The storylines in the Call of Duty League continue to grow as major developments occurred in three major areas of interest over the past week. Crimsix vs Huke drama is perhaps the biggest story, though LA Thieves’ making another roster change isn’t that far off.
Crimsix vs Huke Drama
Ironically, all of these situations are tied to Cuyler “Huke” Garland, a former member of the world champion Dallas Empire and current substitute player for the Los Angeles Thieves. Huke was benched by the Empire earlier in the season in a shocking situation, as he appeared to be one of the bright spots on a team massively underperforming.
Huke was released from his contract with the Empire and the parent company Envy on May 4 after being the organization’s star for many years, and signed with the Thieves shortly after; the Thieves had also failed to reach their expectations throughout the season, and picking up the multiple-time champion from Dallas seemed like an easy fix to the situation.
After Huke was released by the Empire, he came out with a video explaining his usage of Adderall, a drug used to help deal with ADHD by increasing focus but commonly abused by members of the gaming community, conflicts with teammates, and his struggles with mental health.
The world champ threw a couple of shots towards his fellow Empire teammates in the video, stating that they would make fun of him and ignore his comments and generally contributed to him falling into a dark place.
Huke’s statements were almost immediately challenged by Empire’s captain and widely-recognized best Call of Duty player ever, Crimsix, who said that not only had he and his teammates gone above and beyond to check in on Huke and try to uplift him, but had also risked sacrificed their well-being to help out Huke.
The current member of the Thieves continued to suggest that Crimsix was being untruthful and sticking with the story that he was mistreated, which prompted Crimsix to announce Thursday evening that he had sought a cease and desist order against Huke for his wrongful claims.
Huke has not exactly gotten into the good graces of his Los Angeles fan base after he missed last weekend’s Stage Four Major due to a string of mistakes related to COVID protocols, including misspelling his name on his test, failing to make an account to link his profile with a completed test, not bringing an ID to the testing center at the event site, and ultimately being unable to participate in his first major as a member of the Thieves.
Substitute player Drazah filled in for Huke and posted a 1.06 kill/death ratio despite limited practice with the team.
The Thieves’ star of the season, Kenny, appeared on a Twitch broadcast hosted by New York Subliners’ members ZooMaa and Ben Nissim to discuss the situation, stating “everybody was trying to help out and get him to the point where he could play, and it didn’t seem like he wanted to.”
In light of Huke’s disappointing recent performances and his complete unprofessionalism during the weekend event, the Thieves have decided to bring in former world champion submachine gun player John to partner Drazah, sending Huke and TJHaly to the bench. Kenny and Slasher will play the assault rifle role on the team, giving the Thieves what is arguably their most talented lineup of a tumultuous season.
LA has utilized seven players this season and has constantly been rotating players in and out, trying to find the perfect combination of talent. With two world champions in Slasher and John, one of the best ARs in Kenny, and up-and-coming talent in Drazah, they may have finally found their best unit.
The Thieves currently sit in seventh place in the season standings with 180 points and will get their chance to move up the ladder in Stage Five.
Grant Mitchell is a sportswriter and multimedia contributor for the Sports 2.0 Network dealing with basketball, football, soccer, and other major sports: you can connect with him on Twitter @milemitchell to stay up to date with the latest sports news and to engage personally with him.
