It is the Chicago Huntsmen’s time to shine. A top-two seed at Champs is Chicago’s goal right now. Time is running out as they only have two more tournaments to accumulate points. In the first match of CDL New York the Huntsmen faced off against the London Royal Ravens. The Royal Ravens have given the best teams in the league a run for their money all season and have great potential to make a deep run at Champs. Despite dropping the opening Hardpoint, the Huntsmen put on a show in their 3-1 victory in the opening round. The Huntsmen appear to be firing on all cylinders at CDL New York.
The MP5 was nerfed a little over a week ago, a move the pros have been begging for. The damage was dropped as was the range so the move made a three-AR meta much more feasible. The Huntsmen arguably benefit most from this meta switch. Chicago have two of the best AR players in the world on the roster in FormaL and Arcitys. The old meta unfortunately only allowed for one of these two stars to use an AR. This definitely contributed to some of the discomfort early on in the season. After the opening day of CDL New York, their practice and adjustment to the meta are glaringly obvious.
Courtesy of NRG
On Friday it was apparent there was not much discomfort for Chicago. It was quite evident the meta change fits this Huntsmen squad very well. FormaL, Arcitys and Prestinni were the three AR players for the Huntsmen yesterday. Arcitys and FormaL posted the second and sixth-highest K/D ratios of the day at 1.38 and 1.25 respectively. Prestinni did not have as hot of a performance but still posted just under a 1.0 K/D ratio. The Huntsmen had extremely strong slaying power on the map and the sub players had great cover looking over them.
FormaL is someone who tends to hit his stride towards Champs. The new meta is a huge tailwind to help FormaL hit his stride ahead of the last event of the year. He had a great CDL Minnesota and his performance Friday indicates he started right where he left off. Additionally, having Arcitys playing his most comfortable role will mesh perfectly with FormaL and cause serious issues for Chicago’s opponents going forward.
It is no secret the Huntsmen have struggled this season in Search and Destroy. At times they look great, but the consistency has not been there. The last time Chicago played London they simply did not have an answer for wuskin. Wuskin dominated the Huntsmen on Arklov Peak and picked Chicago off left and right. Yesterday map two was played on Piccadilly Square, which has long sight-lines and is perfect for a sniper like wuskin. Both teams had a .500 record heading in, but given London’s strengths it likely played to their advantage. Unfortunately for the Royal Ravens, it appears the Huntsmen did their homework.
Courtesy of Activision
Chicago looked like a completely different team in Search and Destroy yesterday. Similar to a lot of the Huntsmen’s Search and Destroy maps things were close early on. Chicago was down 1-2 and after winning a devastating 3 vs. 5 round four they never looked back. Chicago simply outplayed London as they constantly kept their foot on the gas pedal. Chicago won five straight rounds to beat the Royal Ravens 6-2.
Make no mistake, the Huntsmen’s dominating victory was no lucky feat. The Huntsmen were extremely aggressive and elusive on the map. The team did their best to counter the long open sights on this map which enable snipers and ARs to do some of their best work. Chicago threw smoke grenades around the A bomb-site and got up in the face of London. Additionally, the Huntsmen did a great job of finding holes on the map and picking off London from the side or behind. Whether it was the first blood or late in the round Chicago did a great job of obtaining the man advantage and keeping it that way.
Featured image courtesy of the Chicago Huntsmen
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