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Top 5 moments from the Empire’s Call of Duty League All-Star weekend

From Warzone plays to game-winning moments from the league MVP, the Empire had an active All-Star appearance.

A star-studded roster meant a big showing at the Call of Duty All-Star Weekend for the Dallas Empire. Four Empire players made it to the one-on-one pro skills bracket over the weekend. James “Clayster” Eubanks, Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro, Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal and Cuyler “Huke” Garland got to play for the $100,000 prize pool.

Much like the Empire’s season, the weekend was filled with highlights, funny moments and winning. Here are the top five moments from Dallas' first CDL All-Star Weekend:

No. 5: Shotzzy defeats Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto in the Gulag

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ZooMaa ran a buzzsaw through the best players in the world all weekend. The New York Subliners' star eventually got the best of Shotzzy in this gunfight, but the league MVP took an important map on Gulag Showers to send the match to a third map.

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Shotzzy fell in the final map, but ZooMaa made it a trend of taking down CDL giants, defeating Chicago’s Seth “Scump” Abner and Bradley “wuskin” Marshall along the way.

Shotzzy was sneaky and creative in his map win, finding dark spots that gave him angles. His map win also provided some funny hot microphone moments when the map ended.

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No. 4: A clutch edit

Being marked as the best player in the game made for another impactful weekend from Cuevas-Castro. He didn’t have to do anything extra for this moment.

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The CDL’s editing team had that handled as it paired the Empire’s match-closing comms after Shotzzy clinched the Empire’s trip to the CDL championship match in a one-on-one against Atlanta’s Preston “Priestahh” Greiner.

In classic Empire fashion, there were a lot of expletives and celebrations. The B-roll of Atlanta’s reaction in the loss made the package a moment to remember from the Empire’s unforgettable postseason.

No. 3: Cheering on the opposition

CDL caster Jeremy “StuDyy” Astacio hit the nail on the head when he said Eubanks had the mind games. The Empire’s veteran, now a restricted free agent looking for a new home in 2021, had the strongest run in the All-Star tournament of any Empire player.

Clayster held a 4-2 advantage over Florida’s Joseph “Owakening” Conley for a chance at a semifinal appearance when the two players crashed out of their game.

Clayster won the first map back on the return, hyping himself up on the mic. It wasn’t long before he began gassing up Owakening, though. Whether it was a real sentiment or mindgames, Clayster was able to clinch the victory.

No. 2: The Mayor of Verdansk

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It was without a doubt the funniest win of the Empire’s season. Head coach Ray “Rambo” Lussier told the CDL casters that it was as fun as winning money ever was for him.

Three damage and a truck were enough for Rambo to win $6,000 in the CDL’s Warzone weekend over Call of Duty pros. Lussier said himself that hopping in the truck to run over other players in Verdansk was for entertainment value, but it ended up being the winning strategy.

For his efforts, Lussier was awarded the Mayor of Verdansk.

No. 1: Clayster earns a spot in the finals

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Leave it up to the oldest player in the league to play to his strengths. Eubanks, at 28-years-old, was able to defeat younger, flashier opponents and win in scenarios where he was at a disadvantage.

Clayster did just that in knocking off ZooMaa in the semifinals on Sunday. Eubanks' run ended in the championship match against Atlanta’s McArthur “Cellium” Jovel, but the three-time world champion was proud with how he played against the fancier young guns of the CDL.

Of any of the Empire players, one might have expected Shotzzy to make the deep run for an All-Star win, but Clayster was the best of them.

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