The Dallas Empire is 1-1 in Stage Three. In the first match of Call of Duty League’s Third Stage on April 22, the Dallas Empire defeated the Paris Legion and announced that they had benched Huke and promoted FeLo to the starting lineup.
When this decision was made and announced, the entire
fans, players, and coaches were put into shock and were not in a state for
approval. During the time of the decision, the Dallas Empire gave a brief
explanation on the move being made and said that the team felt that they were
"playing below [their] potential."
Mike Rufail who goes by the name “Hastr0”, the chief
gaming officer of Envy, also the Empire’s parent organization explained in
detail a bit more to Dallas Morning News. He said that Huke was holding back
the progress the team was supposed to make.
Rufail explained the whole reason behind that change.
He said he knows that a lot of fans would be upset about it. The professional
players had been on the scene for a long time and they felt that they were not
making progress. They felt that other teams were catching up to that team and
felt that there were issues with Cuyler holding back that progress.
During the Empire’s Championship run in the 2020 CDL
playoffs, Huke had been a key member. This also applies to their second and
third-place performances at the first two Majors of this season. The change in
the team was in the offseason when Dallas moved on from Clayster to adapt with
the league's transition from a five-vs-five format to one featuring four-person
teams.
The team’s communication was mentioned along with the
part of the squad that needs to improvise with Felo. Empire head coach Rambo
said he was confident on the move being made where they benched Huke.
Rambo said he had taken a lot of crap, but he is the
coach and GM. So, if anyone was going to have fingers pointed at them it will
be him. It was not very fun, but it was a part of the role. If it pans out the
way they think it should, then it will be a step in the right direction. He
also said it might not be easy for everyone to see that right now.
With Felo, the Empire lost its first match to the
Toronto Ultra. They are left with three remaining matches in the Stage Three
group play.