The Huntsmen homecoming will be on April 24-26, 2020 as they host the CDL Chicago Home Series. Currently, Chicago are coming off another defeat at the hands of the Florida Mutineers. Chicago is finding themselves in a very precarious situation as they seem to be struggling. Though the team is adjusting to the new online-only format there are still glaring issues that they need to address. Chicago seems to be relying heavily on their gun skills to get them through maps and not playing the fundamentals of Call of Duty. In a recent interview on The Trip-Cap, Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson is quoted as saying “We don’t know how to play the game.”

The Fundamentals

Rotations. The Huntsmen need to focus on rotations. On the final map against Florida, it seemed as though none of The Huntsmen were rotating to the next hardpoint. Each rotation the Mutineers were ahead and outplaying them. If the Huntsmen are to succeed moving forward they need to focus on rotating early and securing spawns. Chicago seems to be relying heavily on individual members to make huge plays and are resting on their superior gun skills. Gun skill can get you quite far in Call of Duty but a team that focuses on fundamentals and counter-play will outperform the best of shooters. 

Search and Destroy

Chicago has needed work on Search and Destroy from the very beginning of the season. It was revealed through that they currently have not been practicing their Search and Destroy and have only started to seriously practice the mode just recently after their loss against Florida. The Huntsmen were always a little shaky in this mode and should have been practicing from the beginning of the season. Chicago has a master of Search and Destroy in their roster with John “x2pac ThuGLorD” Hartley acting as an analyst. With a beast like this helping to guide the team there is no excuse for not knowing the proper strategies to bring victory. This mode will make or break teams and when coming down to a game 5 the Huntsmen need to be confident in their tactics. 

Team Cohesion

There seems to be a friction building between the players of Chicago. In a roster of huge egos like the Huntsmen it is to be expected that a little friction between players will occur. Currently though it seems that this friction is starting to cause issues. In the Trip-Cap interview Arcitys revealed that Matthew “FormaL” Piper and Peirce “Gunless” Hillman have been late to scrims or have been waking up minutes before they need to start practicing. Arcitys believes that his team should not be losing whatsoever with the amount of talent they have. The Huntsmen don’t seem to be playing to their full potential and this has become a source of irritation. 

FormaL

FormaL has been having a rough go of it these past few weeks. His performance has been slipping and he just doesn’t seem to be the dominant force he typically is. This could be attributed to the fact that he is playing from California while the rest of the team has been playing from the Heczquarters in Frisco, Texas. While the latency issues this brings could be a factor it also seems that just being away from the rest of the team is affecting how they gel. A team who plays together, slays together. 

Social distancing definitely seems to be a factor in how the team is performing as well as the whole situation revolving around the Call of Duty League. Many fans and even some players are disillusioned at the now online-only format and are going as far as to not consider these games major event wins. With this type of attitude going around it is easy to see how some players can just be losing motivation especially when everyone is currently on lock down. 

The Coming Battle

For the Chicago Home Series the Huntsmen need to focus on their fundamentals and getting their team to gel as a cohesive unit. Their first match is against the New York Subliners and while they are clearly a better team on paper their performance as of late has been rocky. The Huntsmen should be able to defeat New York but then they have the potential to face the other two best teams in the league, the Dallas Empire and the Atlanta FaZe. If the Huntsmen focus on their fundamentals and have fun while they’re doing it they can make the Huntsmen homecoming an epic home series while putting another tournament win on the board. 

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