Dallas Empire’s Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter has given his thoughts on why former OpTic Gaming teammate Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag pulled out the HBR at CoD Champs in 2015.
Nadeshot and his HBR has become a classic meme in the years since he used the off-meta gun, especially since OpTic’s 7th place at the tournament was a far cry from the easy win many fans expected.
It’s a joke that has never left Nadeshot despite all his success since, and is something he has tried defending in various ways: arguing that the gun later became meta, or that it was powerful at the time.
However, Crim thinks there’s a reasonable explanation for why Nade did what he did, and even called it “the right play.”
While trying to recruit Nadeshot to play with him in the next Vikkstar Warzone tournament, Crim said that if he agrees to play with him he will “say what really happened” on the HBR incident — and came through before any confirmation was even made.
“You pulled out an HBR because Formal, you, and myself in that particular series were getting sh*t on,” he said. “You decided to use it to pick up the slack slaying wise.”
That wasn’t all, though. He continued: “It was the right play, but the wrong gun. I think you/the HBR was the scapegoat for that Champs.”
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@Nadeshot You pulled out an HBR because Formal, you, and myself in that particular series were getting shit on. You decided to use it to pick up the slack slaying wise. It was the right play, but the wrong gun. I think you/the HBR was the scapegoat for that champs.
— FaZe Crimsix (@Crimsix) September 15, 2020
There are all kinds of theories as to why Nadeshot pulled out the HBR at Champs. At the time, the man himself simply said it was a mistake and he meant to pick his double Semtex ASM1 class, which is definitely believable.
https://twitter.com/Nadeshot/status/582343062497533952?s=20
Crim’s theory is pretty different to ones we’ve seen in the past, but could be somewhat accurate.
We know that introducing new guns to the Call of Duty meta can sometimes cause troubles for enemy players, as evidenced during Luminosity Gaming’s win at CWL Fort Worth when they opted to use the Rampart, so introducing the HBR could have been a big-brain play from Nadeshot’s perspective that just, unfortunately, didn’t work out.
Regardless of the real reason, it’s unlikely the meme will die with Crim’s comments, but it might prompt some people to think more about why Nade even had the HBR ready to go at all.