Los Angeles Guerrillas Protest Match Loss Against Minnesota Rokkr
The Call of Duty League officially kicked off this past weekend, offering the 12 teams in the inaugural season of the league to compete against one another to see who would start the season strong. Being such a highly anticipated event, it did not disappoint in the slightest.
Call of Duty League Launch Weekend Was No Stranger to Drama
Players and fans tuned into the launch weekend event in Minnesota were treated to something special. The 12 teams, regardless if they were your favorite, offered intense action with many of the matches coming down to the wire.
The 12 teams each had two matches that they would compete in during the three days of the competition where they would have the chance to show off their skills against two of their competitors. Going into the event, many of us didn’t know what to expect or what would happen.
Though a few teams stood out with some of the most talented and award-winning players in the league, there are a lot of wildcards as well. One such team is the Los Angeles Guerrillas, one of two teams based in Los Angeles, California.
The Guerrillas are some of the fan favorites in the league. They came out swinging in the most recent tournament. However, their first match had quite the controversy. It led to a decision that stated that the Los Angeles Guerrillas broke one of the rules leading to them taking a perhaps undeserved loss.
It led to the intense drama surrounding the league, something normally expected from competitions like this one. However, what is so surprising about this is the timing of everything. It was only the first event of the season, so it certainly paints a picture of a crazy season on the way.
Los Angeles Guerrillas Protest Match Loss Against Rokkr
The Los Angeles Guerrillas versus Minnesota Rokkr was only the third match of the entire season. The match was popular and intense, with many viewers turning in to see how the match would unfold.
The problem with this is that it resulted in rule-breaking in only the second round of the whole match. Since the ruling was placed, it led to the Los Angeles Guerrillas potentially losing the entire match as they not only had to forfeit that round win, but it was given to the Rokkr as well.
What would have been a tie at the time was turned into an early lead for the Minnesota Rokkr that the Los Angeles Guerrillas was not able to defeat. The team quickly released a statement after the match concluded with their view on the ruling. They stated why they disagree with what went down.
The official Twitter account for the Los Angeles-based team posted a screenshot of their letter stating their perspective on the whole situation. Right from the start of the letter, the team noted that they “protest the outcome of a league decision during their match” against Rokkr.
The Los Angeles Guerrillas did accept the loss of the match but, instead, was protesting the circumstances that surrounded it. According to the team, the decision was made regarding a banned item despite this being “inconsistent” with other similar events.
In fact, the ruling regarding which items would be banned and allowed was reportedly held without any official from the Guerrillas present for the vote. The team hopes that they can use this situation to better the league that is, understandably, just getting started and is prone to some mistakes.
Why the Forfeit Call Was Made
It all started during the match. The match began with the Guerrillas getting an early lead on the home team of the launch event, the Minnesota Rokkr. Winning in the first round, the Guerrillas went strong into the second round, which was Search and Destroy.
The team was able to come away with a pretty clean victory in the second round as well, winning six rounds to three. At this point in the match, the Guerrillas were going to have an early two to nothing lead with only needing one rounder win to claim the entire match.
However, soon after the conclusion of the second round where the Guerrillas won, a ruling came from the league officials that overturned the match and said that the Guerrillas broke the official rules. These are the same rules decided supposedly in an impromptu meeting without any officials from the Los Angeles team in attendance.
The rule in question is that player Andres Lacefield used the Hardline perk in the game when it is not allowed in the competition. The captain of the team, Patrick “ACHES” Price noted after the match that Lacefield didn’t even have the specialist on at the time.
Regardless, the ruling was made. The team had the round forfeited in the end. The league decided to give the round point to the Rokkr, instead of voiding it and making the teams compete in another round.
This led to the match being tied at one to one where the Rokkr was able to secure two more round wins in a row to win the entire match. Even with all the drama going on, the Los Angeles Guerrillas will continue to compete in the league. Stay tuned for any potential updates regarding this evolving situation as we wait for word from the league officials regarding this protest.
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