Clayster

ClAYSTER COD4 Modern warfare History (2007)

Clayster started playing competitive Call Of Duty in 2007.

Clayster COD Modern Warfare 2 History (2010)

Clayster proved he was a top player by achieving a spot at the 2009 MLG National Championship playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

Clayster COD Black Ops 1 History (2011)

Clayster competed at both MLG Dallas as well as MLG Raleigh playing Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Clayster COD MW3 History (2012)

Clayster competed at the Call of Duty XP tournament on September 3rd, 2011, and finished in 6th place. After that, he had to focus on his academic commitments at West Virginia University.

Clayster COD Black Ops 2 History (2013)

Clayster started competing again during the COD Black Ops 2 season. He played for OpTic Nation, RoughNeX, Thrust, and UNiTE. Clayster was interviewed at UMG Philadelphia on January 4th, 2013 by Luna.

After placing in the top 24 at the 2013 Call of Duty Championship with UNiTE, Clayster joined compLexity. Then, Clayster won the 2013 MLG Spring Championship on June 30th. After that CompLexity became known as the “Impact Killers” and started one of the most memorable dynasties in Call of Duty history. On October 31st, 2013, MLG featured Clayster on their YouTube channel with a player profile.

Clayster COD Ghosts History (2014)

After winning the first event of Call Of Duty: Ghosts, Clayster left CompLexity and he joined Team Kaliber. Then at his first event with Team Kaliber he took 2nd place losing in the grand finals against his old team CompLexity. After that he left the team and joined OpTic gaming. Clayster placed 3rd at the 2014 Call of Duty Championship with OpTic Gaming.

The team placed 8th at UGC Niagara, and were invited to attend the first MLG X Games Invitational. Here, OpTic Gaming performed at a higher level, advancing all the way through their bracket to face off against Team KaLiBeR in the Grand Final. In a Game 5 of Search and Destroy on Sovereign, Clayster secured a 6-4 win in a 1v1 with Goonjar, and cemented his place in history as one of the first Call of Duty Gold Medalist’s.

Following X Games, Clayster and OpTic Gaming were off to MLG Anaheim. They went into this event full of confidence off the back of their 1st place finish at X Games as well as gaining the second seed after finishing second in the MLG League. They fought off all the competition 3-0 until they faced Evil Geniuses (formerly known as compLexity) in the winners final, which they lost 3-0. They won the losers final against TCM 3-0 to face Evil Geniuses in the Grand Final, but crashed out in the second best of 5 in the continuation match. This left them placing a very respectable 2nd.

Clayster and OpTic Gaming then traveled to London to compete at Gfinity 3. Here, along with many other top teams, OpTic Gaming had a poor weekend finishing 5th-8th. Clayster himself performed exceptionally well in the Sovereign Search and Destroy of their knockout match against Epsilon, but they were unable to close the win out, losing the series 3-2.

After Gfinity 3, the team were looking to bounce back at UMG Dallas, but were still unable to replicate their form from X Games and MLG Anaheim. The team placed 4th after losing to OpTic Nation. UMG Nashville was next up and the OpTic Gaming roster was hoping to place well in the tournament. However, that was not the case. They ended the tournament placing 5th-6th.

With the Season 3 Playoffs steadily creeping up on them, OpTic Gaming wanted to make sure that they ended the Ghosts season strongly. They went into the tournament seemingly off their game. It was the last match of the night and OpTic Gaming performed poorly against Denial, losing 2-3. The next day however, OpTic Gaming were rejuvenated, not dropping a single map the entire day against Rise and OpTic Nation. On Championship Sunday, OpTic Gaming were looking to carry the momentum from the previous day into their match with Most Wanted. However, Most Wanted proved they were the better team, beating OpTic Gaming 3-0, eliminating them from the tournament in 4th place at the last event of Ghosts.

Clayster COD Advanced Warfare History (2015)

After the Ghosts Season 3 playoffs, OpTic Gaming announced that they had dropped Clayster and ProoFy. Along with the community generally, Clayster was upset about the decision. However, his departure was dignified, thanking the OpTic organization and the fans for their continuous support throughout his 10 month tenure on the team. With almost every top team offering him a spot on their roster, Clayster made the decision to join EnVy, trading places FormaL who joined OpTic. The decision made his fans, and EnVy fans, very pleased, hoping that the team could potentially be a force within the community.

Surprisingly though, the EnVy squad did not do as well as they would have expected at the first Advanced Warfare event, MLG Columbus, where they ended up placing the top 6. Despite the poor start, EnVy, in only the 2nd week of playing in the league, became the first team to beat the Columbus Champions, FaZe who were yet to lose a league match. EnVy were unable to carry this momentum forward though, and concluded with a 9-12th placing at the UMG Orlando tournament.

Over the coming weeks, EnVy squad had a patchy stage in the League, moving up the leader board until 17th January 2015, when Clayster was traded to Denial, to play alongside JKap for ZooMaa and Saints. Denial proved to be Clayster’s strongest team since his time in Black Ops 2 days with compLexity.

As Clayster recalls in his “RosterMania” recap video on YouTube, it all started when they decided to play some league matches together and convincingly won a number of maps against OpTic, the dominant team at the time. He went on to explain that as the roster continued to play in league matches together, they recognized the immense potential of their roster: Clayster, Attach, Crowder, and JKap.

The team finished the first season of the MLG CoD League in 2nd place, trailing their rivals OpTic Gaming. At the MLG Pro League Season 1 Playoffs, Denial fell first round in the Winners’ Bracket against nV. However, Clay and the team showed great resilience in the losers bracket, defeatin team after team to finally face OpTic in the Finals. They fell to OpTic 3-0, finishing in 2nd. Denial’s run at the NA Regional Finals was similar. They fell to Revenge 3-0 in the second round of Winners, considered one of the biggest upsets in the tournament. Yet again, Clay lead his team through an impressive run in losers bracket, where they also won the rematch against Revenge, defeating them 3-0 this time. They climbed to the Grand Final to face OpTic for the second time, losing 3-0 again. This time however, they kept the series much closer, losing the Hardpoint by only 7 points, taking Search and Destroy to Round 11, and losing 2-point Uplink game.

In 2015, on June 12th, Clayster got the team back together and won 1st place at the MLG Black Ops 2 Throw Back Tournament.

Finally, the time came for the 2015 Call of Duty Championship. The team had a shaky start, as they fell 3-2 to Prophecy who won 3 straight maps, concluding their pool with the 2nd seed. Things began to look even more grim when the Championship Bracket was released, and Denial was pitted to face off against none other than OpTic, in the first round. However, Denial avoided defeat, playing exceptionally and taking the series versus OpTic with a convincing 3-1 map count. After handing OpTic their first loss at a LAN tournament in the past 2 events, Denial gained the confidence to begin a strong performance in the Winner’s Bracket. Bucking their usual trend of falling early in the tournament, they continued their run with a 3-0 over Team Kaliber and a 3-1 against Automatic Reload, earning a spot in the Winner’s Bracket Finals to face Revenge. Clayster and the team won this match 3-2, before defeating Revenge again in the Grand Finals by the same scoreline. Denial were crowned champions, winning Clayster his first Championship ring, $100,000.00, and the MVP award.

Clayster COD Black Ops 3 History (2016)

Clayster and his team were invited to the Totino’s Invitational, a single elimination tournament taking place a week and a half after COD Black Ops 3’s release. He finished with in the top 8. Next, Clayster was invited to the qualifier tournament for the 1st stage of the 2016 Call of Duty World League. He placed in group A and won both matches against Happy Hour and CompLexity. This granted him a spot in the upcoming 1st stage of the Call of Duty World League.

Clayster attended UMG South Carolina 2016, where FaZe fell victim to the single elimination Game 7, losing to a determined Team Liquid in the quarterfinals, giving Clayster another disappointing finish. The team completed Stage 1 with a 15-7 record, securing the #3 seed for the Stage 1 Playoffs. In the first round, they came up against compLexity yet again, sweeping them 4-0. However, FaZe’s victory was short lived, after their match up against a strong Rise Nation, where they lost 4-0, placing in the top 4.

The team then traveled to Paris to compete at ESWC 2016. They finished the group stage with a flawless record, sweeping PuLse Gaming and Exertus Esports for a spot in the playoffs. However, as they had experienced numerously already throughout the season, they fell short in the first round, losing 0-3 against an strong Splyce roster, placing in the top 8.

At MLG Anaheim Open 2016, FaZe exited pool play with a disappointing 1-2 record, sending them to the losers bracket, where they began an almost legendary losers bracket run. First defeating Echo Fox 3-1, then pulling off the reverse sweep against two of the best EU teams at the time, Splyce and Infused. The outlook was positive for FaZe, but they lost 3-1 to Rise for a 4th place finish.

FaZe completed the controversial Stage 2 with a 13-9 record, securing the third seed to face Dream Team at the Stage 2 Playoffs. However, FaZe lost to the Dream Team in Game 7, for another top 8 finish.

At MLG Orlando Open 2016, FaZe finished pool play with another flawless 3-0 record. However, they were beaten into the losers bracket, where they progressed until facing the in form Team EnVy.

The FaZe Clan qualified for the 2016 Call of Duty World League Championship – the biggest tournament ever played in Call of Duty at that time. Clayster and the team performed excellently in pool play, not dropping a single map going into the winners bracket. Their performances continued in bracket play, defeating Team Infused 3-0 in the first round. The team had high expectations going into Day 3, however they were sent into the losers bracket, by eventual winners Team EnVy.

FaZe came up against Millenium, with MiRx in place of Swanny, as the latter was unable to attend the event. FaZe won the series 3-1, to set up a match against Splyce once more. The match went to an intense Game 5 Search and Destroy, which FaZe lost 6-2, after less than satisfactory performances from Enable (3-8) and Clayster himself (4-5). FaZe finished the championship event in the top 8, netting them $50,000 in prize money.

Clayster COD Infinite Warfare History (2017)

FaZe started the Infinite Warfare season well, winning the PlayStation Experience Invitational. This event was not attended by many of the top North American team’s however, such as OpTic on 2016 champs EnVy. Regardless, Clayster and his teammates had shown they were comfortable with the new Call of Duty title, and their outlook for the season looked bright.

At the first major event of the year, CWL Las Vegas, the team performed well again, beating OpTic and Splyce 3-1, to reach the the semi-final against Rise Nation. FaZe lost the match 3-1, placing them in losers bracket. They defeated Allegiance 3-1, before ultimately falling to Cloud 9 3-2 in a close match, placing FaZe 3rd at the event.

FaZe performed worse at the next event, CWL Atlanta, only managing a 5-6th finish, after losing to OpTic Gaming for the first time in an elimination match at a LAN event since Advanced Warfare.

The team did better at CWL Paris, reaching the final where they again faced OpTic. The match got off to a false start, with technical issues forcing a stop to the first Hardpoint, while FaZe were up 42-13. However after the restart, OpTic won the match with a convincing 3-0 scoreline, consigning FaZe to 2nd place.

Clayster COD WW2 History (2018)

Clayster competed for EUnited Gaming  during the Call of Duty World War 2 esports season. He took 4th place at the 2018 CWL Championship on August 19th.

Clayster COD Black Ops 4 History (2019)

Clayster went 1400 days without a major win and this became a meme in the community. While with eUnited he won a double set, best of 5 series in the 2019 CWL Pro League Finals to end the drought and win the 2019 Call of Duty World League Championship.

Clayster COD Modern Warfare History (2020)

On October 14th, 2019, Clayster announced on Twitter that he was joining the Dallas Empire for the inaugural year of the Call of Duty League. He finished in the top twelve during the Launch Weekend tournament on January 24th, 2020. Next on February 9th, 2020, he took second place at the London Home Series tournament earning $6,000.

Then on March 8th, 2020, Clayster won the Los Angeles Home Series tournament, his first major Championship of the year, and $10,000. Next on April 12th, he finished in the top four at the Dallas Home Series tournament earning himself $2,000.

Two weeks later on April 26th, Clayster won his 2nd major Championship title of the season and $10,000 by winning the Chicago Home Series tournament. Later, on June 14th, he finished in the top four at the Minnesota Home Series tournament earning $2000. One week later, on June 21st, he finished in the top four teams again at the Paris Home Series earning another $2,000.

A month later on July 19th, Clayster won the London Home Series, his 3rd major Championship title of the year, and $10,000. Then for the final regular season tournament of the year he finished in the top four at the Toronto Home Series earning $2,000.

Then on August 30th, 2020, Clayster won the 2020 COD League World Championship earning himself his 3rd World Championship ring, 4th major championship title for the year, and $300,000. This ties him with Crimsix and Karma for the most Call of Duty World Championships at three each.

Clayster Warzone History (2020)

Clayster competed in a few different Warzone tournaments.

Clayster COD Black Ops Cold War History (2021)

Clayster was released from the Dallas Empire on September 1st, 2020. The owner of the organization, Hastr0, confirmed on Twitter that he was happy to sign Clayster to an extended multi year contract but the COD League forced roster reduction size to 4 players for the 2021 esports season.