The 2023 Call of Duty League WORLD CHAMPS: Interview with Head Coach DREAL
After a phenomenal season, the New York Subliners were crowned as the World Champions and the best team of the 2023 Call of Duty League season. Not only did they win Champs, but they also took home Major 1 and Major 5, making this one of the best seasons in the CDL era.
NYSL was a tremendous team throughout the year, but it wasn't without some bumps in the road. After the Major 1 Championship, there were travel issues due to weather as they departed for Boston for Major 2. They made the Winners Bracket but were greeted with a quick departure and failed to make the weekend matches.
Major 3 was another letdown, as NYSL failed to record a win in Arlington. But Major 4 was where they started to find their winning ways again. The unfortunate part of this tournament was that no fans were allowed to attend the event in Columbus. Despite that, NYSL had a respectable run, albeit falling short to Atlanta FaZe on Championship Sunday in Elimantion Round 4.
During Major 5 in Toronto, it all came together for NYSL. The final Major of the 2023 Call of Duty League season wasn't flawless by any means, which is a testament to the squad's character and work ethic.
They were quickly bounced by the home team, Toronto Ultra, in the first round of the Winners Bracket. They made nearly a flawless run through the Losers Bracket, beating four of the five teams 3-0 on their way to the Grand Finals, where they ended up defeating Atlanta FaZe in a Game 7 thriller for the title of Major 5 Champions.
Now, winning two Majors in a season is a tremendous feat, but the goal of every season is to be crowned World Champions. As teams depart to Las Vegas to compete in the biggest tournament of the year, NYSL was getting hot at the perfect time in the season.
All year, the talks were about how gritty and composed NYSL was as a team. Time and time again, they clawed their way back into matches, and they'd have to do it again at Champs.
In the first game against the Minnesota Rokkr, NYSL was down 0-2 and looking to be headed to the Losers Bracket again. But the perseverance and willingness to overcome the tough road ahead put them over the top of Minnesota and set the stage for a thrilling Champs run for NYSL.
They made it to the Winners Finals unscathed and unphased until they met a tough Toronto Ultra squad, who were poised to be a grueling opponent. NYSL took a 3-0 loss, sending them to the Elimination finals to face Atlanta FaZe to decide who will play Toronto in the Grand Finals.
They made quick work of the villains of the CDL, setting up for a rematch against Toronto. There was some drama headed into the match, with Scrap having words for the NYSL squad and KiSMET snapping back in a post-game interview. This set the tone for an intense Grand Finals at Champs.
What was thought to be a closely fought battle was all for not. NYSL came out firing on all cylinders and was seemingly unstoppable. They made ridiculously quick work of Toronto, defeating them in dominating fashion with a flawless 5-0 victory. With KiSMET's K/D (1.52) and Skyz's K/D (1.51), they now own the 1 and 2 spots as the best K/Ds in a Champs Grand Finals. KiSMET went on to win the MVP of the tournament, but because all four of them were frying, they will go down as the best team of the season.
I sat down with NYSL's Head Coach, DREAL, to discuss the World Champion team and everything that goes into preparing for a Call of Duty League season. We learned what it was like working with the players (HyDra, KiSMET, Skyz, and Priestahh), how teams prepare to play against other teams, what it's like winning Champs over winning a Major, and much more in the video above. Enjoy.
Zack is the Publishing Manager for Esports Illustrated. He grew up playing videos as a kid, mainly sports games and the Call of Duty series. Before his work at Esports Illustrated, Zack published content for the NFL Draft for various sites since 2017, including partner sites on FanNation and has appeared on various shows across the country and videos across the FanNation group. Outside of work, Zack enjoys spending time with his wife and three children. He loves playing football and video games with his son, taking his two daughters to get their favorite treats, and binge-watching shows with his wife. Zack began covering Esports at the end of 2022, mainly covering the Call of Duty League.