This article is part of our Call of Duty series.
Based on stats alone, it seems unlikely.
Just one in every 30 babies born in the United States is a twin, according to a 2015 report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Yet at the Call of Duty World Championship, not one, but two pairs of twins wreaked havoc.
And while the 2017 season might have come to an end for Fnatic and eUnited, the careers of those unlikely sets of twins are only just beginning.
There are plenty of characters in competitive Call of Duty, many of which strut their stuff mostly on social media. But there aren't any like Bradley "wuskin" Marshall and Matthew "Skrapz" Marshall when it comes to authentic, personal engagement.
Whether it's awkward high fives, jovial excitement at a swimming pool or even the unabashed joy they have from watching each other's performance in a given game, there's something almost unexplainably fun about the duo. Fnatic rookie wuskin chalks it up to unrelenting "positive vibes," something he wholly attributes to his brother.
"I reckon if I didn't have a twin brother, I'd be a lot different," wuskin said. "Unless I lose, I'm never down."
You can see the endearing sense of brotherly camaraderie carry into the game, as Fnatic have improbably developed into a European powerhouse thanks in large part to the development of Skrapz and wuskin.
And to think, the meteoric rise almost didn't happen for one of them.
Skrapz brags that he saw the future coming. With the introduction of the Call of Duty World League in 2016, the then-19-year-old joined a swath of other European players who benefitted from the increase of global coverage, eventually finishing with a respectable 13th-16th place at the World Championship with Epsilon Esports.
Wuskin, on the other hand, didn't participate in the inaugural season of the Call of Duty World League. He sat on the sideline while his brother continued to make waves throughout the Black Ops III season, keeping his gaming thumbs warm by playing other first-person shooters such as Destiny of The Division. Eventually, the allure of fame and fortune became overpowering, as wuskin joined up with his brother to sign with Fnatic in early 2017 along with former Epsilon teammate Gurdip "SunnyB" Bains and European legend Tom "Tommey" Trewen.
Quietly, Fnatic emerged as a consistent mid-tier team, and it carried the international banner for Europe alongside Splyce and Epsilon Esports as the season progressed. However, continual finishes in the teens at major open events have a way of breaking down the morale of a team. After all, the history books are littered with the ghosts of teams who imploded due to the weight of expectations.
But that's not a problem for this group, Skrapz said, thanks in large part to his strong relationship with his brother.
"When teammates argue, if someone has something bad to say or criticize, it always ends with something negative attached to it, whereas when I do that with my brother, or he does that with me, we argue for two minutes and then it's done," Skrapz said. "That's the good thing about it: I can say what I want to, and he understands I'm just being real with him."
That above-average consistency carried through the World Championships in Orlando, Florida. Fnatic made it out of the group stage but was bounced from the tournament on Day 3. It wasn't all bad news, however, as both Skrapz and wuskin popped off throughout the course of the competition, including a fantastic one-on-four comeback by wuskin in Round 2 Search and Destroy to essentially put away main group stage rival Evil Geniuses.
It was a small taste of what could be on the horizon for the young European team. And maybe in time, Fnatic, or whatever organization is bold enough to roster the Marshall twins in the future, will help the duo take a step above being above average.
But that doesn't preclude a chance that the duo might separate should the situation arise.
"I don't want to hold my brother back. If he got an offer to join a team that I know is better than our current one, I want him to take it. I know he would want the same for me," said wuskin.
Greatness is the next level for Skrapz and wuskin -- and that's something the other two twins in this competition are already familiar with.
United by eUnited
If Fnatic's rise to new heights could be described as meteoric, there might not be a word in the English language to accurately articulate what Preston "Prestinni" Sanderson and Alec "Arcitys" Sanderson have accomplished in such a short time.
One year after finishing in 17th-24th place at the 2016 Call of Duty World Championships with Apotheon Esports, the twins finished in fifth-sixth with an extremely talented eUnited squad. It was a disappointing mark, given where the group was projected to end heading into the event, but there was a silver lining: Once thought of as just an aberration, Prestinni and Arcitys have cemented themselves among the top players in the game.
Now, it's a question of how much better they could become.
"At events, it's awesome because we both are getting hyped up and building off one another, trying to top the other," Arcitys said, ribbing his brother in between every answer to a question.
Alec "Arcitys" Sanderson, center, and his twin brother, Preston "Prestinni" Sanderson, made it to Day 3 of the Call of Duty World Championships in Orlando, Florida, but were eliminated for a fifth-sixth place finish. Lance Skundich/Provided by MLG
It seems as if they've never really entertained the possibility of being among Call of Duty's greatest players before. It's all a part of their persona, albeit unintentionally -- a mix between happy to be here and utter confidence that could make even the sternest of people embrace the innocence of the moment.
Part of that comes from their humble beginnings. After all, it was just a little less than a year ago that Arcitys quit his job at Dairy Queen in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, where he had worked for nearly two years, to focus on competitive Call of Duty full-time. It's an occupation that harkens back to the beginning years of a legend in the scene, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag, who worked at McDonalds before becoming one of the greatest CoD players of all time. Prestinni, too, worked at Dairy Queen but quit after a handful of months.
"At home, me and him were like best friends, but at school, he would try to pick on me at times," Prestinni said. "And then we would get back home and be like best friends again. Ever since we turned 17, I would say we have probably been the closest person in each other's life."
Still, their friendship hasn't done anything to stifle their competitive edge, as a 10-minute conversation can essentially turn into a playful, verbal jousting about who was the best. In other words, while they might be fraternal twins, it's not hard to tell they are brothers.
Only one team can win the Call of Duty Championships, but it still felt strange to see eUnited fall to fifth-sixth place, losing a devastating match to Team EnVyUs in the upper bracket before tilting completely off the map in its tournament-ending loss to Luminosity Gaming. The team had lost just two maps across the first three days of competition.
It was a disheartening finish for a roster so full of aspirations, but one that might just be what the team needed. After bringing over James "Clayster" Eubanks from FaZe Clan earlier in the season, eUnited is expected to roll out the same four players next year to begin the Call of Duty: World War II iteration of World League.
How the duo of Prestinni and Arcitys respond will go a long way in shaping the legacies of the twins -- a sentence that seems unfathomable for two people who used to work at Dairy Queen and almost as unbelievable as two sets of twins competing on Call of Duty's biggest stage.
"I don't think I'll ever want to team with anyone else," said Prestinni.
