The details are still vague, but the roster playing under Dream Team in the Call of Duty World League seem to be looking for a new organization. In the week after MLG Anaheim, the players on the team apparently decided to part ways with Dream Team. The announcement came via a tweet from Martin “Chino” Chino where he said, “Me and my team will not be representing dT anymore.” No other information was offered from Chino and the issue was largely ignored by the other players on the team. Troy “Sender” Michaels did say, “Announcements coming soon,” implying the rest of us might soon find out what has been going on. The Dream Team organization did not mention the situation at all yet on their Twitter account.
Besides the situation with the Call of Duty team, Dream Team was involved in a bit of drama this week concerning their League of Legends Challenger team. The founder of Team SoloMid, Andy Dinh, released a statement calling out Dream Team for not paying a player on their roster for his time on the team. According to Dinh, Vincent “Biofrost” Wang signed a contract with Dream Team in which he was supposed to be paid $2,000 per month of service. He was reportedly only paid for one month, though according to Dinh it should have been three months. Dream Team General Manager Keaton “Beesin” Cryer responded with his ownstatement, saying that Biofrost was paid what he was owed and terminated his contract by trying out for Team SoloMid. Contract and salary issues are not uncommon in esports. The two incidents involving Dream Team this week are unlikely to be related, but details are not clear yet.
Dream Team has gained popularity this year due to their enhanced performance and also due to the signing of some of Call of Duty’s most popular players, mainly referring to Adam “Killa” Sloss. At MLG Anaheim, Dream Team’s Call of Duty team placed top 12 overall but only recorded wins over compLexity and Cloud9 Eclipse. Performance-wise, they have had a rough time in Stage 2 of the Call of Duty World League the past few weeks, in contrast to their strong start that had the community buzzing. Currently sitting at an 8-7 record, Dream Team is on the line between making it to the playoffs and not.
The situation is especially strange considering Dream Team is still listed as the organization representing the players according to the Call of Duty World League website. In the week after MLG Anaheim, both of their matches were forfeits: one in favor of Dream Team over 100 Thieves and the other in favor of compLexity. Due to the fact that Dream Team competed in matches this week (although they were forfeits), Dream Team management still hold the team license according to Call of Duty World League rules.
If a qualified Team does not belong to an entity prior to their qualification, they must join one to remain in the Competition.
It seems that a special ruling would have to be made for a team to play in the league without representation. Even so, Chino has said, “I currently cannot disclose any information regarding dT other than we, as a team, are still in the CWL, just not representing dT.” This implies an ongoing legal struggle or a transition of the team license to a new organization. Several rumors have suggested that Denial eSports is interested in the team. Denial has not had a roster on Black Ops 3 thus far but had a team win the Call of Duty Championship last year. Another possible organization to pick up this roster is Team Kaliber, who were eliminated from the Call of Duty World League in Stage 1 but still plan to remain active in the game. However, these rumors have little backing and the truth will likely be revealed in a few days.
Josh Billy is a long time Call of Duty fan. You can contact him via email at josh@gamurs.com or on Twitter @Orbit_CH3MISTRY.
