This past Friday, the ASU Call of Duty (COD) team participated in the New York Subliners Open Tournament. The tournament consisted of 446 teams, all fighting in a single-elimination bracket for the chance to win $10,000.
The New York Subliners is the New York franchise team for the official Call of Duty League. The ASU team was personally invited to participate in this high-prize tournament by the Subliners. This is ASU’s first-ever COD team, making this invitation even more of a feat for the squad.
Steffen “Effectini” Fallini, ASU’s COD team captain, commented on the invitation for this first-year squad, “It meant a lot to all of us to be able to compete in such a large tournament, but being personally invited by New York was a memorable experience that will motivate us to compete to our fullest potential in the future.”
The team would lose in their second game, being knocked out of the tournament on the first day. Unfortunately, the team was not able to compete with its regular roster, having to field some of their players last minute. “We tried our best but when facing teams that have been able to practice with their full rosters every day,” Fallini said. “It’s very, very difficult to compete against teams that have been continuously grinding out every day with each other, when we were only able to throw our team together at the last minute.” Despite the loss, Fallini is looking to the future. “[W]e plan on practicing hard in these upcoming weeks, competing as often as possible until we can become a top performing team.”
Being a first-year team and competing at a high level off the bat is a hard task. In a game where strategy and the positioning of all your team members are key, a lack of practice and communication will show in the game.
Fallini understands this well, but he only looks up from here, “Because this is the very first year that ASU has ever had a competitive Call of Duty team, we want to start the legacy off strong,” Fallini said. “We want to be able to perform at the highest levels in order to create a level of expectations for future years to come.”
But nailing strategies is not Fallini’s only plan in making a championship team, “Chemistry is such an important component to have on a top performing team so the ability for us to get along so well marks a strong start for this season,” Fallini said. “I look forward to making a family that bonds both online and offline.” With the bar set high, and a long preseason in front of them, Fallini and the ASU squad look to make their opening year the best one could hope for.
