Over the last few stages, the Los Angeles Thieves have made huge moves when it comes to their starting lineup. From the move that shook the Call of Duty League in the benching of Austin “Slasher” Liddicoat and Thomas “TJHaly” Haly to the addition of Cuyler “Huke” Garland.
Now, the Los Angeles Thieves are making a move that nobody saw coming. The return of Slasher off the bench and the return of Huke as well just in time for LAN(Local Area Network) events. This is due to the two being so great in LAN events compared to online events.
Huke in LAN Compared to Online Tournaments
The comparison in regards to Huke’s LAN and online events is very different. There are eight LAN top 3 major finishes compared to only five top 3 major finishes online. While playing for Envy and Splyce, Huke was best known to play great on the main stage when the crowd was the loudest.
Now that he is off Envy after being on the team for nearly four years and after winning the past championship this feels like the right time to restart his career. The recent hardships he has faced with being benched twice and now admitting to abusing Adderall in the last season were certainly parts of his career he would like to forget.
This time around, Huke is now motivated more than ever because of the downs that he has faced this season as well as the extensive criticism he has faced due to his attitude problems as well as gameplay. With these games being on LAN, where Huke shines the most, this could be the restart button he desperately needs to push in order to revive his already storied career.
Slasher’s Return to the Starting Squad
For Slasher, he has also had a tough road. However, for him, this tough road has been over the last two years. After having a poor showing last season for the now rebranded Optic Gaming Los Angeles, Slasher had a lot to prove going into the new season.
The Los Angeles Thieves started out horribly and have been very average ever since. Later in the season, Slasher was benched after a poor showing in the first couple of stages for two rookies within the league, Drazah, and Venom.
After the Huke acquisition, many questions needed to be answered for Slasher himself as he was unsure on what to do for his future in the Call of Duty League. So after that, he was in a hard place not knowing what the future holds as he was on the bench, stuck, not being able to go and play on an amateur team. This was after Jordan “JKap” Kaplan, the head coach of the Thieves, was being criticized for the moves that he has made over the last couple of weeks.
After that, the team decided to put Huke and Slasher back on the starting lineup just in time for the major LAN event that is coming up next week. Will this prove to be the major move that the Los Angeles Thieves needed or will the team be at the same crossroad they have been at throughout this season.
Featured Image Courtesy of the Los Angeles Thieves
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