With the CDL on hold for the time being the fans are craving competitive Call of Duty. Although the fans cannot have tournament play at this moment in time, the league and organizations have been working hard to fill the void. The Huntsmen are no exception to this. Over the past few weeks the Huntsmen have been keeping busy churning out content and making themselves accessible to fans.
Streaming Scrims
Although the Huntsmen have been streaming scrims since the start of the season, this glance into competitive Call of Duty can go a long way for fans today. Throughout Call of Duty history many teams have been opposed to streaming scrims as they feel it gives away strategy and view it as unnecessary. Historically members of the Huntsmen have been known to stream scrims and continue to do so for Modern Warfare. Most of the members on the Chicago roster have been actively streaming scrims which is not only great from a content perspective, but it helps fans get to know each individual player and the team better.
With no CDL tournaments on the horizon this is likely the closest Call of Duty fans will get to competitive matches in the coming weeks. Streaming scrims also helps to foster new fans into the system as the Huntsmen are at the top of the channels with the most views on Twitch for people playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare.
Warzone Tournaments
Since the CDL was put on hold the pros have streamed copious amounts of Warzone. Last week CashApp hosted the Code Green tournament with 44 teams. All of the Huntsmen played in this tournament aside from Gunless. With tons of fan favorites playing in this tournament it was a great way to captivate viewers across the world. The Huntsmen who performed the best were Scump and Arcitys.
Arcitys teamed with former teammates aBezy and Priestahh from the Atlanta FaZe and managed to place fourth. Scump teamed with former teammate Nadeshot and Cloakzy and was a force to be reckoned with on the map helping his team earn a third place finish. Scump led the entire field of competitors with 118 eliminations across the five games scored.
In addition to CashApp’s tournament, the Atlanta FaZe and Twitch held Warzone tournaments which also gave pros across a variety of esports time to shine. Both tournaments added a healthy dose of competition to a rather uncertain time for fans around the world. With tens of thousands of dollars earned and hundreds of thousands of views accumulated, the community is doing everything it can to keep viewers engaged. Due to the fantastic success of the three early tournaments fans will likely see a few more high profile tournaments coming their way in the future.
Exhibition Matches
Organizations in the CDL are not the only ones trying to stimulate the scene with high quality Call of Duty. The CDL organized a great exhibition series last night for 10 players across the league to compete in. The format was a simple best of five Hardpoint maps with all five games played out regardless of which team won three maps first. The two captains were Arcitys and Accuracy from the NY Subliners. Team Arcitys was Prestinni (Mutineers), Dashy (OpTic), Dylan (Ravens) and Bance (Ultra). Team Accuracy was ILLey (Empire), Silly (ROKKR), Saints (Guerrillas) and Apathy (Surge).
The match was a great way for the CDL to stimulate viewers and feed their craving for Call of Duty action. Team Accuracy won the first three maps but this did not stop Team Arcitys from putting on a show. Arcity’s team came back to win the next two maps and create an intense series from what appeared to be an initial blowout. This was a fantastic vehicle to bring the pros together and create some electric content.
YouTube Content
While stuck in quarantine the Huntsmen are using this as a moment to view the glass as half full. Over the past two weeks the Huntsmen are churning out content on their YouTube channel posting 14 videos. In other words, Chicago is pumping out roughly one video per day attempting to get in front of their fans. The videos range from funny to helpful. There are videos discussing esports etiquette to videos highlighting some insightful tips on creating a strong loadout for Warzone.
These YouTube videos are a great way for the Huntsmen to remain relevant as well as cater to both casual and competitive fans of the organization. OpTic Gaming was founded by Hecz and rose to the top through its consistent social media presence. In these tough times it is not surprising fans are seeing the Huntsmen go back to basics and create content for fans of all walks of life.
Featured image courtesy of the Chicago Huntsmen
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