The Ashland University Call of Duty (COD) eSports team has had a great fall season sitting at 4-2 with one game remaining in the regular season.

While the fall season took place on COD Vanguard, the newest game, COD Modern Warfare II, has been released and will be played during the spring season.

With a new rendition of COD coming out each year the in-game items, maps, game modes and team sizes change.

The most important thing though is the ability of the eSports players to adapt to these changes.

“As a team, we will have the opportunity to reset and learn an entirely new game,” said team member Braden Allen. “We will be able to gain experience playing together until the spring season starts.”

While it may seem as though “practice” may be something silly for video games, it is important for the team members to gain chemistry, learn the different areas on maps and find the best in-game items to use.

In the previous game, COD Vanguard, the team practiced on Mondays and Tuesdays. In the newest game, they hope to practice three days a week so that they can become the best team possible.

“Honestly, a fresh start is important for us. We hope to practice often to build ourselves up as a team together which will be very beneficial once the spring season comes around,” said team member Phillip Howman. “We were kinda thrown together for Vanguard and that still worked out well, with practice and a solid team we can take that next step forward.”

The Eagles only returned two starts from the 2021-2022 seasons and brought in two new players Connor Milne and Phillip Howman who helped propel the team forward this past season.

One of the big changes is the pace of play in COD MWII compared to COD Vanguard which played very fast. MWII is a more tactical-based game that utilizes skill and preparation before taking on your opponents.

“Every COD is different despite the game modes staying relatively consistent. The new game this upcoming season is a much slower-paced game that requires more strategy,” said team member Connor Milne. “This game is completely different from Vanguard. These differences seriously affect how you need to play the game. As a competitive player, you must adapt to the new movement, guns, and maps to understand the pacing of the game.”

As the team continues to adjust to the incredible changes, they have a quick turnaround to competitive play.

The team will be competing in their first-ever in-person tournament for the opening weekend of MWII starting on Friday, Nov. 4 at 10 A.M.

eSports Head Coach Alec Mueller has been excited about this tournament, which can be extremely beneficial for the development of the team.

“With the new Call of Duty title coming out just recently it’s important for our players to get solid practice time to better prepare themselves for competition and stay a step ahead of their opponents,” said Mueller. “We have a 48-team LAN tournament with a $6K prize pool this Friday in Columbus. I’m really excited to have our CoD team out for their first in-person tournament and I can’t wait to see how they perform!”

Alongside Mueller, Milne cannot wait for the tournament.

“I think the team will perform well in the OSU tournament. Each week of this season we have gotten better. The team chemistry is at an all-time high and we are learning how each other plays. I think the more strategic playstyle of Modern Warfare will benefit this team greatly. I am very excited to compete against high competition when everyone’s knowledge of the game is relatively low.”

The Eagles look to Friday, Nov. 4, and Saturday, Nov. 5 for tournament play. If they perform well they play in the championship rounds on Sunday, Nov. 6. Each day begins play at 10 A.M. except Sunday where play starts at 12 P.M.