Team Allegiance (Mochila, Remy, Royalty, and Xotic) entered the Call of Duty Championship with many doubting that the quartet would even make it out of groups. The chemistry between the players was one of the biggest question marks surrounding the team. Having only been assembled for a little over a month, it was tough for Call of Duty fans and experts alike to visualize ALG’s success at a tournament comprised of the very best players and teams this title has to offer. A select few saw the Allegiance squad for what it was: a team of leftover greatness. Clint “Maven” Evans gave Allegiance the dark horse title saying, “They’ve got a chip on their shoulder. They’ve been the rejects all year.” Having finally found a home in Team Allegiance, rookie Xotic and his gang of veterans are rejects no longer and earned their way to a spot at the biggest Call of Duty to date. Undeterred, the four teammates strove to prove any and all doubters wrong.

Series One: PuLse Gaming (3-0)

Team Allegiance kicked off the tournament against the European medley of PuLse Gaming. PuLse, as an organization, hasn’t found consistent success this year in Call of Duty going 0-18 in Stage One of the EU CWL. After acquiring a new roster, however, their eyes were set on the glory of conquering the Call of Duty Championship. The European side felt confident in their Search and Destroy play and expected to take both of those games and the series should it have made it to a game five. Team Allegiance, obviously, had very different plans.

True to many predictions, the Hardpoint and Uplink maps went in Allegiance’s favor. The slaying power on the side of ALG proved to be too much for PuLse to handle. Allegiance found a 250-192 win on Evac Hardpoint with Mochila dropping a +10 and a game leading 1:50 on the hardpoint. The 16-7 Infection Uplink win came on the heels of a 14 kill streak from Remy, which wasn’t his first huge game of the series. In game two, Fringe Search and Destroy, Remy shocked the Europeans going 12/1 essentially winning his team three of six rounds played. A clean sweep on Search and Destroy translated to a clean sweep of the series.

Series Two: Renegades (3-2)

After some technical delays and many intense matches happening elsewhere in the tournament, Team Allegiance set their sights on the top seed in Group D. After a disappointing match against Epsilon eSports, Renegades sought to rejuvenate their spirits and keep their tournament hopes alive with a win against Team Allegiance. However, an ALG win would punch their ticket to the bracket stage and secure Allegiance a top 16 finish after just two matches. The very back and forth series eventually ended in nail-biting fashion with game five (Breach Search and Destroy) going in the way of Allegiance 6-4.

Team Allegiance looked a little shaky early on but pulled it together on the back of Xotic’s 2:10 of hardpoint control to win 250-184. Renegades turned it on in the second game taking Redwood Search and Destroy handily. A few lapses in Allegiance’s communication gave Renegades an early 2-1 edge before punctuating their 6-2 win with a kill on Mochila. Map #3, Evac Uplink, went in favor of Allegiance 15-10. Again, it was Remy posting huge numbers for the good guys going 33/15 and putting them one map away from clinching a spot in brackets. That win would have to wait until game five as Renegades evened the series at 2-2 with a win on Fringe Capture the Flag. Chino and company only found a couple captures in the waning seconds of the first half but that was enough to keep their tournament hopes alive, even if only for one more map.

Series Three: Epsilon eSports (3-0)

The third match of Allegiance’s Call of Duty Championship run saw the squad return to their dominant form. With both squads having already clinched a spot in brackets, winning Group D was all that was at stake in this match. Securing the number one seed would, theoretically, give the winner an easier path through the bracket pairing up with Group C’s second seed in round one. Not to mention the competitive nature of all these players, neither squad would want to lose and face off against the dominance that FAB Games displayed in their group.

Luckily for Allegiance, their teamwork proved to be too great a challenge for the European team. Epsilon looked to be in control in game one, but a late surge from Allegiance put them on top 250-224. Game two opened with a sniper battle between Mochila and Reedy, which foreshadowed the rest of the game. By the end of game two, Team Allegiance would be all smiles after taking Infection Search and Destroy 6-3. Epsilon’s final hope at topping Group D would be Breach Uplink. The rookie Xotic would tear the roof down going 30/20 and securing his team’s 9-7 win.

Winner’s Bracket Round 1: Luminosity Gaming (2-3)

Having already secured a top 16 placing, Allegiance pushed forward into the bracket stage against their toughest opponent yet, Luminosity Gaming. The good guys entered this match with all the confidence in the world after sweeping Group D and only dropping two maps along the way. LG found their way into the bracket stage after going 2-1 in Group C, losing almost as many maps as they had won. Luminosity didn’t let their poor groups performance impact their bracket play: LG would knock Allegiance into the loser’s bracket after a game five win.

Royalty and his crew would come out firing on all cylinders. The Canadian posted a whopping 52/25 and willed his team to a 250-234 victory on the first map. Things continued to look like they were in ALG’s favor with a quick 5-2 lead. The resilient LG side, however, had all the answers after that and pushed for an 11th round to eventually take the second map 6-5. Breach Uplink would eventually go to Allegiance, but not before an overtime dunk by Mochila sealed the game. ALG would drop their second CTF game in as many attempts. After an early 0-2 deficit, Allegiance would even it up and have the 3rd and potentially series winning capture on the way. But Luminosity snuffed it out capturing a 3rd flag of their own and forcing a game five. ALG found themselves in the same 2-5 situation LG was in during the second map, but didn’t have the same magic as Luminosity. The blue squad put the emphatic period on Allegiance’s Winner’s Bracket run with a series ending kill on Remy.

Loser’s Bracket Round 1: Millenium (0-3)

Coming off their loss to Luminosity, ALG still had high expectations for themselves. Though the Loser’s Bracket would be full of challenges, they had been in this situation before at MLG Orlando and made quite the run there. Millenium, on the other hand, hadn’t yet proven themselves in a double elimination bracket. Having yet to face true adversity, Millenium may have found themselves at a disadvantage with so much on the line. The European powerhouse, however, would prove to be very stiff competition giving Allegiance no room to breathe and eventually suffocating their tournament life.

The short three game series did not exactly go as Allegiance had planned. After a tight 250-234 game one, very little seemed to go right for ALG. Game two was very one-sided going 6-1 in favor of the Europeans. This time it would be Royalty survivng the longest, but ultimately being brought down for the game ending kill. Fortunately for Allegiance, game three was an Uplink map; a gametype Allegiance had yet to drop. Unfortunately, Millenium was up to the task. The Euros would go on to win 8-5 and steal away ALG’s last shot at proceeding further into the tournament.

What’s Next?

Though the squad didn’t quite live up to their own expectations, they made no excuses for their tournament ending the way it did citing experience as the problem. “We played fine,” said veteran Mochila on Twitter. “We just didn’t have that experience together and choked a lot of situations because of communication.” Royalty, too, flocked to Twitter following the loss, “I love the org I’m under. Couldn’t be more grateful.” Going forward, it appears the team is trying to stay together under Team Allegiance. No one has denied the potential this particular group of four has. Only time will tell, should they choose to remain a unit, just how great this squad could be.