Earlier this season, Huke, a member of the Dallas Empire’s 2020 Call of Duty League Championship team, was benched in favor of FeLo in an extremely surprising move. Crimsix revealed via Twitter today, though, that FeLo was not a permanent part of the Empire’s plan, but rather a move to let iLLeY run the SMG in preparation for the return of Clayster.
“The person we wanted was Clayster above everyone,” Crimsix tweeted. “As Clay is an AR, we were fine with running group matches with FeLo and [iLLeY] on sub until we got him. Trade negotiations fell through especially after NYSL just got 2nd in Stage 3 so we can’t really be mad at that. Just unfortunate.”
Clayster, a three-time world champion, was also a part of Dallas’ championship-winning team last season with Huke, Crimsix, iLLeY, and Shotzzy. With the change from five-vs-five to four-vs-four in competitive play ahead of the Black Ops Cold War season, Dallas made the decision to move on without Clayster.
“We’ve all felt really bad about what happened about the whole situation, especially regarding FeLo, and I’m assuming that Clay wanted to play with us again.” He went on to tweet. “I see everyone giving Clay shit right now, but I can’t really blame him for feeling the way he does right now.”
Clayster, who now plays for the New York Subliners, announced last week that he would be stepping away from competition to focus on his mental health. The move was not “for good,” although there have not been any further details on his return to competition.
Both the Empire and Subliners will compete in this week’s Stage Five Major, the final $500,000 Major tournament of the season. The bigger prize for both teams, however, is the $2.5 million CDL Championship, which begins on Aug. 19 in Los Angeles.
