A look at the entry of Ghost Gaming into competitive Call of Duty and their roster of choice.

Some of the most passionate and driven fans of almost any niche fandom can be found on Reddit. It is the place where knowledge and discussion prevail in the most civil and correct way possible. Sort of. It is here that I encountered the name of Chance ‘Maux’ Moncivaez. Now most people reading this will now wonder as to how I did not hear about him earlier or how I did not know who he was. Well, I corrected my early transgression and tried to know more about him.

The buzz around him and his roster was evident. Along with Dashy and Temp, two other extremely recognizable yet nascent names in the scene, Maux’s chatter was prevalent. Prior to MLG Anaheim, his streams and social presence had grown. Maux is a relatively new player in the scene compared to some of his well versed team mates. Making his first LAN impact with Cloud9 Eclipse, he finished T16 in MLG Anaheim Open 2016. He served some time on other rosters such as Gosu Crew, Apotheon and Team Revenge. But his true potential was about to be realized as he joined up with Michael ‘SpaceLy’ Schmale on Supreme Team.

The team for a brief while consisted of Parasite, one of the most recognizably notorious names in CoD esports, and Xotic, another up and comer on the game. Parasite was soon picked up by a Evil Geniuses side frantic for fresh faces and Xotic was called up to Cloud9, who had just let go of Andres ‘Lacefield’ Lacefield. He joined Maux and SpaceLy along with LlamaGod and one of the more eye catching rosters of this year was formed.

This Supreme Team roster coasted through the CWL GPL NA relegation online qualifier, the other team qualifying was the eRa Eternity squad. The Relegation tournament was the first real test for this squad of players. After faltering to Fnatic in the first round and dropping down to the Losers Bracket, the team made slight work of Tainted Minds and eRa and qualified for Stage 2 and the Anaheim Open. This was where this squad met with Bittersweet Gaming.

The Anaheim Open is one of the most anticipated events of the calendar year for Call of Duty esports. Placed in a tough group with the likes of FaZe and EG, they ended up finishing up 4-0 with a 12-3 map count. Unfortunately, they faced up against Splyce, the Stage 1 champions, in the Winners Bracket quarter final and ended up falling 0-3. And in the Losers bracket they faced up against the European squad of Red Reserve, to whom they lost to in a disappointing 1-3 fashion to end their tournament run.

People had a lot of expectations with this squad and after their stellar performance in Group Play, the fans expected them to make a deep run in the competition. But it wasn’t to be and shortly after, Bittersweet and the team parted ways. Bittersweet had to make some branding changes and then we come to the entry of Ghost Gaming.

Before the beginning of Stage 2, Ghost Gaming acquired this roster. An already established name in esports and wanting to expand, the move made sense for them. With the prize pool and exposure rising and reaching a peak this year, Ghost Gaming heavily invested in this team, flying them out to California so that they could work on their team chemistry and focus on watching VODs of other teams they might be coming up against in the near future. SpaceLy shared photos of their sessions in the Ghost Gaming headquarters, signalling to all their competitors that they were not about to be push overs.

Stage 2 Week 2 rolls around and all the relevant social media were littered with predictions. The group consisted of two powerhouse NA teams who had made significant roster changes. MRuiz was dropped for Royalty, a change many saw coming. And the marquee trade of the year with Gunless being added the the FaZe roster for Clayster. The third and the last team was Elevate EU, one of the the considerably weaker teams of the lot.

The Ghost Gaming squad started the weekend flawlessly, going to 2-0 series count, notably beating FaZe clan 3-1 and beating Elevate 3-0. And Saturday started off the same, with a 3-1 victory of E6 and another 3-0 victory over Elevate. But what happened on the last match of the day disrupted all the equations. E6 faced up against FaZe and went 0-2 down at the start of the series. However, they were able to pull it back and reverse sweep the superstar roster, keeping their hopes of qualifying alive.

As the last day rolled around the scenarios were clear. After E6 beat both Ghost and Elevate 3-0, Ghost had to at least take two maps off of FaZe to qualify. But their off day continued as they fell 3-1 to FaZe, bringing the chaos that was this weekend to an end.

This roster was put together from the ground up, with young blood hungry for success and something to prove. Behind the stalwart shot of Maux, the menacing aggressiveness of Lacefield and LlamaGod shone. SpaceLy, with his little black book filled with notes and strategies on teams was the shot caller, guiding this troop of players to victory. However, it will be true to say that much is left to be desired from this squad. We have seen glimpses of sheer brilliance from them but have also seen them fall flat on important occasions. Although they have had to move from team to team in search for a true home, Ghost Gaming seems to have embraced them with open arms. On Hot Mic, the weekly talk show of the GPL, SpaceLy announced that they will be moving into a team house for Ghost Gaming with their other esports rosters. It is exciting times for these players and for us as viewers, as we see more and more talent recognized and appreciated. And who knows? These Ghosts just might end up being scary after all.

Picture Credits : https://dotesports.com/call-of-duty/ghost-gaming-undefeated-first-day-group-blue-cwl-gpl-15730