Teams have started arriving, Activision fixes slide cancel, and now the very first day of the Call of Duty League is just several hours away. There is no doubt that people are ready for what this league will entail. Here at The Game Haus the CoD writers are taking the time to give an in-depth look at every team in the league. Previewing team rosters, home and away games, and predictions ahead of the start of the league. With that in mind, here is the Call of Duty League team preview for the Seattle Surge:
Roster
Team Owners
Enthusiast Gaming / Canucks Sports & Entertainment. The Seattle Surge is also affiliated with Luminosity Gaming.
Coach
Joey “Nubzy” DiGiacomo
Starting Roster
Damon “Karma” Barlow
Ian “Enable” Wyatt
Sam “Octane” Larew
Josiah “Slacked” Berry
Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov
Substitutes
Casey “Pandur” Romano
Nicholas “Proto” Maldonado
The individual players on this roster should be very familiar to a Call of Duty fan as they have a long history in the community. Every player on the Surge starting roster has a top 3 finish or higher in COD champs. Between all of them, there are give championship rings (three with Karma and two with Apathy). The substitutes are relatively new to the pro scene but more can be read about them here.
Player Backgrounds
Karma is regarded to be one of, if not the, best, COD players in the world. He has the resume and the rings to back it up. If he is able to lead Seattle to a ring, he will start running away further and further from the rest of the pack.
Enable had his best placings with Faze Red in Advance Warfare finishing 3rd place. Then outdid himself with Team Kaliber in WWII finishing 2nd place. He has proven himself to be a valuable player in both boots-on-the-ground or jet pack titles.
Octane is regarded as one of the best assault rifle players in Call of Duty. He saw his most success while in the 100 Thieves roster, finishing 2nd in 2019 COD Championship.
Slacked joins this organization with prior history in Luminosity Gaming. He has been part of the team on and off since Infinite Warfare. The organization and even some players are nothing new to him.
Apathy is one of the most underrated players because many forget he is one of the few players to have accomplished a COD championship, twice. He will also serve a veteran and leadership role in the team.
Upcoming Schedule
The league has updated its schedule to feature a tournament-style event, starting in the second week. With that being said, the hardest weeks for Seattle would have to be week 2 (in London) and week 9 (in Minnesota). Week 2 has a bracket that includes the Chicago Huntsmen and Dallas Empire. They are regarded as, arguably, the number one and number two teams in the league, according to the TGH writers.
Home Schedule
Their home schedule consists of only one event during week 8. Their side of the bracket includes the London Royal Ravens, New York Subliners, and Los Angeles Guerrillas. This, by most fans’ estimation, should not be too difficult of a challenge. The real challenge comes from the other side of the bracket, which will include the Paris Legion, Los Angeles Optic, Minnesota RØkkr, and Chicago Huntsmen. Chicago is the clear favorite but Minnesota or LA should also be a difficult challenge.
Keys to a Successful Season
Seattle has plenty of weapons to get them to the championship finals, and to win some events along the way. But it is not a clear path. For the Seattle Surge, they will have an easy start to the league in week one. From there, are some hurdles that they will have to push through and if they can get it done, it will be a very successful first season.
You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Jose!