This week was anything but normal for the Dallas Empire, the reigning Call of Duty League champion, who’s had the most abnormal of title-defense seasons.
The Empire were happy to see a 3-2 win over the Florida Mutineers end a week in which ex-Dallas SMG player Cuyler “Huke” Garland posted a YouTube video in which he claimed the Empire didn’t give him much heads up about him being dropped, that he wasn’t listened to and that he had a problem with using Adderall in official matches.
The CDL has not responded to The Dallas Morning News’ inquiries about the league’s policy of Adderall usage as 10 p.m. Saturday evening.
Empire head coach Ray “Rambo” Lussier and Envy Gaming owner Mike Rufail responded to Garland’s video with a three-minute clip of their own, expressing their side of the story: that Garland was dropped for gameplay reasons, not because of lifestyle choices. That was about as far as the Empire went in commenting about the midweek controversy, which drew comments from current and further players about Adderall usage in the league.
“Just know that not all information is out there and I’m not going to comment any further on that,” Lussier told The News Saturday evening.
GG's FL. Won 3-2, going to be the biggest @TorontoUltra fans tomorrow. I think Ultra has to beat NYSL for us to make it to winners since we'd lose map count tie breaker.
— NYSL Crimsix (@Crimsix) June 13, 2021
Despite the possibility of a midweek distraction, the Empire continued to show promise in Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Mutineers.
But it took a 180 from newcomer Reece “Vivid” Drost to help change the course of Saturday’s match. Florida took a 2-1 lead in the series, in which Vivid struggled in the search and destroy and control maps mightily. Vivid had just six kills to 23 deaths in control, but he helped Dallas win a decisive Map 5.
Empire veteran Ian “Crimsix” Porter, who took heat on social media this season with the drama of roster moves in Dallas, was the leader the team needed after the third map.
“I sort of gave a speech after map three saying, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to show up to a LAN off a loss,’” Porter said. “I want to go there on a win. Have confidence before we even show up.”
Going into the upcoming Stage 4 LAN event, the first live action for CDL players since March 2020, the Empire wanted to have momentum. But their path to a winners bracket appearance is in the hands of the Toronto Ultra.
The Ultra have to defeat the New York Subliners on Sunday for the Empire to get in the winners bracket. If New York wins, the Empire would get the fourth seed because the Ultra and Mutineers would get the second and third seed respectively.
Lussier was pleased to see the Empire respond to Porter’s rally speech.
“He’s a veteran player. He’s kind of like the general and is going to shake up the squad. The control map was far from clean, and was honestly the worst map we’ve played with this squad in some time,” Lussier said. “So to have a veteran shake up the crew and everyone responding well was awesome to see.”
HUGE WIN for us today. GGs to @Mutineers on a fun back and forth match. Now we turn into to @TorontoUltra fans for a day to see if we can get a WB seed for the Lan.
— OpTic Rambo (@ramboray) June 13, 2021
There’s still a cloud around the Empire, and the CDL’s response to Garland’s admittance to using Adderall in Dallas’ world championship win last season has yet to arrive.
All the Empire are concerned with for now is their gameplay. Their quest for a repeat championship is still the endgame, but they aren’t where they want to be.
“Our heads are down and we are focusing on what we can as a team to compete at the highest level and try and win this next major coming up,” Lussier said.
The Empire’s Stage 4 Major start will be decided on Sunday.
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