Empire lose to Atlanta FaZe in Major 4 final, but head coach ‘Rambo’ says it’s ‘only a taste’ of Dallas’ potential

The Dallas Empire players are hard on themselves after a loss, especially one as close as their 5-4 defeat to Atlanta FaZe in the Call of Duty League Major 4 championship.

Especially Ian “Crimsix” Porter and Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal. There was frustration, because the Empire were a couple mistakes from beating the best team in the world, and this roster has barely been complete for a month.

Dallas head coach Ray “Rambo” Lussier said this wasn’t the end goal, losing to FaZe. But even a Major championship wouldn’t have filled the Empire’s stomach.

“The message after the match was that the job is not done,” Lussier said. “This was a step towards the right direction and we are in a position that we can fix all the small things. That’s the difficulty ahead of us. Our expectations and challenges are set based off today’s match.

“Now we just have to get there in the next couple of weeks.”

The Empire were two search and destroy rounds away from an eight-hour dream run at the fourth major, the first LAN tournament since March 2020. If it weren’t already clear, any championship in the Call of Duty League is going to have to go through Atlanta FaZe, which secured the No. 1 overall seed for champs on Sunday.

The Empire spent most of their season sorting through internal issues and mixing and matching three different players in their roster. Cuyler “Huke” Garland was dropped from the starting lineup on April 22 after two consecutive underwhelming stage performances from the Empire.

While that wasn’t the only roster move Dallas made before cementing Reece “Vivid” Drost in the roster — Tyler “FeLo” Johnson had a month in the lineup, too — it was the move with Garland that attracted criticism.

Other than reigning CDL MVP Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro, the other Empire players were often scrutinized. Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal wasn’t playing to his own standards, Drost had a sluggish start to his stint with the Empire and Porter has been notoriously under fire throughout any roster move in his career.

“We went through all that hardship because we felt like we needed to make a change to get us to where we are now,” Lussier said. “Where we are now isn’t where we want to be moving forward. We are still going to get better off of this. This is only a taste of it.”

What’s the point of all of this?

The Empire, especially with Drost in the camp, were getting better throughout the talk and drama. Porter still has a video he claimed will come out this coming week since the major is over, so the Huke saga isn’t over yet, but Dallas is back to playing top-tier Call of Duty.

While all four Empire players had their moments, it was Cuevas-Castro that once again emerged as an elite talent. Shotzzy was dazzling in the SMG role all tournament, garnering the attention of CDL casters as possibly the best player in the world again.

“At least from my point of view, he’s got to be the most mechanically gifted player to ever touch CoD,” Lussier said. “Insane reaction time, insane movement capabilities. He just has the ability to be put in the weirdest situations and come out on top.”

Dallas defeated Chicago and Toronto before getting stunted by Atlanta in map nine of the championship. That four-headed beast, led by Chris “Simp” Lehr, is still an at-large problem. But the Empire are back in the fray.

Dallas has one more major tournament before champs. The battle for the No. 2 seed at champs will be between the Empire, New York Subliners and Toronto Ultra, with the Empire needing another strong major showing to secure a top seed.

The Empire, who shocked CDL analysts with their run to the championship match on Sunday, still think their best is yet to come.

“We went through all that hardship because we felt like we needed to make a change to get us to where we are

“None of this (expletive) even matters compared to the final prize,” Porter said.

The Dallas Empire are back in the fray, knocking on FaZe’s door. Can the reigning world champs reclaim their throne?

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