With a shocking 0-3 start to the CWL Pro League, Luminosity Gaming find themselves in a sticky situation going into Week 2. What exactly is going wrong with the squad, and how can they improve going into their second round of matches?
With an abysmal 0-3, it is easy to say that this squad is simply not winning enough maps. Uncharacteristically poor in respawn game modes, LG went 1-5 in Hardpoint – one of their stronger modes on paper. Factor in their poor 1-3 performance in Search and Destroy and LG appear to be lacking any form of consistency going into Week Two.
The nature of Call of Duty Competitive demands a lot of teamwork and communication to be successful, two things the squad has seemed to lack so far in the Pro League. On the latest episode of CWL’s Trading Shots, caster Clint “Maven” Evans stated ‘they weren’t sitting and talking to each other about the issues, like all other teams do. I feel like there is something broken internally.’
A lot has also been made of poor individual performances in the squad, with many competitive fans pointing to Josiah “Slacked” Berry, the SMG player for the lineup. With a disappointing Kill/Death ratio of 0.86 in the first week, there is much for the player to improve. Typically very consistent, many were surprised to see such a poor performance from him across the week. Slacked will have to step up along with the rest of the squad if they are to have a better week in the second round of matches.
It is almost too simplistic to suggest, but the reality is that the squad need to step up on an individual level. On paper, this team is one of the best in the world. With former World Champions like Matthew “FormaL” Piper, Johnathan “John” Perez and multi-MVP Pierce “Gunless” Hillman on the squad, it is very shocking that their record is as poor as it is. With the amount of talent in this roster, they should be winning a lot more matches.
On CWL’s Hot Mic, Slacked put the team’s issue down to confidence. He said, “we are beginning to lose trust in our gameplay and ourselves, but that is what teams go through.” He would go on to say, “we are in a rough patch but I think we’ll be perfectly fine. We just need to get a win under our belt, and get our confidence back.”
Many LG fans are worried, however, at the difficulty of their upcoming schedule. Luminosity are playing against the current top three teams in Division A, Midnight Esports, OpTic Gaming and Gen.G this week, as well as Evil Geniuses. This is a much harder task in comparison to the fixtures they struggled with in Week One. As Slacked admits, the squad need to get an early win to get their confidence back, and pulling one out against third placed Gen.G on Monday night could be exactly the kind of start they need to kick on and reach the heights they set for themselves early on in the Season with a fourth placed finish at CWL Las Vegas.
What do you think is the biggest problem for Luminosity? Is a roster change necessary to remedy their problems? Let us know your thoughts!
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