Busted wonderkids, no synergy, underwhelming results: these teams have not lived up to expectations in the Call of Duty League.
Seattle Surge
Prior to the 2021 season, Seattle Surge merged a handful of “wonderkids” and a little bit of veterancy together. Peirce “Gunless” Hillman and Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson were the only ones with CDL experience from last year.
At first, the Seattle Surge’s roster plan made sense considering their long-term plans but things didn’t go as planned. Seattle Surge had a disastrous performance in Stage 1. Surge fans accepted the result and focused on moving forward as the roster would eventually get better with players getting more and more experience playing against the best in the globe.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. Seattle Surge faced even worse losses and eventually made a roster change to try and turn things around. The team is sitting at the lowest place in the general standings and they are seen as guaranteed last-place finishers before every stage. Sam “Octane” Larew and Prestinni are looking like the keys to their success right now. If they perform better, we may see surprising results in the upcoming games.
Los Angeles Guerillas
The Los Angeles Guerillas may be the biggest upset this year. The roster looks pretty decent on paper but the synergy is not there yet. “Yet” was actually legit for Stage 1 and Stage 2 but there is no such thing as “yet” in Stage 4 of the CDL. The regular season is almost over and the Guerillas are six wins away from the playoff bracket. We probably will not see Adam “Assault” Garcia and his friends compete in playoffs.
Los Angeles Guerillas have shown decent performances during the first two stages but the team seemed lost in the third and fourth. I know that it is hard for the fans, but unfortunately, you will have to wait until the team pulls a rabbit out of a hat.
Los Angeles Thieves
This one is not really a disappointment, but from my perspective, the Los Angeles Thieves had to do much better. We were all hyped after Nadeshot’s promising announcement right before the season and the first stage was like a cherry on top; however, Thieves’ performances fell like a malfunctioning plane from the sky.
After a horrible showing in the regular season of second stage, Los Angeles Thieves turned things around solidly in the Major and had a similar performance in the third stage. With JKap’s coaching, Los Angeles Thieves were one of the biggest rivals of Atlanta FaZe.
It looks like the squad will still make it to the playoffs, but is that enough? I am sure all the fans expected better performances and hoped for a championship challenge looking at the roster on paper. Honestly, Atlanta FaZe, Toronto Ultra, New York Subliners and Dallas Empire are a lot better than the Thieves right now, and such dreams are far away.
