A deeper look at the rise of Europe’s prominence in the scene

My introduction to competitive Call of Duty was through an amalgam of factors. At the time, I was highly invested in the game and felt as though I needed a tougher challenge than what public matches had to offer back in the Black Ops 2 days. It was in this game that I stumbled on to Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag’s YouTube channels. In need for tips and tricks on how to get better at the game, I would watch their videos and try to emulate their habits and tendencies.

Back then, the OpTic team was living in the old team house, the iconic room where the setups of these two legends of the game were opposite each other and they would frequently yet sometimes involuntarily feature in each other’s videos. And before I knew it, I found myself watching my first competitive match, Hardpoint on Standoff. Now yes, my indoctrination into this field was done via OpTic and I fully admit to being a fan boy, screaming at the victories and sighing in defeats, up until a few years ago when I took a step back and realized how much bigger the scene was than just them. And that was when I was able to wholly appreciate the game in all its ways.

To say this year has been underwhelming in terms of viewership and the quality of the game, would be an understatement. The numbers have not looked as impressive as in the past, even with heavy weight match ups like OpTic vs Faze pulling in lesser people than before. But despite that, what stood out to me most this year is the continuous improvement in the European players and their ability to contend at the top. So I decided to look into the past and trace the journey of the continent from a formality to a force.

The Trailblazers

Due to these past three years being so filled with fast paced action packed gameplay, it is so hard to remember the days of slow methodical boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty! Yet that is where we start : Modern Warfare 3 and the first Call of Duty XP back in 2011. Being one of the first international tournaments with a hefty prize pool of $1 million, the event attracted teams from all over the globe in a massive turnout. The event was eventually won by the OG roster but what seems fascinating to me now is that three teams out of the top five were European , including the finalists Til Infinity, a roster containing EU legends such as GunShy and XLNC. Tommey, the current veteran on Fnatic, also shared the limelight with a fifth placed finish on Apex Esports EU.

Moving along to Black Ops 2, a cherished title of mine, we find that this year was a premonition to the dominance that NA teams will come to have in the future at the Call of Duty Championships, with the top five teams all having American rosters, the likes of dynasty teams such as Complexity, OpTic and EnvyUs and the sole EU team of Epsilon, finishing 6th. The Epsilon roster featured Jurd, another player we see still competing on the highest level with Splyce, along with the now expected appearance from XLNC. Some other key events of the year were ESWC and the pair of Gfinity competitions. These events were not too dissimilar from Champs, with Complexity continuing their absolute ascendancy in the scene winning all the events but there was a silver lining in the fact that EU rosters were constantly finishing as runner ups or in the top 5, with the likes of Epsilon, Millenium and TCM consistently having decent performances but falling short of the winners spot.

Call of Duty Ghosts was the next edition in the line up, being the final game before the era of three dimensional movement took over. MLG Anaheim bore well for the Europeans as TCM Gaming clinched the third spot, a stacked roster with the likes of MarkyB, Peatie and GunShy. The events that took place in Europe, Gfinity 3 and ESWC were again conquered by the Americans, with Epsilon and TCM Gaming taking the runners up place, again falling a smidgen short of the glory of first place. At Champs however, the performance was lackluster to say the least. The best standing was achieved by Epsilon at 9th place followed by TCM at 10th.

The continent in these games produced some players whose legacy has stood the test of time. The likes of GunShy, who was voted as the greatest European player to compete in the history of the game and XLNC were the ones to lay the path for contemporaries such as Jurd, Swanny, Joshh and MadCat, some of them still playing at the highest level. They were at the cusp of greatness and came a step closer in the next generation of Call Of Duty installments.

As Advanced Warfare rolled around, Sledgehammer’s first individual attempt at making their own vision of Call of Duty come to reality, the levels of competition were at an all time high. The entire meta had shifted, with the new movement system in play, aggressive and fast paced gameplay seemed to be the way forward. The first event to note was ESWC, the annual congregation being held in Paris, France. The showing however was not as magnificent as the host city, with Vitality.Storm narrowly missing out on podium positions and finishing out at fourth place. Gfinity Spring Masters and Summer Championship were the two other home events for the year. The familiar name of GunShy, Jurd and TCM came up again as they finished third, getting beaten in the semifinals by the juggernaut roster of OpTic Gaming in the Spring Masters and the Summer Championship saw Team Infused finishing fourth, with the likes of QwiKer and MarkyB. This was the year some of the current EU favorites truly broke out on the mainstage, Joee and Urban being a couple of them. The years main-event, Champs, however did not go well for the Europeans. The best placing was achieved by the Aware Gaming roster, a meager tenth place finish, with talents like Joee, Peatie and Watson. But this was it. It was the last year the Europeans would be at the periphery of things. It was time they returned to their past glory. It was time for the arrival of the Call of Duty World League.

Thank you for reading! To continue to Part 2 of Europe’s journey, click here.

Picture Credits (from top to bottom)

Featured Image -> http://www.epsilon-esports.com/news/epsilon-european-champs/

Pic 1 -> https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/30/call-of-duty-xp-2011/

Pic 2 -> http://cod.esportswikis.com/wiki/Epsilon_eSports

Pic 3 -> http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2014/03/21/exclusive-interview-with-epsilon-esports-captain/

Pic 4 -> http://cod.esportswikis.com/wiki/Prophecy