100 Thieves founder and CEO Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag lost his mind at the implementation of water in the Zarqwa Hydroelectric map in Modern Warfare 2, as his LA Thieves CDL team lost to Toronto Ultra at COD Champs following a huge play through the water around the edge of the map.
Zarqwa Hydroelectric, or simply Hydro as it has become more commonly known, is a map that has split opinions in the Call of Duty community since MWII launched in October 2022.
Surrounding the map are swathes of water, that have become incredibly common areas for players to rotate through, as well as with the water going under the map and providing access points throughout it.
While the water has been heavily debated in a competitive setting, Hydro has remained in the Call of Duty League map pool, and Nadeshot couldn’t hide his disdain as he watched the LA Thieves lose their match to a sneaky water play from Ultra in the opening round of the $2.5m CDL Championship Weekend.
Nadeshot livid at Modern Warfare 2 water
It was the opening map of the series and things were kept pretty tight between the two in the Hardpoint, before Toronto ran away with it, using a back-spawn water route to take spawns for the new hill and ultimately win the map.
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“Why the f**k do we have water like this in Call of Duty,” he exclaimed, much to the enjoyment of the OpTic Texas entourage in the watch party with him. “You f**king idiots. Let’s just go and disappear like we’ve got Active Camo for 20 f**king seconds. Just go for a tactical swim while we’re playing on stage for $500,000.”
The series between Thieves and Ultra went the distance, but Ultra ultimately won 3-2, sending the LA side down to the Loser’s Bracket to face Seattle Surge and risk being eliminated from the tournament entirely.
The water play from Hicksy was huge for wrapping up the map for Toronto Ultra, so it really could have been the difference maker between winning and losing that series — much to Nadeshot’s chagrin.