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sportsDallas Empire

What we know about the Dallas Empire heading into the Call of Duty League season

Dallas looked strong as ever in its preseason win. The Empire could be in for a repeat championship campaign.

The Dallas Empire discarded New York in their Call of Duty League preseason debut on Saturday. The 3-0 win over the Subliners was convincing, and now the Empire can look to the horizon as the second CDL season kicks off on Feb. 11, setting up the stage one and the first major tournament at the start of March.

Dallas has a winnable pool for the next three weeks of competition, too. The Empire will be joined by LA Thieves, Minnesota Rokkr, London Royal Ravens, Seattle Surge and New York.

Of those squads, only Minnesota won its preseason matchup.

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Given the Empire’s dominant win over a hobbled Subliners team, and their regular season debut against the Surge on Feb. 11, here’s what we know about the defending CDL champions.

Infinite confidence

Dallas flexed its star power against the Subliners. Each of its four players made massive plays in the three maps it took to sweep New York. To the Subliners’ defense, they only had one week of practice with that roster after Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto decided to retire from a lingering thumb injury.

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Either way, Anthony “Cuevas-Castro going for 35 elimination on the first map, Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal clutching a one-vs-three on the second map and Ian “Crimsix” Porter dominating on control was a sign that the Empire are back with a fury.

“This game just fits me,” Dhaliwal said. “The way our team is built, all of us can make clutch plays at any time. If one of us is having a bad game, one of us will be popping off. It’s good to know how good my team actually is.”

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Top teams could be predictable

With all the roster shakeups in the offseason, headlined by moves like Brandon “Dashy” Otell playing for OpTic Chicago and Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson reuniting with his former eUnited teammates in Atlanta, there are bound to be surprise teams somewhere.

But the contenders from 2020 could very well be back too. Atlanta and Florida went to map five in their preseason debut, the Mutineers topping FaZe, 3-2. Chicago crushed LA Thieves, too, so the top four teams from 2020, including Dallas, might be back to form.

If the Empire know their greatest threats, it may make for more quality practice and preparation. Dallas will avoid any of the top four teams from 2020 in pool play for stage one. A first-round bye could be in the making for the Empire in the first major tournament.

No growing pains

The Dallas players know who they are. Shotzzy and iLLeY don’t have to make their Call of Duty esports debuts this year, or get a feel for professional competition. Now they can thrive and improve.

Any amount of improvement they make at this point will make the Empire an even more formidable threat, and the early results seem to show iLLeY is in for a strong season.

“Inder is one of the underdogs on our team,” Cuevas-Castro said. “I feel like people don’t really give him that much hype, but I think this year he’ll get more hype around his name.”

iLLeY had not one, but two important clutches in the preseason skirmish against New York.

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With the CDL’s transition from 5-vs-5 to 4-vs-4, more opportunities for those plays will open up.

Find more Empire coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.