The biggest event in Call of Duty history is a few weeks away. Call of Duty Championships 2020 has the most prize money on the line ever. All teams had their ups and downs this season. The CDL teams proved that all of them truly have a shot of making a deep run at Champs. The Chicago Huntsmen have had a successful season. They were victorious twice and managed to earn the fourth seed at Champs. They went through ups and down, roster changes and meta changes together and are a stronger team as a result. Chicago certainly have room to improve ahead of Champs and will have to be extremely diligent over the next three weeks.
Which Huntsmen Team Will Show up?
The Huntsmen have had a variable season. Chicago won two titles this year: one on LAN and one online. Given they have already won online, the notion of an online Champs should not scare Chicago. The Huntsmen built up a lot of momentum after acquiring Prestinni in the middle of the season. Unfortunately, after the CDL New York finals and CDL Toronto, that momentum appears to have fizzled out. Make no mistake, Chicago are capable of being the best team in the league. Their dominant win over the Atlanta FaZe at CDL New York illustrates this. Which begs the question, which Chicago Huntsmen team is going to show up at Champs?
Chicago were the kings of map one early in the season and struggled in Search and Destroy. Recently that script seems to have flipped. The Huntsmen have greatly improved their Search and Destroy play, while simultaneously struggling in Hardpoint. It is the minor inconsistency between their matches that has led to shaky performances. Taking a deep dive into the VODs and reviewing where the Huntsmen can curve the little mistakes is paramount to a deep run at Champs. The Huntsmen are certainly one of the most skilled teams in the world. The key to a successful Champs will be reverting to the fundamentals. Chicago need to play fundamentally sound Call of Duty and curb the number of mistakes they make if they are to emerge victorious.
Back to the Basics
Early in the season Chicago were the best Hardpoint team in the game. The team had the best map one win percentage for a long portion of the season. Chicago are known for having superior gun skill which can bail them out of sticky situations. While this was no different at the start, the Huntsmen did a better job of rotating and setting up for hills. The degradation of Call of Duty fundamentals has hurt Chicago down the stretch. The Huntsmen need to put heavy emphasis on early rotations ahead of Champs. Allowing themselves the time to set up on power positions will give a great advantage. Rotating with 25-30 seconds left rather than 15-20 could make the world’s difference for Chicago.
Additionally, the Huntsmen found a ton of success in Domination early on. Chicago are consistently giving up map position in the first half. This has been detrimental to the Huntsmen. What used to be a fairly typical map two loss in Search and Destroy has become a fairly consistent map three loss. Chicago dig a hole for themselves by failing to take advantage of the favorable side. The Huntsmen are a fast-paced team. Adding Prestinni added a lot of flanking to the mix. Some of this comes back to hurt the Huntsmen in Domination. At times Chicago spread themselves too thin and cannot muster up enough team pushes to change the momentum. The Huntsmen can greatly improve their Domination play through more team pushes and taking advantage of the better spawns.
Featured image courtesy of the Call of Duty League
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