Dallas Empire’s Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter took his opportunity at the post-match press conference to call out Modern Warfare developers, Infinity Ward, after his team went 0-2 on the weekend.
Shortly before the Launch Weekend kicked off on January 24, Infinity Ward released their biggest update for over a month on January 22, with some significant changes to the competitive ruleset.
Some of the tweaks included a fix for the ‘slide cancel’ movement exploit, used extensively by pro players, a nerf to Dead Silence, and a reduction to the headshot multiplier, among other changes.
Although most of the changes themselves were welcomed, the timing was less than ideal, with no time for teams to practice on the new patch before the inaugural event of the season.
Empire had been performing well online in practice, but fell short at the event, and Crimsix did not hold back in his team’s press conference. “IW, you guys put out a patch, in under two weeks before an event. I strongly urge that we do not play on that [patch].
“This [patch] fixed everything, but in other esports, to do what we did is considered a joke. So, IW, get your sh*t together, because it sucks. I mean it’s not even IW, it’s been like every single year we’ve had a patch, before a major event, three or four times, every single year. That cannot happen.”
After @DallasEmpire finished 0-2 at #CDL2020Launch, @Crimsix had THOUGHTS on @InfinityWard and its recent patch. pic.twitter.com/6EyU9yVyXJ
— ESPN Esports (@ESPN_Esports) January 26, 2020
Crimsix went on to clarify that he was not blaming the timing of the patch for the performance of his team, but that it was a factor.
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“I’m not blaming the patch, we sucked,” he said. “I’m proud of how [iLLeY and Shotzzy] played, considering it’s their first major, but the patch hit us hard. Please don’t do that.”
🤔 @Crimsix on the recent #ModernWarfare patch affecting @DallasEmpire at #CDL2020 Launch Weekend.
"The patch hit us hard."
w/@GFuelEnergy | #GFUELCOFFEE pic.twitter.com/OeUGNkp3Aa
— Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) January 26, 2020
He explains that the changes to slide canceling, trophy systems, and headshot multipliers completely altered the meta of the game, by creating ‘hundreds’ of power positions.
Prior to the patch, fast SMG players would be encouraged to challenge slower players using ‘head glitches’, but post-patch this is no longer viable, completely changing the way teams play.
“It just sucks, because we probably played the most out of every team here, and it didn’t even matter,” he concluded, suggesting their work in the preseason had been in vain. “Thanks again IW.”
The two-time world champion still has a long season to improve and get redemption for him and his team, but the losses they have suffered will sting for a while. The defeat to Chicago Huntsmen will stick out, as Crimsix’s former OpTic teammates FormaL and Scump were on the opposing side.
Next for Dallas Empire is a trip to London on February 8, where they will hope to instantly bounce back against their nemesis in the Huntsmen.