team in this heavyweight matchup as well. Read More: Karma Believes He Could Improve All But Two of the CWL Pro League Teams If He Played a Particular Role – After the roster moves were officially announced, several pro players and community insiders, including CWL caster Clint ‘Maven’ Evans, warned the rest of the field that the move would greatly inspire FormaL, making him a dangerous force for the remainder of the season. Now FormaL will look to put this new will to win on display against his former teammates Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter, with whom he had spent the previous 3+ years competing, winning 18 major trophies in the process, including his first and only World Championship in 2017. – This match is scheduled to take place at 3:30 PM PST / 6:30 PM EST. For all scores, schedules, rosters, standings, and live-stream, make sure to visit our dedicated CWL Pro League Stage 2 hub.

FormaL unloads on “garbage” CoD Vanguard: “They really dropped the ball” ActivisionHaving now stepped away from the Call of Duty League, retired OpTic Gaming star Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper had plenty to say about the “garbage” state of CoD Vanguard and how “happy” he is to not be playing it. Shortly after the 2021 CDL season came to a close, former world champion FormaL announced his retirement from professional CoD. Despite hanging up the sticks on August 28, the 11-year FPS veteran soon went on to tease multiple options for his immediate future. At first, “other options” outside of competing were at the top of his list. Though it wasn’t long before FormaL was linked to a rumored FaZe Clan roster for Halo Infinite and later confirmed his desires to compete in the title. With Halo now in the spotlight, FormaL appears to be all-in on 343 Industries’ latest release, leaving the CoD scene behind altogether. Not only that, but he’s “f**king happy” to do so, as the OpTic member ripped into the “garbage” state of Vanguard during his latest stream. “How happy am I not to play Vanguard? F**king happy bro,” FormaL said on November 22. “I’m not gonna lie, I think that game looks like f***ing garbage.” FormaL, who is far from the only popular name refusing to play this year’s new CoD release, was quick to rattle off a number of reasons why Vanguard fails to meet his expectations. “I think it looks boring,” he started. “It looks sh**ty in terms of gameplay. I think the spawns are sh**. There are glitches. There are bad maps… I think they really dropped the ball on that one.” “You can’t fine me for sh**” FormaL giving his honest take on Vanguard now that he’s out of the CDL 😳 (Credit u/No_Effect) pic.twitter.com/lrlZOQkzRn — DEXERTO Intel (@DexertoIntel) November 23, 2021 While his T2P duo Seth ‘Scump’ Abner was once fined for sharing his own negative take on a new CoD release, FormaL isn’t at all concerned in retirement. He joked: “I can say that now. [The CDL] can’t fine me for sh*t.” Explaining why Vanguard launched in its current state, he pointed to Warzone as the clear culprit. “I think Call of Duty is just so focused on Warzone now,” he said. “They couldn’t give a f**k less about multiplayer. Meanwhile, “Halo looks great,” according to the former pro who got his start in Halo before transitioning to CoD in 2013. With just a few weeks to go before the first major LAN takes place, pro Halo appears to be gearing up for a resurgence. Meanwhile, many top CoD names are already begging for similar support.

FormaL trolls Simp after Blackout turn on: “Scump’s better!” MLGMatthew ‘FormaL’ Piper taunted Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr while playing Blackout during a Twitch stream, claiming that “Seth’s better” after out-gunning the reigning Call of Duty world champ. Things are beginning to heat up as we head into the first franchised season of Call of Duty. Of course, much speculation surrounds the ongoing rostermania amid the team shuffle that has ensued subsequent to the introduction of the CDL. One of the more topical developments has been the rumored rekindling of the notorious ‘T2P’ duo that consisted of FormaL and Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, which formed part of the OpTic Gaming dynasty that reigned throughout Infinite Warfare. Seth and FormaL won their first world championship together back in 2017. Fans of the popular pair have been previously teased with a nostalgic resurrection going into the 2020 season, as FormaL has dropped subtle hints on his Twitch stream which many have interpreted as a sign of a reunion in the not-so-distant future. Given the success and favorability gained by the duo in previous iterations of the franchise, the speculation has snowballed. In a Twitch stream on October 12, Piper added to the buzz by trolling Simp, after out-gunning current world champ in a one-on-one battle. After breezing past Simp’s teammate, the ex-OpTic Rifler found himself in a close-quarters engagement with last year’s rookie of the year nominee. After maneuvering his way to safety, FormaL ducked and weaved before taking out Simp. He then exclaimed:“By the way, Simp… Sit the f**k down, baby — Seth’s better.” Many still proclaim Scump to be the best Call of Duty player in the game, and by favoring his T2P counterpart over last year’s World Champs MVP, this could be a sign of things to come for the duo. Stay tuned with Dexerto as we unveil the latest stories as they unfold during this season’s rostermania.

FormaL trolls CoD fan after they compare him to Dashy MLGMatthew ‘FormaL‘ Piper poked fun at a fan after they compared him to OpTic Gaming’s Brandon ‘Dashy‘ Otell — reminding everyone that he is one of the winningest Call of Duty players in history himself. Amid the ongoing roster shuffles leading up to the first franchised season for Call of Duty, FormaL’s name has become synonymous among those keeping tabs on the impending ‘rostermania’ that will ensue. Following an appearance from Seth ‘Scump’ Abner on Episode 8 of the Courage & Nadeshot Show, FormaL has drummed up interest by hinting at the possible reunion of the ‘T2P’ duo that was at the root of OpTic’s dynasty squad. Of course, Piper is a multi-FPS veteran and Scump is dubbed to be one of the best Call of Duty players to have graced the sticks, so it’s evident why this has caused a stir on social media. Aside from Scump and FormaL’s long-term dominance of the franchise, Dashy has announced his presence into the Call of Duty scene during Black Ops 4, which has led to him being labeled one of the breakthrough players of last season — causing him to be frequently weighed-up to the two greats of Call of Duty. Regardless, FormaL immediately defended his position as one of the most decorated players in the game, when replying to a fan comparing him with the OpTic youngster. FormaL reacted by replying: “Oh, here we go again, the Dashy shit… Listen they used to say FormaL before they said Dashy — alright?” He was only jesting with the fan, but FormaL proceeded by adding: “I’m a 21 times motherfucker! I need some god-damn respect recently, man.” With the roster shuffle imminent, it’ll be interesting to see whether the two weigh-up against each other, or whether they will help Scump realize his ‘dream roster’ moving into Modern Warfare. Nonetheless, with Dashy’s crispy aim and shrewd in-game plays, you don’t have to go around the houses to see why some place him akin to FormaL.

FormaL trash talks CoD players who bet $1k on Black Ops Cold War match Treyarch/MLGOpTic Chicago’s Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper hilariously trash-talked some amateur Black Ops Cold War players in a 3v3 match, which somehow ended with $1,000 on the line. Thankfully for the 2017 World Champion, he, Scump and Dashy came out on the winning side. The OpTic Chicago roster coming into the 2021 Call of Duty League season is one of the scariest in the world of esports. The King – better known as Scump – is joined by fellow World Champion and ex-OpTic Gaming teammate FormaL, with young stars Envoy and Dashy rounding out the team. It came as much of a shock, then, when Dashy, FormaL and Scump found themselves up against an over-confident opponent, who decided to trash talk the Infinite Warfare World Champion. As you can imagine, FormaL didn’t take the criticism sitting down, and hilariously wagered his opponents $1,000 on the 3v3 match of Black Ops Cold War. “Yo, you shut the f**k up,” he said, much to the amusement of Scump and Dashy. “Shut the f**k up. You shut the f**k up. Look at our levels and look at you guys. Look at our levels. You wanna bet a thousand bucks on this match?” Much to the delight of the watching Scump, their opponents hilariously suggested upping the wager from $1,000 to $1,000,000. It’s fair to say that was never going to happen, but the $1,000 wager seemed to stick. “I just put a thousand bucks on this match,” FormaL said. “[It was with] Unemployment. So he really needs this.” The match went about how fans would have expected, with Formal, Scump and Dashy running out fairly comfortable winners. While Scump and Dashy used snipers, FormaL had his hands on an AK-74u, and finished the game with a jaw-dropping 7,100 damage. He made his feelings known at the end of the game too, obnoxiously shouting through the microphone as the Play of the Game showed a nice 5-piece. As you can imagine, Scump collapsed into laughter, calling his T2P duo an “idiot.” We can’t confirm whether the $1,000 wager was actually paid, but it’s one of the funniest stream moments we’ve seen in a long time. Fans will be hoping that OpTic Chicago can take their confidence and winning habits into the CDL when it kicks off on January 23.

FormaL teases fans with ‘T2P’ Scump duo on Modern Warfare beta MLGThe formidable duo of Matthew ‘FormaL‘ Piper and Seth ‘Scump‘ Abner is rumored to make a return, and the Luminosity player has teased nostalgic fans about their possible reunion. The two players are heading into the franchised league for Call of Duty starting in 2020, and there have been rumors circling that they could be set to join forces once again. During the reign of the ‘OpTic Dynasty’, the pair were known as T2P (time to pound), which was first coined in the Advanced Warfare season, and they went on to win countless events together. A rift grew between the pair during the WWII season though, as performances and placings dropped, partly due to Scump living on the West Coast, causing issues with practice. After FormaL left to join LG, neither player has enjoyed the same level of success, and so a possible reunion has been rumored, and the Luminosity man is adding fuel to those rumors. During his September 22 stream, he asked fans to spam ‘T2P’ in the chat after an “aggressive SMG” teammate wiped out the enemy team. “Can I get some T2P’s in the chat for Seth!” the former CoD World Champion called out. Some viewers may have thought that this was actually Scump himself playing, although it is believed this was simply a random teammate, who FormaL chose for a cheeky troll. He was actually playing alongside 2019 World Champion Alec ‘Arcitys‘ Sanderson and Dylan ‘Envoy’ Hannon, and later in his stream teased fans again, saying he hoped everyone “enjoyed the team scrims.” FormaL also teased fans on Twitter, after Scump tweeted ‘Do you remember?’ – Simply replying ‘I do’. Some franchise teams have begun making team announcements already, with Modern Warfare only one month away from a full release, when rosters will want to begin practicing properly. So far, only London and Minnesota franchises have made any announcements, both confirming three players each, and a coach. Each roster requires a minimum of seven players (that includes two substitutes and five starters) up to a maximum of ten. Where exactly FormaL and Scump end up is still not public knowledge, but fans are desperate to see them on the same team once again. You can keep up with all the roster moves in the Call of Duty offseason here.

FormaL stuns viewers with superhuman callout for Scump in Modern Warfare Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper and Seth ‘Scump’ Abner have brought T2P back in full force for the first franchised year of the Call of Duty League — a dominant partnership showcased in this Modern Warfare highlight. FormaL and Scump — is there a more iconic Call of Duty duo? Perhaps the most decorated pair in Call of Duty’s history, their partnership flourished as they both bagged their first world championship ring together back in 2017. However, after a rocky season on WWII, ‘T2P’ (which stands for ‘time to pound’) split in May 2018 — marking the end of OpTic Gaming’s dynasty roster. Nonetheless, after squashing their beef with one another, the pair are back in action on Modern Warfare. Now forming 2/5 of the Chicago Huntsmen, both FormaL and Scump have been reigniting their form of old in recent scrims, as T2P has run riot over teams far and wide. Although the pair clearly boast unrivaled abilities on the sticks, it’s perhaps their communication that sets them worlds apart from other duos in the franchise. While playing in a 5v5 Gamebattles variant match on Arklov Peak, Scump gave a key insight into why the pair thrive under pressure. Having just been eliminated near mid-stairs, FormaL called out his foe and timed it to literal perfection. “Listen, one is going mid-stairs in about five seconds, Seth,” Piper briefed. “Watch your mid-stairs, he’ll come up in like three seconds!” Right on cue, the enemy appeared exactly where he was predicted, with uncanny timing. Not only is FormaL’s ability to anticipate his enemy’s movement and timing so impressive, but Scump’s undoubted trust in the call is why their communication is second to none. It’s also part of why T2P has now become a household name in the Call of Duty community. Of course, Scump landed the headshot on his opponent, as he locked on with his razor-sharp M4A1 aim — reminiscent of his knack with an ACR back on MW3. With the start of Modern Warfare’s competitive season around the corner, players are starting to heat-up and hone in their form. T2P and co. will be kick-starting their competitive campaign on January 24 at the season opener in Minnesota, where they will lock horns with none other than OpTic Gaming LA.

FormaL slams Infinity Ward over major Modern Warfare complaint NRG/Infinity WardCall of Duty star Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has roasted Modern Warfare developers Infinity Ward for releasing the game without one vital thing – the multiplayer mini-map. The mini-map has always been a vital tool for competitive Call of Duty players, but with the release of the highly-anticipated Modern Warfare, things have been shaken up. Unlike previous titles, the mini-map which sits in the top-left corner of the heads-up display will no longer show enemies as red dots when they fire shots without silenced weapons. Instead, they appear on the compass in the center of the screen, but this still frustrates players as they can’t get an ideal reading on enemy positioning. While plenty of players have posted about it on social media, be it either Twitter or Reddit, others like FormaL have taken it one step further, sending out full-on verbal barrages live on their Twitch stream. “You hear us you f*cking idiots, god damn it, where the f*ck is the mini-map? What the f*ck!” he exclaimed during a break in the action of his November 11 scrims. “Why the f*ck did you release the CoD without a god damn mini-map, you f*cking idiots. “Holy sh*t, that is too funny bro – you f*cking morons. Holy f*cking shit bro, f*cking geniuses over there bro.” The explicit roasting of Infinity Ward wasn’t finished there, though, as his Chicago Huntsman teammate Peirce ‘Gunless’ Hillman chimed in with “They’re doing a f*cking fantastic job over there,” as the pair couldn’t stop laughing. That set FormaL off again. “Where the f*ck is the god damn mini-map,” he yelled. “You f*cking idiots bro, I can’t believe that, it is too funny dude. They get paid too, oh Jesus.” While the roasting probably won’t speed anything up on the side of Infinity Ward, they have been making continual changes to the game and kept an open line of communication with fans. They may, eventually, make a change to the mini-map, but considering there’s been little said about it since the beta weekends, it remains to be seen if it’ll be coming anytime soon.

FormaL smashes Call of Duty: Blackout world record Treyarch / DexertoProfessional Call of Duty player Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and while the game’s esport is in its off-season, the former Luminosity star has set an insane world record in Blackout. FormaL is one of CoD’s most recognizable names, with the American rising to superstardom thanks to his time on OpTic Gaming, during which he secured the organization’s first world championship in the game as part of a dynasty roster which dominated for almost two years. While many pros are taking time off ahead of the 2020 season, the 24-year-old has continued to grind Black Ops 4, focusing on the game’s Blackout mode and more recently, the brand-new Heavy Metal Heroes limited-time mode. FormaL is one of the greatest CoD players in the world. Heavy Metal Heroes sees the game’s map turned into a comic-book, with a revamped art style, with boost jumping which will be familiar to those who played the franchise’s Advanced Warfare of Black Ops 3 titles. The added movement abilities lead to some aggressive playstyles, something which FormaL’s incredible aim lends itself to perfectly, so it will come as little surprise that a dominating performance early on Monday, October 14 saw him set a crazy world record in the limited-time mode, racking up 49 kills by himself as his team cruised to victory. We finally did it!!!! WORLD RECORD IN THE HEAVY METAL HEROES!!! OMGGGGGG pic.twitter.com/f7rcj7ypp8 — LG FormaL (@FormaL) October 14, 2019 With just two opponents remaining, his teammates were doing everything they could to help him rack up as many kills as possible, calling out enemy locations but not even engaging them, instead letting FormaL zoom around the map with a Grapple Gun to pick them off himself. Unsurprisingly, the crew were ecstatic to see him set such a crazy record, shouting “Oh my God!’ over and over again, with the CoD pro celebrating that they had “finally done it,” after a week of attempts at setting records in the Heavy Metal Heroes LTM. FormaL’s kill record eclipses anything seen on the game since the mode released on September 23, with OpTic Gaming member Patryk ‘Rallied’ Salata coming closest with an impressive 34. Just broke the Heavy Metal Heroes world record.https://t.co/IRRatUP9yx pic.twitter.com/c3hFphD55N — OpTic Ral (@Rallied) September 26, 2019 FormaL’s time on Black Ops 4 is quickly coming to an end though, with the release of Modern Warfare set to take his focus as he prepares for the franchised Call of Duty League, in which he is almost certain to play part in. The American will be hoping that his record-breaking form will continue well into the 2020 season, so he can take home a big slice of the $6 million prize pool that’s up for grabs.

FormaL says pro CoD players being offended by trash talk are just “soft” Call of Duty LeagueOpTic Chicago’s Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has responded to claims the competitive CoD community is “getting soft”, suggesting that the majority of players are now able to shrug trash talk off. The change to the CDL, from the old CWL, represented the biggest shift in competitive Call of Duty’s infrastructure since it first began. However, despite the founding of 12 new franchises, there was perhaps not as much turnover in players as was originally planned. The core veterans – Clayster, Crimsix, Scump, Slasher and more – all made the jump into the franchised league, even if some, like Karma and ZooMaa, have since hung up their controllers. Some fans have been disappointed by the change to the CDL, suggesting that the new teams mean old rivalries and feuds have been forgotten. FormaL, though, suggests it is down to the presence of veteran players, who have long since got used to playing with and against one another. On a recent episode of the OpTic Podcast, FormaL responded to the topic of trash talk (or the lack of it) in the CDL, with the question also asking whether the League and its pros have “gone soft”. “Speaking of pros,” FormaL replied, “I feel like we’ve known each other for so f**king long now, no one should get that butt-hurt. Like the video we put out a couple weeks ago… we’ve all been in this sh*t for so long that if you’re getting that hurt, you’re just soft. We’ve all shot sh*t at each other, it’s been so long. Everyone’s talked sh*t to each other at one point or another, and meant it.” Timestamp: 38:50 “We know we’re gonna play against each other [again],” he said. “Like even if we lose Champs last year, we know we’re gonna play you at Champs next year too. It’s a cycle, we’re just gonna keep playing each other over and over again. So if you’re just getting tight over random comments you’re just soft as a person.” When referencing the video they made a few weeks back, FormaL is referring to their ranking of CoD pros. The video garnered backlash from certain pros, even being branded as “disrespectful” by retired player RamboRay. FormaL is essentially saying that the bad blood and trash-talking is still present, pros have just become far better at shrugging it off and leaving it in the heat of the moment. Those that aren’t able to do so are “soft”. However, FormaL doesn’t consider it to be all that meaningful, suggesting that player relationships outside of matches have reduced the venom behind much of the trash talk. His nonchalance towards it probably goes some way to explain his confusion when ex-pros reacted negatively to comments he made in the tier list video. The second CDL season kicks off properly with the Atlanta FaZe home series, from February 11-14.

FormaL reveals his biggest issue with Modern Warfare maps Professional Call of Duty player Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has taken aim at Infinity Ward and Modern Warfare’s designers, complaining about the quality of the game’s maps. Maps play a major factor in every CoD release, and Modern Warfare is certainly no different as they are literally the areas where combat action takes place, so ensuring that they are enjoyable for players to compete on is crucial if Infinity Ward wants fans to stick around. Many, including legendary pro player Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow, are unhappy with the current offerings in Modern Warfare, and FormaL levelled the blame not only at those who designed the map but at those who signed off on them being added to the game during his October 27 stream. While playing on Azhir Cave, a map which features a large, dark cave which runs the entire length of the playable area, FormaL complained that he did not enjoy playing many of the game’s maps, and took aim at those he felt were responsible for the issues. “I would really prefer having more fun maps,” the 24-year-old griped on stream. “Someone actually got paid to design this map and then got co-signed by a bunch of other people who are also paid to make maps. They think that this was good, are you kidding me? Multiple people are at fault here.” “The gunplay in this game is actually really fun. I feel like the gunplay is really, really fun. I get really satisfied when I get a kill, but when you’re getting killed on s**tty maps it’s kind of lame.” One of the majors changes that went into map design in Modern Warfare was Infinity Ward’s decision to scrap the “three-lane” system that has been a staple in Call of Duty for years, instead opting for more maps with unusual or erratic lanes which can often lead to enemies appearing from multiple different paths instead of one of three lanes. Infinity Ward have stated that maps will be included as part of Modern Warfare’s post-launch content plan, but whether these will appease players like FormaL, who believe the current set of maps are not enjoyable to play, remains to be seen.

FormaL responds to Crimsix leaking his OpTic roster reunion with Scump Call of Duty pro Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has responded to former teammate Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter, after he appeared to ‘leak’ a new roster featuring former a reunion with OpTic duo Scump, On September 9, Crimsix announced he was a restricted free agent going into the 2020 season, shortly after teammate Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow had done so, surprising many fans. More surprising still, Crimsix denied that the decision was made by OpTic’s new ownership group, Immortals, sparking speculation that his now-former teammates had dropped him. On September 11, a video surfaced from a Twitch stream, in which Crimsix can be heard telling his seemingly random teammates about the roster moves behind the scenes at OpTic. While playing CS:GO, Crimsix wrote in the game chat “TJ/Brandon/FormaL said they’ll team if I’m not on it,” prompting the other players in the lobby for an explanation. Crimsix then apparently “leaked” that the team would consist of Scump, Dashy, TJHaLy, and FormaL. When asked about Karma, Crimsix responds “Seth didn’t want to play with him […] TJ, Brandon and FormaL didn’t [want to play with me].” In the next round, he clarified that JKap was being considered as the 5th player on the team. After watching the clip on stream, FormaL responded, “You’re telling me Crim is going into random CS games, giving intel to random CS kids? That’s what he’s doing right now?” The former OpTic star then claimed that the ‘intel’ was “fake news”, but that “Crim should know better than that. Not even know better than that. Crim should be better than that.” “You’re trying to spill intel to random people? You’re trying to tell people things?” FormaL concluded, arguing that it made Crimsix look “salty”. It’s unclear whether or not the ‘leaked’ roster Crimsix claimed has formed is accurate or not, although Scump has already publicly indicated a desire to team with FormaL again. For his part, FormaL insisted the leak was fake, although he may simply be trying to keep things under wraps. We’ll find out for sure when roster announcements are made ahead of the 2020 franchise league season. The league is set to begin in January 2020, and so there are still months before rosters will need to be finalized. Only nine franchise locations have been officially confirmed so far, with more expected.

FormaL Releases Statement Following Departure from OpTic Gaming to Join Luminosity The split of the OpTic Gaming Call of Duty roster has sent shockwaves through the community, with FormaL’s move to LG being the first change announced officially. FormaL undoubtedly cemented himself as one of the top main assault rifle (AR) players in Call of Duty over the last three years, culminating in his victory at the Call of Duty World Championship in 2017. He also won MVP at the tournament, and no one could argue it was undeserved, as his incredible stat lines combined with smart plays and teamwork were second to none. But of course, after OpTic experienced a bumpy 2018 season with the release of Call of Duty: WWII, the writing was on the wall for the roster, despite its dynastic performances over the years. FormaL has now released a statement to the community, addressing his former teammates, the ‘Greenwall’, and his hopes for the future on LG. I’ve joined LG with Jkap, Slacked, and John. To the Greenwall; I’d first like to thank anyone who is part of the support system that OpTic had throughout my time on the team. Every event I went to for the past three years was truly humbling with the amount of support shown. I’m glad to have put on a show for you all, and it was a blast playing in front of you. I want to apologize as well, I can only imagine how hard these past months have gone for you, watching your favorite team slowly rip apart in front of you. Even then, we still received support when we didn’t deserve it. At every Scuf signing during our events, you always made us seem like we really meant a lot to you, and I just wanted to make it clear that you meant a lot to us. To my former teammates; That was quite a ride, three years ago when we made this team I know we had high expectations, but we really did achieve some great things together. I think we all agree that we won’t forget some of the times we had together, and wow we won Champs, we did it. I know we will have some insane matches against each other for the rest of our careers. Hector, thanks for always going out of your way to make sure your players were happy to be in your organization. Thank you for believing in me three years ago and giving me that opportunity. Why the change? We had a frustrating amount of team issues, and something needed to be changed. All four of us are winners, with championship expectations, and consistently falling short of that goal we sensed change was coming. I think this change will benefit everyone involved, and all four of us as players will be happier and perform better. Moving forward; I will now be competing under Luminosity Gaming alongside Jkap, Slacked, and John. I am so excited for this, and hopefully we can bring home some championships to close out WWII and continue into Black Ops 4. To all of my fans who have supported me over the years, I hope you’ll join me on this new journey with LG, your support means more to me than you’ll ever know. You guys motivate me to be the best that I can, every time I step on stage. Thank you for reading. Whether portions of the Greenwall will move their support of FormaL over to Luminosity will be interesting to see, as some OpTic fans are notoriously loyal – but others are more inclined to follow their favorite players. Both OpTic Gaming and Luminosity will face off in Division B of the CWL Pro League Stage Two, with the matches beginning on May 29th. Division A begins May 15th.

FormaL reacts to “disrespectful” Crimsix comments amid CoD roster drama Call of Duty pro Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has responded to former OpTic teammate Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter, calling comments about him “disrespectful”. During an Ask Me Anything session on Discord on October 18, Crimsix was asked if he would team with FormaL again, to which he simply responded “who?”. He also discussed his now frayed relationship with Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, another of his now-former OpTic Gaming teammates, saying the pair were no longer “cool” with one another. FormaL later saw Crimsix’s comments, and reacted on stream, labeling them as “disrespectful,” before adding more of his own thoughts. “Who…?” FormaL repeated, “that’s disrespectful man. Ungrateful motherf**ker.” FormaL and Crimsix were teammates for almost four years on what is now considered the best roster of all time, as the ‘OpTic dynasty’, cemented with their win at the 2017 World Championship. FormaL was a crucial member of the former lineup, particularly at the 2017 World Championship, where he dropped an almost unheard of 1.44 K/D ratio at the event. It was FormaL’s first World Championship and Crimsix’s second, thanks to his earlier win in CoD Ghosts. Crimsix has now reunited with his former Complexity teammate James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks on Dallas Empire, the Team Envy-owned franchise in the Call of Duty League. The teams for both Scump and FormaL are not yet confirmed, although rumors suggest they too are set to be reunited, but under the NRG-owned Chicago franchise. Former OpTic CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez has joined NRG as a co-owner and is expected to head up much of the operations with the Call of Duty team.

FormaL on potentially teaming with ex-OpTic dynasty in CoD franchise league MLG/Turtle BeachCall of Duty professional Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has confirmed he would be open to teaming with members of the OpTic Gaming dynasty roster, after CoD transitions to a franchise-based league. FormaL was part of the infamous OpTic Gaming roster that won Infinite Warfare’s World Championship back in 2017, to cap off two years of CoD dominance. However, the team experienced an acrimonious split midway through the WWII season, in a year where the Greenwall failed to win a single major tournament. FormaL has experienced moderate success as part of Luminosity Gaming since then, while the Greenwall have only put up one tournament win, CWL Las Vegas in December 2018. The OpTic Gaming roster consisting of FormaL, Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow and Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter won an incredible 13 major championships together, over the course of roughly two years. Despite the fractious split, FormaL was asked whether he would be open to teaming with them again, while streaming on Twitch on August 23. “Would you team with any of your old OpTic teammates if given the chance in franchising?” FormaL read. “I don’t know, maybe. Maybe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” The competitive Modern Warfare season will start soon after the game’s late October release, and will see Call of Duty take up a franchise-based model for the first time. A total of nine franchises have already been confirmed, including rosters in Los Angeles, Paris, Dallas, and Toronto. Call of Duty’s ‘rostermania’ has already begun, and we can expect to see a lot of changes over the summer as players scramble to find a franchise. While there are no guarantees that we will see an OpTic reunion, many fans would love the opportunity to see the greatest roster of all time reunite. However, a new roster would not stick together for nostalgia reasons alone, and a lot would depend on any new team’s ability to recreate the old OpTic’s incredible success.

FormaL potentially reveals Call of Duty franchise league teammate Activision – Call of DutyCall of Duty veteran and member of the former OpTic Gaming dynasty, Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper, might have just accidentally revealed who he’s teaming with in the upcoming franchise league. One of the most accomplished players in competitive FPS history with countless tournament victories to his name and a 2017 World Championship MVP medal to boot, fans have been hotly anticipating news in relation to where FormaL may end up in the 2020 season. With a number of subtle nods to former OpTic Gaming teammate Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, the Call of Duty community has been trying to piece together who else would complement the famous ‘T2P’ duo. With this in mind, a massive reveal may have just been accidentally let slip by FormaL himself. In a September 25 stream, FormaL was playing some rounds of Blackout alongside fellow pro player and 2019 World Champion Alec ‘Arcitys’ Sanderson. Having died earlier in the match, he was spectating the last remaining player in Arcitys when he said “I love shooting the sh*t out of my teammate…ughh…friend.” Immediately noticing the error in his speech, FormaL went back on himself and tried to make the correction that Arcitys was purely just a friend and certainly not a member of a yet unannounced roster. Whether this is an intentional bait or a genuine confirmation of Arcitys teaming with FormaL in the very near future, remains to be seen. While no concrete information has yet to be revealed for many of the 2020 franchise teams around the world, a few have just started unveiling players and coaches to generate some excitement for their lineups. Recently pro player Zooma announced that he would be competing for the New York-based franchise flanked by a formidable coaching staff which includes former Evil Geniuses coach John ‘Revan’ Boble, and former MLG statistician JP Krez. Arcitys (left) recently crowned World Champion alongside his teammates at eUnited. Similarly, the London and Minnesota-based franchises have recently revealed the core of their starting rosters. You can keep up to date with all of the latest information with our dedicated tracker here.

FormaL left in disbelief by Censor’s kill count in Modern Warfare 10s Chicago Huntsmen player Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper was left in absolute disbelief as New York Subliners substitute Doug ‘Censor’ Martin racked up an abysmally low kill count in a Modern Warfare 10s lobby. Censor has never been known as a top slayer, more often playing the objective and taking the hits so that the rest of his teammates don’t have to. This has led to speculation and banter around Censor’s actual ability as a pro player, but he’s proven himself enough of an asset to make the substitute bench for New York’s team in the inaugural franchised Call of Duty League. That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s going to have incredible games all the time, as FormaL pointed out in a January 1 stream. Alongside fellow pros Preston ‘Priestahh’, Ulysses ‘AquA’ Silva and Preston ‘Prestinni’ Sanderson, they lost a Rammaza Hardpoint match against a mixed team of pro and amateur players that arguably they should be beating every time – and that’s when Piper pulled up Censor on his kill count. “Seven?” he said, repeating the number again, clearly unable to believe that Censor had managed only seven kills in the closely contested map. Censor tried to justify it, saying “Yeah, I think I just need to pre-aim and slow down, I’m literally sprinting into stuff.” Read More: Best Call of Duty games of the decade – In a tongue-in-cheek response, Formal said “I don’t know what you’ve got to do, but you’ve got to figure that sh*t out. Seven?!” Everyone in the call was laughing and enjoying the banter, but Doug still felt the need to explain why he struggled so much during that map. He said “My thought process is, like, I’m trying to get as aggressive as possible and literally sprint at cuts to learn timing. I need to slow down when I get to spots I like.” This only made FormaL laugh more, repeating “seven?” once again before telling Censor he’s “good” after an apology from the New York native. With the league starting up at the end of January 2020, Censor will want to make sure he has learned what he needs to do in order to properly support his team, but at the end of the day that’s exactly what 10s is for: practice. How much of an impact he will have from the substitute bench remains to be seen, as it’s not yet clear whether teams will be rotating players between maps, series’ or at all as the Call of Duty League gets underway.

FormaL stepping up could help “OpTic win Champs!” | CDL Reverse Sweep Preview Show Dexerto With Call of Duty League Champs drawing near, our Reverse Sweep crew of Jonathan ‘Pacman’ Tucker & Katie Bedford are here to preview the biggest tournament of the year and make their bold predictions for who might win. After months of grinding through the regular season, this year’s Champs event is now all that remains. Eight of the world’s best CoD teams are set to throw down in a $2.5m event from August 19 but only one can be crowned as champions. Champs is where the biggest stars emerge and the craziest results often come to fruition. So to preview the final Black Ops Cold War event, our Reverse Sweep duo is here to break down all the biggest matchups. From OpTic’s potential shot at glory to players that we need to keep an eye on, here’s the Reverse Sweep preview for this year’s Champs event. Predicting the first Champs matchups Kicking things off in the upper bracket, Champs is set to deliver two spicy games right away. Subliners meet OpTic in round one while Empire is thrown into a series with ROKKR. But who has the upper hand in these matchups? “I really struggle to see a world where Subliners beat OpTic,” Pacman said. Due to their “current form” without Clayster, NYSL’s journey at Champs will be an uphill battle, according to Pacman. Meanwhile, the ROKKR vs Empire matchup could easily be the “craziest” of the entire event. “The ROKKR of this past weekend, they just shouldn’t lose to anyone. But a strong Empire can also beat anyone. My gut says go with ROKKR, but it’s a tough one.” Can @ROKKR now win #CDLChamps!?@PacmanJT & @WorldsBedford discuss their potential after the Stage V Major win! #CDL2021 Biggest Mover | Presented by @KontrolFreek. pic.twitter.com/6i9GJdwILE — Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) August 4, 2021 Can Dallas Empire go back to back at Champs? Speaking of Empire, what are the chances last year’s Champs go on a run once again? While their roster is obviously quite different this time around, can they still pull out the win? “Of course,” Pacman responded. “If this past Major taught us anything it’s that any of these top teams can look extremely scary. Dallas has all the potential in the world.” Though to reach that final stage, Empire needs one thing: Shotzzy in MVP form. “[Shotzzy] needs to be that superstar for the team. He can do it, he just needs the teamwork to be there.” Will OpTic finally reach a Grand Final in 2021? OpTic’s best placing this year came during the Stage 5 Major. Could a Top 4 finish finally give them the momentum to close out a win? Pacman “actually thinks they can.” First up, they have “the best [opening match] you can have” against NYSL. “Then you get to play a FaZe that’s clearly at the weakest we’ve seen them. That bodes well. Right now is the best opportunity for OpTic to get to a final.” Similar to Empire, however, one key player needs to elevate OpTic during their Champs run. “I’m looking at [FormaL] to be the best player on the team,” Pacman added. “FormaL needs to get back to that level.” The final #CDL2021 Reverse Sweep power rankings of the regular season!@ATLFaZe drop out of the top 2 for the first time this season 😲 pic.twitter.com/bk6lx1NioB — Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) August 3, 2021 Players to watch during Champs Outside of FormaL for OpTic and Shotzzy for Empire, who should we be keeping an eye on during Champs? For Katie, it’s none other than Stage 5 winner Attach. “They had such an incredibly Major,” she stressed. “I want to see that momentum continue. I want to see what he can impart onto Standy.” Taking a different approach, Pacman wants to see LA Thieves firing on all cylinders. “If they’re gonna be a team that makes a loser’s bracket run, [Kenny] needs to be one of the best players in the tournament, if not the best.” Bold predictions for Champs With eight teams locked in for the event, who are the biggest underdogs and who has the most potential for an upset? Pacman is focusing his sights on LA Thieves to go further than most. “I think LA Thieves are gonna get all the way to loser’s finals, upsetting at least two top teams on the way,” he said. “I think we’re gonna see LA Thieves’ best performance in two years at this Champs.” Read More: CDL Stage 5 Major Highlights – While they might not go much further than round two, Katie’s bold prediction sees New York “upsetting OpTic” to start their Champs run.

FormaL goes on a tear against OpTic in crazy Hardpoint comeback High-level practice between Call of Duty League teams has been kicking off in Modern Warfare and Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper of the Chicago Huntsmen has proven why he was so sought-after in the new-look competition’s first signing window. Since its release on October 25, Modern Warfare has been the sole focus of countless professional players trying to prepare for the inaugural season in the newly established franchise league. Numerous teams have been squaring off on-stream and a recent matchup between the Chicago squad and the recently announced OpTic LA lineup, gave FormaL a perfect opportunity to shine. In a November 13 broadcast, the Huntsmen were initially dominated by the Dallas Empire throughout their first practice block of the day. Dropping eight maps and only securing one victory in Domination, the Chicago roster was looking to rebound against OpTic and that’s exactly what they were able to do. “We sh*t all over the Empire and we sh*t all over OpTic,” FormaL sarcastically joked once the practice had come to an end. Despite the evidently lopsided result against former teammate Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter and the Dallas-based squad, there’s no denying that early scrim results are not at all phasing the veteran. Moving on with their scheduled practice, the team was eager to improve their results for the day and take some maps against OpTic LA. Read more: Modern Warfare leak reveals 13 new Operators – Fortunately, FormaL was more than willing to turn up the heat on his former organization, dropping an impressive nine-streak to close out a nail-biting Hardpoint comeback on Hackney Yard. With OpTic just six points away from securing a map win, the Huntsmen perfectly locked down a final objective and found the comeback win thanks to an exceptional defensive effort from former World Champion. Holding down the bottom left corner of the map, FormaL was able to peak multiple entry points for OpTic. Mowing down Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell and Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly to open the impressive play, he then alternated between kills on the high-ground and those advancing from the left. Addressing a poor performance to open the map, Seth ‘Scump’ Abner joked that he was “losing full” currently sitting at the bottom of the scoreboard. “Hey, I regained, you didn’t,” FormaL quickly responded after going on an absolute tear to close out the map. With a constant influx of balance changes from Infinity Ward, there’s no doubt that scrim results will fluctuate in the lead up to the first official matches in Minnesota come January 24. For the time being though, it’s clear that one of the all-time great Assault Rifle players is finding his stride in the latest release. A few more months of preparations and the Chicago Huntsmen could be a terrifying squad at international events.

FormaL explains why playing on LAN at CDL Stage 4 Major was “weird” Call of Duty LeagueThe Call of Duty League returned to LAN for the Stage 4 Major, with Atlanta FaZe toppling a hot Dallas Empire to win their third Major of the season. But OpTic Chicago’s Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper says the experience felt “weird,” despite the community’s excitement for LAN to return. It had been well over a year since the last CDL LAN event, and the Major didn’t disappoint. There were reverse sweeps, game nines, upsets, and intense 1v1s across the board. There’s not much more a CoD fan could ask for. While players themselves were delighted to get into some offline games and not have any concern about the drawbacks of online play, there were definitely some growing pains and a lack of familiarity in some circumstances. On the OpTic podcast, FormaL explained why the whole experience was “weird.” With fellow OpTic creator Davis ‘Hitch’ Edwards asking what it was like, FormaL and Dylan ‘Envoy’ Hannon had to take a moment to collect their thoughts on the experience. “It was weird,” FormaL said, with immediate agreement from Envoy. “I always imagine the environment to be a little bit different. I think it was because we didn’t have fans.” Envoy added that they were pumping white noise into the arena, which must have made the experience that much more strange, but added that it was “sick” to have their own practice rooms. “It’s just weird,” Envoy added later. “We’re so late into the season that playing the game on LAN was way different than playing Modern Warfare on LAN at the beginning and knowing what it was like, then playing online the rest of the season.” Part of the power of playing for OpTic Chicago is the intense fanfare that comes with it. The majority of CoD fans are cheering you on and, when you have that at LAN, it must be a real morale booster and help push you to greater heights. The OpTic boys are probably missing the fans now, but hopefully, by the 2022 season they’ll be hyping up a crowd once again.

FormaL explains why “new CDL meta” will benefit Huntsmen Katy Eyre/ESPAT Media [jwplayer qYU9URvL] There’s been a major shift in the Call of Duty League meta for the New York Home Series and beyond, but Chicago Huntsmen veteran Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper believes it could end up helping their squad, particularly teammate Alec ‘Arcitys’ Sanderson. For the longest time, the M4A1 and MP5 have dominated the competitive CoD meta, with most CDL teams opting to have one player use the assault rifle and the other four run the powerful SMG. The recent nerfs to the MP5 have dawned a new strategy, as squads are now opting to have two or as many as three players use the M4, which has overtaken its submachine counterpart as the more dominant weapon. While some have expressed displeasure at this change, for Huntsmen, it might end up being a good thing. Chicago’s star man FormaL was asked about it, and he’s already seeing improvements as a result of the transition. “The past week that we scrimmed it showed every day,” he said. “Alec was running an MP5 for the whole year; I know he wasn’t really too comfortable with it, he was just using it because he’s better with it than I was. Now that we’re both on ARs, the whole pacing of the map feels better, everything feels more fluid, he’s just a powerhouse with an AR.” In the previous meta, Chicago’s lone AR slayer was FormaL, since he’s arguably the greatest to play that role in CoD esports history. However, Arcitys has proven to also be very strong in that position, but as Piper mentioned, was forced out of his comfort zone due to the need to have four SMG players surrounding the main assault rifle player. Now, the two can are using the M4 simultaneously and will probably do so through to the end of the season, which gives the team a lot more balance and doesn’t push anyone to have to play a role they’re not totally comfortable with. In their first match of CDL New York, Chicago took down London Royal Ravens 3-1, including three map wins in a row, and both fans and analysts alike were able to recognize how much more fluid the team looked. “He’s a blessing, for real,” FormaL said of Arcitys. “He’s pretty much everything you could ask for in a teammate – he’s always composed, always going off. He’s always there to say “breathe” mid-game when we’re getting hectic. He’s disgusting, I love him.” That’s high praise from one World Champion to another, and it’s easy to see why the Huntsmen might be excited to get both superstars on the same assault rifle role. You can follow all of this weekend’s Call of Duty League action via our CDL New York Home Series hub, which includes streams, scores, brackets, schedule, and more.

FormaL explains why he’s grinding Valorant over Warzone after CDL retirement Activision/Riot GamesOn August 28, 2021, Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper announced that he would be stepping down as a professional Call of Duty player, having played out his final season with OpTic Chicago in the CDL. Now, his attention has flipped to Valorant. The news came as somewhat of a surprise to many fans, with FormaL still being relatively young and capable, as well as one of the most phenomenally successful players in CoD history. He’s stayed under the OpTic banner and started streaming pretty regularly but, while other pros are grinding Warzone in the off-season, he’s actually putting the hours in on Riot Games FPS Valorant instead. As FormaL explains, this decision boils down to two fairly significant factors for him. With OpTic CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez asking FormaL what he finds so enjoyable about Valorant on the OpTic podcast, he said it comes down to one thing: the rank. “It’s the rank, that’s it,” he said. “The fact that you can feel final once you hit Immortal. That’s when you’re like ‘Okay, I’ve got pretty good.’” He continued: “It’s just so fun. You feel so final when you go up a rank or something and you’re sh***ing on other Immortals. If there was no rank I wouldn’t be playing it, let’s put it that way.” Timestamp 25:18 Ranked play is something Call of Duty fans have often pleaded for over the years, but this isn’t the sole reason FormaL has strayed towards Valorant instead of Warzone. Why won’t FormaL stream Warzone? The conversation quickly turned to CoD BR Warzone, and FormaL explained why it’s such a struggle. He said: “I played Warzone with Seth [Scump], Zinni and ZooMaa, and we were just getting stream sniped every f**king game. Even when we hide our screens we’re getting stream sniped constantly.” Scump’s CDL off-season streams have been completely inundated by stream snipers, making things much harder for him — and we can’t imagine that’s much fun to deal with. A functional streamer mode is something creators have been calling for from Warzone for months, but whether it comes is another question.

FormaL explains why $1.2m World Series of Warzone is facing an uphill battle ActivisionThe announcement of the World Series of Warzone was met with huge excitement from the Warzone community, but OpTic Chicago pro Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has some reservations about it. The tournament series — which will feature trio and duo tournaments in both Europe and North America — has a total $1.2 million prize pool, with the very best pros and creators vying for the chance to compete. With names such as Tommey, Aydan, HusKerrs are expected to be involved, all 12 Call of Duty League teams will also be able to select a squad to compete too. Despite that, FormaL isn’t completely convinced by the concept and has spoken a little about his thoughts on the WSOW. Appearing on the OpTic podcast, the topic naturally moved onto the huge announcement, as Warzone’s biggest tournament series yet. “That’s the problem: it’s so hard to get a perfect system,” he said when discussions around the format came up. “You could say ‘let’s throw them all in a custom lobby’ but then you just have everyone in houses getting cracked in the windows. That’s not that fun to watch.” He continued, saying that the alternative solution isn’t much better either. “Or, it’s like, go to bot lobbies. Now you have all these different things like the cheating, the f**king VPNs, you know what I’m saying?” Topic starts at 17:55 He went on to say that it would be “sick” if the tournament format was based strictly on kills, with placement meaning “nothing” — though teammate Seth ‘Scump’ Abner disagreed, saying that placement “has to have some meaning.” According to the official World Series of Warzone announcement, points will be based on kills in custom lobbies, with multipliers dependent on placement. This is very similar to a Twitch Rivals tournament won by Tommey in April, which fans and players alike really enjoyed. This could be the middle ground that FormaL would be happy with. The World Series of Warzone kicks off on June 23, with Open Qualifiers taking place on June 20.

FormaL explains the reasons behind the demise of OpTic Gaming’s CoD dynasty MLG/YouTubeCall of Duty pro Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has revealed the reasons behind his split from OpTic Gaming, and the eventual demise of the team labeled as a “dynasty.” Following years of dominance, the OpTic roster consisting of FormaL, Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter and Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow failed to meet the high standards set by themselves and the Greenwall alike in WWII, eventually leading to a massive split. So where did it all go wrong? In an appearance on The Eavesdrop Podcast, FormaL divulged the reasons as to why he left OpTic for Luminosity Gaming in May 2018, explaining that the team became complacent off the back of their World Championship win during Infinite Warfare. Piper suggests that there were cracks appearing in the squad, even during their more dominant times. However, the infamous reintroduction of a boots-on-the-ground style of action back into the franchise brought distinct changes to the in-game meta, leading to those cracks opening and a further collapse in the team’s chemistry. Read more: How to watch CWL Championship 2019 – “WWII came around and you couldn’t just gunfight your way out of shit… It was so slow and so teamwork based that it just didn’t flow with us, and once we got the reality check that we’re not that good, we didn’t put in the time…” FormaL continued by pointing out how the squad would blame extraneous factors instead of reflecting on their own performances: “We didn’t understand the game and we just thought that everyone else was bad and that we just had an off day.” (Timestamp at 49:30 for mobile viewers). Scump suffered with internet issues for the entirety of the 2017-2018 season, which led to a lack of practice for the squad as a whole. This, of course, had a knock-on effect leading into big tournaments during that season, which ultimately led to FormaL’s departure from the team. During the podcast, FormaL claims that members of the squad blamed him for never being available to practice. Fast-forward to the 2018 Call of Duty World Championships and a revised OpTic squad suffered a disappointing group stage exit; the first in the history of the organisation. FormaL recognized that the team were reliant on success and went on to add: “If we were to have beaten FaZe at that final [CWL Stage 1 Playoffs], we probably would have stuck together for a lot longer… We’d probably still be a team right now — no bullshit.” Disclaimer: Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd.

FormaL explains Nadeshot’s OpTic Gaming departure – and that HBR moment Twitter: Nadeshot/MLGSpeaking on Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez’ Eavesdrop Podcast, Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has shared more details regarding Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag’s infamous departure from the OpTic Gaming Call of Duty roster. Ahead of the 2019 CWL Championship on August 14, FormaL took some time out of his busy practice schedule to chat with his old employer Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez, as the two sat down for the latest instalment of the Eavesdrop Podcast. As well as discussing the collapse of the old OpTic roster, Piper revealed significantly more on the departure of Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag, which took place back in Advanced Warfare. “When I first joined OpTic with Seth, Nade and Crim,” started the 2017 CWL Champs MVP. “Matt for sure hated Crim. It was obvious, they didn’t like each other, they didn’t get along – they were screaming at each other. It was hilarious.” Despite the friction between Nade and Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter, FormaL describes the four’s time as “pretty good”. He stated that “we probably could have kept going”, had it not been for Advanced Warfare’s CWL Championship. OpTic entered the 2015 tournament as strong favorites, but crashed out in 7-8th place. Many fans blamed Nadeshot, arguing he was a weak link and lamenting his decision to pull out the HBRa3 assault rifle, in a game that was dominated by BALs and ASM1s. (Timestamp: 37:40) “I don’t know what the fuck happened there,” FormaL said. “I think we did (tell him not to use the HBR), it was just mid-game. I remember hearing something along the lines of ‘Yo Matt, take out a sub’… And I was like ‘what the fuck are you talking about?’” FormaL recalled the event comically, but made clear that the team couldn’t fathom Nade’s decision. He even states that he “didn’t know what the HBR was.” FormaL recalls that the team let Nadeshot stick with the HBR, in order to avoid losing composure. “It didn’t hit me until after the series, what the fuck did Matt just try?” joked Piper. He believes the “reality check” of their failure contributed to Nade’s departure. Piper also pinpoints another reason for Nade’s departure: fan negativity. “When we first started getting championships with that roster,” explained FormaL. “Matt wasn’t getting any recognition, everyone was still talking shit to him. That went along for like 3 events.” FormaL empathised with Nadeshot, stating that he’d have become frustrated if he’d have received the same comments, and that the negativity “consumed” Nadeshot’s attitude to gaming. He summed it up with: “We probably could have kept winning on that game with him, us 3 were really good and he was not bad. People think he was bad, he wasn’t bad at all.” It seems like Nade’s departure ultimately boiled down to four things: friction with Crimsix, the HBR moment, fan negativity and Nadeshot’s own desire for retirement. Regardless of the reasons behind the departure, Nadeshot’s career in esports has gone from strength to strength, now the owner of 100 Thieves.

FormaL explains Modern Warfare slide-cancel controversy to Dr Disrespect Call of Duty pro Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has explained the already notorious slide-cancel movement glitch to Dr Disrespect, stating that Dallas Empire were the only team to know about it during the early days of Modern Warfare. Modern Warfare has seen its fair share of bugs and glitches since launch, but perhaps none have frustrated professional players as much as the ‘slide-cancel’ exploit, which gives those who use an advantage in gunfights as they remain in a sliding animation while able to fire their weapon. While Infinity Ward are hard at work fixing their list of snags, the esports community has uncovered a controversial movement exploit which has been a hot topic of discussion of late. Ever since Lamar ‘Accuracy’ Abedi’s Tweet triggered a debate among pros, there have been two questions on the tip of everyone’s tongue. What is the slide-cancel movement, and who was using it to “stay ahead” (as JKap pointed out)? Dudes knew about the slide cancel (an obvious unintended movement bug) since day 1 and rather than make it public to try to get it fixed, they kept it a secret to stay ahead — Jordan Kaplan (@JKap415) January 4, 2020 According to NY Subliners’ Dillon ‘Attach’ Price, slide-cancelling is utilized by pros to draw your weapon a fraction of a second earlier. The Chicago Huntsmen’s main assault rifle player FormaL echoed these words when explaining the crux of the “abused mechanic” to Dr Disrespect. The 2017 World Champion explained the situation to his teammate during the January 7 Code Red tournament, saying: “You hit a bunch of buttons – like you slide and you pop up,” “It basically makes it look like you’re still doing the slide animation, but you’re shooting mid slide animation… It’s really f**king annoying actually. Every [SMG] player is starting to do it.” Slide-cancelling was a prominent exploit used in Black Ops 4, which allowed SMG players to run riot in close-quarters combat and, as a by-product, the game’s entire meta revolved around it. Now, it has transpired that a similar glitch has made its way over to Modern Warfare — mere weeks before the Call of Duty League is scheduled to debut in Minnesota. After explaining the movement quirk, FormaL added that it was Dallas Empire, a team that dominated scrims after the game’s release, who first started using it to their advantage: “You know what’s funny, Doc? The only people that knew about it for a while were Empire.” Of course, the Dallas Empire squad are a talented bunch in their own right, with legends like James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks and Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter guiding youngsters like Indervir ‘iLLeY’ Dhaliwal to potential greatness. It’s no surprise that these veterans were looking for every advantage they could add to their already-impressive arsenal, but it seems that other SMG players are beginning to learn the trick and are aiming to level the playing field before CDL action begins on January 24.