Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson wasn’t feeling well in the lead up to Call of Duty League Champs. He had caught COVID-19 and was struggling to stay focused during practice.
“It was the most stressful week — the scrims were terrible,” Arcitys, the in-game leader for Atlanta FaZe said early in the tournament. “Trying to actually be positive and energetic during scrims was hard. We didn’t know if we were going to make it, we didn’t know if our whole team would be here.”
Arcitys wasn’t the only one. McArthur “Cellium” Jovel and Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris caught the virus after the Stage 5 Major as well. Only Chris “Simp” Lehr continued to test negative in between the Major and the championship event. They had to push through online practice while feeling sick, praying they tested negative in time for them to make their Tuesday flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles.
“There was a four day span for me where my whole body was aching,” aBeZy said. “I had a really bad cough, and I still do cough every now and then. I’ve been coughing for a week and a half now and I hope it goes away soon. I had a high fever, chills. I woke up drenched at night just covered in sweat. It was a terrible experience.”
Luckily all members of FaZe tested negative in time for the event, paving the way for their run through New York, Dallas and Toronto. The grand final was a tough fight, but aBeZy and company pulled out the 5-3 win over Jamie “Insight” Craven and the rest of Toronto Ultra. They are the 2021 Call of Duty League champions.
“Even in some of our scrims when we were all feeling that bad, we were just smoking teams, which is hilarious,” aBeZy said. “The fact that we were able to overcome that and go on to win this event is just amazing.”
Call of Duty League Champs vs COVID-19
COVID-19 was an additional opponent a number of Call of Duty League teams faced off against before Champs. Aside from those Atlanta FaZe players, others from the Los Angeles Thieves and OpTic Chicago had tested positive for the virus but still fought through exhaustion, coughs and other symptoms in order to practice.
“[I] had COVID and was forcing myself to scrim. Got to LA and ran into problems with my tests, didn’t even know if I’d be eligible to play,” LA Thieves player Kenny “Kenny” Williams said in a tweet after losing to Minnesota. “First rounded at Champs.”
