This article is part of our Call of Duty Recap series.
Despite a relatively small $20,000 prize pool, plenty of fireworks erupted at the Call of Duty World League: PSX Invitational which took place at the Anaheim Convention Center over the weekend.
Dubbed the official start of the Call of Duty World League, eight teams battled it out across two days to determine who would be crowned the PSX Invitational champions.
FaZe Clan was able to go undefeated throughout the event, finishing off Orbit 3-1 in the best-of-five Grand Final to claim first place, but it wasn't without drama. Let's take a look at how the action unfolded.
A rivalry born
Incendiary Twitter remarks. Premature body shots. Choke hand signals. Brash clan tag references. The Grand Final had all the makings of a big league fight as FaZe's James "Clayster" Eubanks and Orbit's Rhys "Rated" Price appeared to ignite a massive rivalry that could develop into one of the biggest storylines of the year.
Despite getting shutout against FaZe Clan in their Day 1 matchup, Rated was one of the European's loudest members during their Grand Final battle, seemingly, then literally calling out Clayster during the opening portions of the series with a handful of borderline inappropriate tactics. That only seemed to motivate FaZe's in-game leader, as Clayster responded with a demonstrative performance both on and off the virtual battlegrounds. Rated couldn't match the same level of energy, most notably posting a dismal 11/28 KD (kill-death ratio) in Round 3 Uplink as FaZe would manage to win the series in four games. After the match, the bad-blood seemed to carry over, as Rated seemingly refused to shake Clayster's hand, then turned to Twitter to flame the fans of the rivalry even more. With multiple international tournaments lined up for the 2017 season, this feud already has the makings to be one of the juicer sagas of the year.
New faces, new places
While PSX Invitational did not showcase Team EnVyUs or OpTic Gaming, two of the top competitive Call of Duty teams in the world, the lack of star power allowed for a handful of new teams to impress.
The aforementioned European team, Orbit, certainly made a positive (Grand Finals aside) impression throughout the weekend, the same could be said for Rise Nation, who made it all the way to the semifinal game before losing to the eventual winners, FaZe Clan. Rise, who acquired three players from Team eLevate earlier in the offseason, had their fair share of ups-and-downs early on, but flexed their muscles when it mattered most. Ulysses "Aqua" Silva in particular was impressive, most notably posting an unreal 10/0 KD in a win-or-go-home Round 5 Search and Destroy against his former team. In 17 rounds played, the former Team EnVyUs and eLevate star posted a 1.11 KD, good for the sixth-best mark at the tournament. It's way to early in the season to begin making any bold predictions, but at least for one tournament Rise Nation looked to be one of the better teams in North America.
Evil Geniuses on the other hand struggled mightily to start the new campaign. Arguably one of the most exciting rosters to form during the offseason, the team comprised of Anthony "NAMELESS" Wheeler, Jeremy "StuDyy" Astacio, Jared "Nagafen" Harrell and Colt "Havok" McLendon drastically underperformed as they were unable to advance past the first day. Despite sporting a handful of the best hybrid players in the world, Evil Geniuses failed to win even a single Search and Destroy round between their two series, a ghastly number considering the talent on the roster. Havok certainly didn't live up to his name, as the often deadly slayer posted a tournament-worst 0.80 KD. Given the fact that StuDyy, Nagafen and Havok played similar roles on their previous teams during Call of Duty: Black Ops III, it seems likely that this group just needs time to iron out their respective roles. They'll need to do so in a hurry, however, as the next Call of Duty World League event, MLG Las Vegas, kicks off December 16.
