The Call of Duty: Ghosts $1 million tournament took place three years ago today, and most Call of Duty fans were paying attention to one team in particular: compLexity Gaming.
The main storyline on everyone’s mind going into the 2014 Call of Duty Championship was simple: Can anyone defeat coL? The lineup featuring Patrick “ACHES” Price, Tyler “TeePee” Polchow, Damon “Karma” Barlow, and Ian “Crimsix” Porter was easily the best team in Call of Duty.
Between the 2013 and 2014 Call of Duty Championships, coL won an astonishing eight LAN tournaments. Although most of these were with James “Clayster” Eubanks on the team instead of Karma, the coL dynasty swapped these two players just before the first Ghosts event of 2014. This roster change didn’t stop the team’s momentum, however, as coL went on to win UMG Philadelphia 2014.
Everyone in the Call of Duty community knew that compLexity was the team to beat heading into this $1 million tournament. ACHES and co. began their tournament run with a bang, going 3-0 in pool play with a 9-1 map count. The squad continued to dominate in the championship winners bracket, easily defeating TCM Gaming, Xfinity Gaming, and FaZe Clan to reach the winners bracket finals.
There, coL squared off against OpTic Gaming. The Green Wall—Seth “Scump” Abner, Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, Marcus “MBoZe” Blanks, and Clayster—gave coL their toughest match of the tournament, but compLexity still won, making it to the grand finals.
Meanwhile, in the losers bracket, Team EnVyUs went on a remarkable run following an early loss in the first round of the winners bracket to Strictly Business. Joe “MerK” DeLuca, Ray “Rambo” Lussier, Anthony “NAMELESS” Wheeler, and Jeremy “StuDyy” Astacio took down Team Kaliber, Epsilon Esports, VexX Revenge, Trident T1 Dotters, and Strictly Business to set up an “El Clasico” match against OpTic Gaming in the losers bracket finals. Team EnVyUs got the best of their rival this time around, eliminating OpTic in third place, while the boys in blue triumphantly advanced to the grand finals.
Even with Team EnVyUs’s incredible win streak, this was destined to be compLexity’s tournament. Firing on all cylinders, coL made quick work of EnVyUs, sweeping the boys in blue to take home the title as the 2014 Call of Duty world champions. ACHES and crew took home the top prize of $400,000 for their victory, while EnVyUs earned $200,000 thanks to their storybook losers bracket run.
Compared to the 2015 Call of Duty Championship, which celebrated its two-year anniversary yesterday, there were not as many storylines in 2014. CompLexity was clearly the best team in the game, and nobody could stand in their way of achieving greatness. Throughout the entire tournament, coL only lost four maps– one in pool play, one against FaZe, and two against OpTic. Other than that, no team was even able to win a map against this team, let alone a series.
This foursome went on to win the next two LAN events after CoD Champs before being acquired by Evil Geniuses. Under EG, the team won two more events before the end of the Ghosts season, bringing the coL/EG dynasty’s championship total to 13.
If they hadn’t won this tournament, one of the best teams in CoD history would have a permanent question mark on their record. Instead, with this win, compLexity cemented itself in the Call of Duty history books as one of the undisputed greatest teams of all time.
