Call of Duty in North America is just a week removed from their biggest event of the year, GOTN LAN 2 in Columbus, Ohio. The community expected change after this LAN. We were ready for changes, expecting noise. But we did not expect chaos. In what was to be a slow, quiet week that would eventuially turn into much more, the news came straight out of the gate like white hot fire out of the dragons mouth.

Let’s take a deeper look.

Awakening

In: reflex

Out: tipzy

Awakening wasted very little time refreshing their roster. After what most would consider an up and down LAN performance, the group decided they needed to make a move. After an excellent Day 1, coming out of the tough Group B in second place beating everyone but Bricked Up, Awakening had a disappointing day 2, ultimately bowing out in 5th/6th place after losses to Bricked Up & x6 in the playoffs.

On Thursday, just days after LAN had ended, Awakening made the first (and possibly largest) acquisition of the free agency period. This undoubtedly sped up plans for other teams as well. With Lewis moving to Awakening, and zyk at that time confirming the start of a new roster, is spelled the end of Team Nemesis, who had been together since before Season 1 in March. When you take into consideration reflex’s LAN performance, you have to really like this move on paper. Yes, question marks will present themselves with this roster. Are they going to be too SMG heavy? Will they be able to figure out stylistic differences to make this work? Talent wise, all signs would seem to point to yes, and give this team time to stick together, their goal will be to break through the perpetual “top of the middle tier” 5/6th placement curse.

Verdict: Winners

Plus Forward

In: woody

Out: kosmo

Plus forward (new name TBD) was only team in the top 4 thus far to make a move. But they sure made a big splash naming ex-janitor woody to the active roster. In doing so, we lost a community favorite to the bench. Team wise – we’d expect this to move panther off the shotty (at least mostly).

Pure fragging power wise, you would likely call this an upgrade. Fragging ability was never an issue for this team, though. What remains to be seen is the number of questions this raises related to personalities & strat calling. Looking at the fraggers on paper, there is potential that this roster takes the leap to compete, and even win against the best of the best. Looking at the characters on paper, this roster of 5 has a 15% probability to make it together to LAN3 (whenever that is).

Verdict: Neutral

TBD (the zyk roster)

In: zyk, nightmare, tox, trauma

The most intriguing of the new rosters, this team is assembled with high hopes. As a writer and player, new rosters are the most fun part of free agency. Getting to speculate, and then compete against these teams is a treat. Ultimately, when most new rosters are formed like this, it’s with the hopes of taking a step up from each members previous project. Leading up to and at LAN2, the top 4 was sort of in a league of their own mostly. Awakening took steps at LAN, and lost lan to bridge that gap, but after that, there was a steep fall off in results. 

This group will attempt to further bridge that gap. This team already has a lot of adaptability at positions, and depending on who they go for at the 5th spot, could have even more at the shotgun role as well. Led by ex-janitor zyk, we really like the first look at this roster. Nightmare, who seemingly has been ready for a n change of scenery for a little while, gets his chance to be a true forefront in a roster if he can take the reins here. They team up with the ex-EMP studs trauma & tox. 

Tox, one of the most versatile players in the scene, is the epitome of what this roster seems to be trying to build. He will stay united with trauma, whose has been quickly rising up the ranks since he picked up the scope. Assuming he will be the primary scope, they will still be able to switch off with zyk if they feel inclined to do so. The unpredictable nature and potential variability this roster has will make them difficult to play against if they can unlock it correctly. 

Rumor: If the team decides to go the shotgun route as their 5th, the shortlist is very small when taking a look at potential FA’s; berry or birdman. If they decide to pass it around/have nightmare main it, we can expand that list a little bit. Regardless, the outlook of this team should be quite positive.

Nephilim

Out: everyone

It’s hard to know what goes on from team to team behind the scenes. But as an outsider, this disbandment didn’t make a ton of sense. Sure, this roster didn’t achieve some of the results I’m sure they wanted to strived to achieve. But if you look a little deeper, you see some insane spurts that a lot of other teams that finished above them didn’t even get. Before LAN, beating +forward in a cup match. Even at LAn, this group was two rounds away from beating emp, and getting into a play-in match, which they would have liked their chances in against regi or roll the dice. Aside from that, they also put together a strong performance vs champions bricked on dawnville.

Suffice to say, this isn’t a roster that was terribly far behind. It seemed like the work they were putting in was seeming to take shape, and with a bit of cleanup this was a roster that could take its next step. Anyway, going back to the first sentence, it’s hard to really know why they broke up and decided to test free agency. Like some of the other teams, I think they may find that the grass is not always greener. From the outside, we don’t really understand this move.

Verdict: Losers

Bonding Experience

In: eric, mikey, phreak, rofl, jocco(6th)

Here is another new roster that we are excited to see in action. Led by ex-x6 fragger eric, this is a roster that if they can withstand the test of time, has the potential to rise through the ranks. Teaming up with eric will be mikey on the comeback, who, in his heyday was a solid scope that added a lot of flare to the farmers rosters that he was a part of. He’ll be reuniting with phreak, who had somewhat of a coming out party at LAN. There were a number of plays we were able to witness from him live on stream that changed the outcomes of games, and allowed them to win a few group games and nearly make playoffs, taking Nemesis to three maps in the play-ins. Rofl, who had a good LAN in his own right, rounds out the starting 4 as they look to find a 5th.

With Jocco currently slotting in as the 5th while they look for a LANNable player, this team should actually start of pretty solid. Jocco, will bring a little of his EU flare, and Nemesis hate to try and kick start this roster at the shotgun position. The fake mexican is a solid addition to this lineup and given schedules, will get a ton of time to play with them either way.

Rumor: nova makes a ton of sense on this roster – let’s see if they make that happen.

Unknown Players

In: tipzy, ethix

Out: nova, nightmare

Okay, we did not see this coming…in multiple ways. And no, this article was not set up in terms of game speed, despite UP being last on the list here. UP, who has been the epitome of roster consistency over time, both lived up to and did not live up to their name. But let’s be honest, it’s been a difficult time for them. Coming off the highs of pre-lan1 success with this roster, their results just have not been the same since. It was clear that the post-lan project was not what they had envisioned for themselves. A disappointing Season 1, was followed by disappointing results, until media cup 1. The group took down plus forward on matmata, and finished top 4, which should have propelled confidence going into the Columbus tournament.

What followed was beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. A disappointing start saw them losing to goons on matmata, a map they have defeated virtually every team on. That led them to squeaking out of a wild Group A in 3rd place, despite a 2-3 record. Day two turned out worse, the team went out in two quick series and were not able to get a map off of either Awakening or Nemesis, capping off a disappointing tournament.

That brings us to today. Rumors had been swirling for a while that nightmare was unhappy, and he proved it right as he quickly left the roster just days after LAN. What surprised everyone was the team parting ways with nova, a move out of character for this group. But, they weren’t a threesome very long. The team quickly brought back star golfer ethix, bringing him back off the inactive 6th man role. At the same time, they bring in tipzy, formerly of high noon & awakening.

Rumor: With caseman wanting off the shotgun, this actually opens up this roster quite a bit, and makes the tipzy addition make a lot of sense. Sixxer is rumored to be taking reps with the shotgun, but if he flips between that and scope, tipzy can easily fill when necessary. Seeing this team without Sixxer on the scope would be a complete shock, but it seems to be the way that they are leaning (at least part-time).

Verdict: Winners