It was the end of two Call of Duty eras this weekend.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare hit the shelves today, officially ending the year long saga of Call of Duty: Ghosts. Yesterday, the last Ghosts tournament—the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, France—closed the door on a years’ worth of competition.
It’s only fitting that the best team in Call of Duty history won the tournament in what appears to be their final event together as a team.
Evil Geniuses took the title, capping off a legendary two years for the best team in the history of the game. The trio of Patrick “ACHES” Price, Tyler “TeePee” Polchow, and Iam “Crimsix” Porter won more tournaments than any other.
But coming into this event, they weren’t the favorite. Not even close.
The team has not won a tournament since MLG Anaheim in June, leaving a trail of increasingly poor results behind them. Even worse, last week team captain Price and superstar slayer Porter publicly announced they’d be searching for new teams heading into Advanced Warfare.
This was their last tournament together, a victory lap, the last hurrah. Porter said the team felt comfortable, content to just play it out and have fun together during their last set of games as a trio—a trio that’s won 13 major tournaments together dating back to the 2012 release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Entering the tournament, EnVyUs was the favorite. Winners of Major League Gaming Columbus and three of the last five Ghosts tournaments, it seemed a foregone conclusion the Americans would steal the ESWC gold from the defending champions Evil Geniuses. But British squad TCM Gaming knocked out EnVyUs 3-1. The American team crumbled as rumors swirled about its future roster.
Evil Geniuses ran to the final and beat the Brits to defend their ESWC title and earn the$12,500 cash prize.
Porter made it clear that a tournament win wouldn’t rekindle the old passion and keep the team together heading into Advanced Warfare. It’s time the team made a split.
The future is unclear for the squad and players. The team is still under contract with Evil Geniuses, including Damon “Karma” Barlow, who was loaned to FaZe after a public falling out. EnVyUs superstar Matt “FormaL” Piper left after revealing he hoped to recruit Barlow and Porter for his Advanced Warfare future. Piper could be a candidate for the next version of Evil Geniuses, but that’s just one scenario among dozens.
Whatever does happen, they’ll always have Paris.
