Call of Duty Poised To Take On CWL London
By: Zachary Lange
When eUnited’s Call of Duty team takes the stage for pool play at CWL London inside the Copper Box Arena, they’ll have a new voice behind the scenes in coach Brice “Faccento” Faccento to lead the way.
After a playing career spanning well over half a decade, Faccento has transitioned into a role that assists veteran players such as James “Clayster” Eubanks as well as up-and-comers like Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris and Chris “Simp” Lehr.
In the weeks leading up to the tournament across the pond, Faccento has seen all five members of the team come together and practice each night with positive attitudes.
“Everyone has been equal with their willingness to learn because we all want to do well – both individually and as a team in terms of goals,” Faccento said.
Co-General Manager Matthew Potthoff echoed the same sentiments, saying that practices have been constructive due to Faccento’s personalized feedback for each player.
“Brice is really talented and direct with his criticism and I feel like with his prior competitive experience he is able to (have more) leverage in those conversations (of improvement),” Potthoff said.
Here are a few notes leading into a big weekend of Call of Duty action:
Pool play presents new teams, new challenges
Out of all four teams in Pool C, only eUnited have played a series as a full, five-man team in a LAN atmosphere.
The others teams consisting of pro league teams Evil Geniuses and Team EnVy, as well as returning FaZe Clan have all seen major roster overhauls in the past several weeks, with CWL London serving as their first litmus test as to how competitive they will be moving forward.
Coach Faccento saw EnVy as eUnited’s toughest competition, also citing that the unique mix of players on other teams will need time to mesh together. By using already established team chemistry, the hope is to climb out of Pool C in first place.
Using teamwork to make the dream work
A big point of emphasis that Faccento has worked on in practices is getting all five players in the mindset of using numbers advantages in gunfights.
With Black Ops 4’s Stim Shot constantly healing players, as well as five-man rosters, it’s up to the team to force two-versus-one and three-versus-two scenarios and play for each other.
“(Black Ops 4) has more teamwork to win than any other Call of Duty,” Faccento said. “It’s health against health, and that’s how I try to make the team look at it, and that’s been showing some success.”
Player to watch, Chris “Simp” Lehr
Albeit a bit obvious, Simp has shown that his call up to the big leagues was the right move for eUnited and is the player to watch for CWL London.
During cross-divisional play at the CWL Pro League, Simp popped off and aided the team in claiming a 3-1 record, moving into a three-way tie for first in Division B at 8-3 overall.
According to CoDStats, his adjusted kill-death ratio ranks first overall in the pro league (with a smaller sample size of 18 maps, respectively). In respawn game types, Simp’s damage per minute and score per minute rank inside the top-10.
In Search and Destroy, a specialty for the 18-year-old slayer, his damage per round ranks second overall among pro league players.
With a pro league introduction already accounted for, all that’s left for the rookie Simp to complete is being up in front of thousands on the mainstage for eUnited.
How to watch
As always, all matches are streamed across official Call of Duty Twitch channels. Here is the tentative schedule for pool play Friday.
eUnited vs. Team EnVy – 8 a.m. Eastern (Bravo stream)
eUnited vs. FaZe Clan – 11 a.m. Eastern (Main stream)
eUnited vs. Evil Geniuses – 2 p.m. Eastern (Delta stream)