Let me start of by saying, what an event!
From the beginning to the end, MLG delivered their best event yet!
With the team hot coming from Miami, Sam set up a routine where he would be waking up at 5AM in the morning so the team had their coach online for scrims. We had one month to progress and developed a plan of action heading into the event, not knowing whom we would have in our pools until 2 weeks prior to the event.
Knowing we would have either 100T/Luminosity, Midnight/UYU and another amateur bracket team join us in making the pool, we fancied our chances of qualifying. Competing against some of the best players in the world that have won rings already spurred us on. Scrimming and watching VODs for at least 12 hours every day, we wanted the best preparation on every team.
A week out from the event, CleanX, Insight and Detain travelled to our headquarters in Copenhagen to maximize our potential. Travelling out on the Monday, the team had 2 days to eliminate any jet lag in their system and be prepared to perform on the biggest stage in front of thousands of viewers at home.
Lining up our first game against Luminosity, we knew the importance of getting off to the perfect start, and that is what we did. Taking the Hardpoint on Arsenal comfortably, Search and Destroy 6-4 on Payload and 3-1 on Frequency Control! The hype was real! Having only one game on the Wednesday would mean we play our final two matches on Thursday. Knowing we had a very good opportunity after beating the first seed in our groups and arguably the strongest team on paper, we had Vanity and UYU left to play.
Sweeping Vanity 3-0 just like we did at Miami, we had qualified due to Luminosity taking the map 5 victory over UYU, which meant we were guaranteed on qualifying due to map count. All we had to do was beat UYU to claim the first seed in the pool. Starting very strong, we took the first two maps and looked into making it unbeaten on maps throughout the pool stage. However, UYU took 2 maps straight back which saw us going into a game 5. Having been undefeated in the game mode, we were confident in taking the result however; UYU had it all to play for. If UYU failed to win, they were knocked out of the tournament that would see Luminosity qualify in second place. It all came down to clutches, which saw us take the map 6-3 and the series 3-2, which saw UYU eliminated.
The vibe was unmatched. Before the event, we were written off by many people yet stormed the pool and finished with a 3-0 record against two Professional teams. Now onto Friday. Winner Bracket Round 1 Vs Sicario Gaming. With our current run of form, we fancied our chances against another good amateur based team. The roster made up from ex pro league players, we knew it would not be a walkover.
Starting very slow in the Hardpoint, saw us losing for the first time all event, however the Search and Destroy followed and claimed the map which saw us drawing going into the control. All 3 respawns against Sicario were very tough for the team and was unfortunate to get any rhythm, which consequently saw us fall into the Losers Bracket.
Knowing we were staring elimination, we knew it was too early for us to go home.
Team Envy stood in the way of an early elimination from the tournament on Saturday. Being the first game of the day against former World Champions, we knew we had to be consistent on every potential map. Map 1, Hardpoint, Arsenal, the CleanX show. Starting slowly at 3-10, Tobi ended up finishing 36-17. That is 33 kills in 7 deaths. Benson stated, “CleanX with the biggest turnaround of a performance I have ever seen in Call of Duty myself, unreal from him, an absolute take over and honestly once he started heating up, was there ever any doubt. For map 1, Envy just got ran through by one man from Denmark!”
This eluded any doubts of nerves leading into the remainder of the series. Taking the Search 6-4 on Payload, we were one map away from progressing through the losers bracket. We struggled to surface any momentum in the control which saw us lose that map 3-0 which made the score 2-1 leading into Gridlock. Our ability to perform on Hardpoint and Search overshadowed our success on Control, as map 4 was neck and neck at the beginning, we grew fonder in the game which saw us start linking hardpoints together which saw us develop a 30 second lead before Gunless, somehow ended up on our team which meant we were in an advantageous position of playing 5v4 for roughly 15 seconds, this allowed us to gain more map control which would have made Team Envy become on the backfoot. The result followed which saw us taking the victory 3-1 and seeing us knock out, a respectable side in Team Envy.
The match against Team Envy represented how hard the 6 guys worked into getting the best result.
In Losers Bracket Round 2, we matched up against Luminosity. Having already recorded a 3-0 result over them, we knew we had the capability of doing it again and we started of amazingly taking the first map on Arsenal. A back and forth start saw Luminosity earn streaks early which saw them take an early lead. With the scores even at 196 – 200, we dominated the rotation for Trophy hill, which saw Insight slay Luminosity, which resulted in him becoming fully streaked, which saw us take the map 250-214. Having still not lost a Search and Destroy, we looked inevitable on going 2-0 up in the series. With the scores at 5-5 going into the final round, either team had the chance to claim the map. Unfortunately, our consistent results fell through and saw us take the loss. A loss on the Control saw us heading into Hardpoint on Gridlock. With the scores level at 144 apiece, one massive hold on P3 and P4 saw the game and the series fade away. With the scores at 170-229, we had to break P2 whilst John had just popped Vision Pulse. The task was near on impossible which saw us crash out of the tournament falling 3-1 to the team that depended on our result for them to stay in the tournament in the first place.
This sees us take a Top 9-12 placement taking home $35,000. At the event, there was 16 recognized Pro Teams, and 16 Amateur Teams. We placed in the best 12 of all teams. What a great achievement from the team. This makes you wonder, what this squad can pursue leading into the Franchising for Modern Warfare.
Report by Curtis Bottomley
“It was an amazing tournament shout out to Spencer and Adam for putting on such a good show. I waited for all year the tournament I knew that could change all of our lives the tournament. The team played insane the whole weekend which I expected especially seeing how much we improved on from Miami to champs I knew we were about to shock the world. The experience was like nothing I have experienced before beating Envy on that stage and seeing the massive crowd just blew me away absolutely insane feeling.”
Samuel “Fenix” Spencer
“It was a great pleasure to travel and be with the team for the event. I am so proud of the team and everyone involved, and it warms my heart to see all of the support back home to the team. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life. I love every single one them to bits and with franchising coming up, every one of the players and coach/analyst deserves to be involved.”
Atle S. Stehouwer
About Team Singularity:
Team Singularity, recently acquired by Rightbridge Ventures, launched in 2016 as a grassroots operation and has grown into a premier esports organization with professional teams competing in Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, League of Legends, FIFA22, Apex Legends and more.
The company is focused on talent development and is the leading player talent incubator in esports. Team Singularity has the largest path2pro esports academy in the world with over 10,000 active amateur players making their way to become the next pro player in esports.
Team Singularity is home to more than 100 players and staff members from more than 30 different countries.
About GamerTech™:
GamerTech (GT) brings disruptive products, technology-based gamer wearables, and advanced apparel solutions to market, focused explicitly on gamers and esports athletes to boost performance, amplify experience, and enhance their overall wellness. GT is a startup within MAS Innovation, a subsidiary of MAS Holdings - the most prominent apparel tech manufacturer in South Asia, with over 118,000 employees across 17 countries and a turnover of USD 2 billion, strongly focusing on apparel-based innovations. MAS Innovation ranked 18th among the world's best workplaces for innovators, conducted by Fast Company in 2022, and placed in Clarivate's highly prestigious Asian innovators list in 2021 and 2022.