Call of Duty Championship Pool C Preview

FaZe Clan tops the list in Pool C for the Call of Duty Championships.

We are just five days away from the commencement of the Call of Duty World League Championship for Black Ops 4. Thirty-two of the best professional and amateur teams will represent their organizations at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. We have already covered storylines leading into the tournament for Pools A and B.

Today we will be covering Pool C, which includes FaZe Clan, Mazer Gaming, Units and Animosity eSports. Much like the two previous pools, Pool C provides talent from across the globe. The titan among the rest is FaZe, who are the heavy favorites coming out of this pool. As the Pool Play format indicates, only two of these teams will move on to the Knockout Stage.

 Pool C Preview

FaZe Clan

FaZe Clan is an organization that truly needs no introduction. Their involvement in competitive Call of Duty since the early days allowed them to adapt and stay relevant when the going got tough. That said, the beginning of the Black Ops 4 season was not what most expected out of FaZe Clan. At the CWL Las Vegas Open, FaZe began their season with an underwhelming T16 finish. The CWL Pro League qualifier proved no different as FaZe again managed only a T16 finish. Unfortunately, this meant FaZe would not qualify for the Pro League. This is a dagger for any relevant Call of Duty organization looking for sustainability.

FaZe sat on the sidelines for three months without participating in any tournaments. In April, the organization made the decision to purchase Red Reserve’s CWL Pro League spot. This process provided the opportunity for FaZe to retain the contracts of Trei “Zer0” Morris and Matthew “Skrapz” Marshall from Red Reserve. FaZe Clan built their roster for the future after acquiring the Pro League position. The team of Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto, McArthur “Cellium” Jovel, Obaid “Asim” Asim, Zer0 and Skrapz went on to place T12 at the London event.

UnFaZed

After losing Crowder, Attach and Priestahh, this new roster began to improve upon past results. FaZe went on to compete at CWL Anaheim where they finished in fourth place, losing only to OpTic Gaming in bracket play. This performance paved the path for FaZe to finish T6 in the Pro League and in third place at the CWL Pro League Playoffs. Led by ZooMaa, the team steadily improved throughout the season despite having to buy their way into the Pro League. Skrapz and Zer0 displayed their slaying capabilities throughout the Pro League. Needless to say, FaZe are the favorites to come out of Pool C victorious.

Units

Formerly represented by Denial eSports, Units have only been teaming together since the CWL Pro League. Their current roster stands as Joseph “Joee” Pinnington, Rhys “Rated” Price, Nick “Nolson” Nolson, Connor “Weeman” Chilton and Cameron “Cammy” Chilton. Some notable team changes took place throughout this season. Most recently, the aforementioned Nolson, Weeman and Cammy replaced Bance, Alexx and Brack respectively. The current roster finished T12 in the CWL Pro League followed by a T8 at the Pro League Playoffs Play-In.

The T8 finish did not earn Units the right to participate in the Pro League Playoffs. Fortunately, their sheer presence in the Pro Leauge secured them a place at the CWL Championship. The Euros have not shown a whole lot of promise heading into the most important event of the year, so Units will have to peak at the right time if they hope to advance out of pool play. Joee and Rated have been to the dance before and will have to lead by example.

Mazer Gaming

Keeping up with the theme of roster changes, Mazer Gaming is certainly no stranger, either. This organization experienced many overhauls prior to arriving at the CWL Championship. To date, Mazer Gaming has not retained a single player that they began the Black Ops 4 season with. The organization saw an opportunity to represent a team at the CWL Championship and ran with it. Mazer Gaming picked up Tanner “Mosh” Clark, Michael “Apox” Williams, Michael “Spacely” Schmale, Saul “Parzelion” Masse-Siguenza and Eric “JetLi” Phan for the CWL Amateur Finals.

As discussed in the Pool B breakdown, Gen.G loaned out Spacely after being replacing him with Nagafen on their main roster. This proved to be a wise pickup for Mazer Gaming. Spacely and company played inspiring Call of Duty at the Amateur Finals making it all the way to the losers finals. Their only two series losses came at the hands of eventual grand finals competitors, Team WaR and The Bhoys.

Mazer Gaming sits at the top of the Amateur teams who are in play to make some noise at the CWL Championship. Spacely is a man on a mission looking to expose Gen.G’s mistake of dropping him. This current Mazer Gaming roster seems to mesh well having teamed only for one month. It’s entirely possible that Mazer could make it out of Pool C when the time comes.

Animosity eSports

Formerly under the guise of Team Divinely, Animosity eSports roster consists of Sebastian “Cookie” Schubert, Maik “Phantom” Schmitz, Piero “Piero” Fazio, Tom “Sharko” Serdarusic and Enrique “Pazy” Lange. With the exception of Phantom, this squad placed T8 at the CWL London Open. Interestingly, after the organization added Phantom, Animosity eSports finished in first place at the CWL Amateur Finals 2019 Germany Qualifier. This victory secured an opportunity to compete for a spot at the CWL Championship.

Animosity eSports made it all the way to losers round seven at the CWL Amateur Finals ultimately finishing T16. Due to this, the German team earned the right to face off against top teams at the CWL Championship with this performance. Now, animosity eSports are on the list of amateur teams that are flying under the radar heading into Champs. They will need their absolute best if they hope to take series wins over the likes of FaZe, Units and Mazer Gaming.

Looking Forward

FaZe Clan expects to advance out of this pool without issue. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the pool shakes out should FaZe advance. European teams seem to show up and shock the world when it comes to the Call of Duty Championship. At the 2016 CWL Championship, a fully European Splyce team took second place falling short of Team Envy. This breathes some hope into Animosity eSports and Units as they look to turn some heads by qualifying out of Pool C.

Image via Joe Brady for MLG