SMG Player of the Year Pyramid | 1.8.26

With the 2026 Call of Duty League season officially underway, it’s time for the second edition of the SMG Player Pyramid. After opening matches and early results, the picture has started to take shape, but voters haven't overreacted just yet. As always, players are ranked by recent performance, team results, and overall impact within series; a system we’ll continue to update throughout all four CDL stages into Champs & EWC.

This second SMG Pyramid builds on preseason expectations while factoring in what we’ve already seen on the map & the opening two weekends of play. From relentless entry subs setting the tempo to selfless SMGs doing the dirty work around the objective, here’s where the league’s top SMG players stand going into week three!

The Ladder (Not Left to Right, just Tiers)

Tier 1

Chris "Simp" Lehr - FaZe Vegas

Previous Tier: Tier 3 (Up 2 Tiers)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 6-7 Map Count (46%), 6th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 3:00 pm EST vs OpTic Texas

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.27 (1st)
Slayer Rating: 98.2 (3rd)
aKD: 1.31 (1st)
TES Rating: 61.5% (1st)
NTK Pct: 71.8% (1st)

Tier 2

Joseph "JoeDeceives" Romero - Toronto KOI

Previous Tier: Tier 2 (Up 1 Tier)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 8-5 Map Count (62%), 3rd Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 11th at 6:00 pm EST vs LA Thieves

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.15 (2nd)
Slayer Rating: 96.6 (4th)
aKD: 1.15 (3rd)
TES Rating: 61.4% (2nd)
NTK Pct: 64.2% (21st)

📸 Photo by @Spribs_

Travis "Neptune" McCloud - Paris Gentle Mates

Previous Tier: Tier 2 (Unchanged)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 8-3 Map Count (73%), 2nd Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 6:00 pm EST vs Cloud9 New York

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.10 (5th)
Slayer Rating: 96.4 (5th)
aKD: 1.04 (9th)
TES Rating: 60.3% (3rd)
NTK Pct: 66.3% (14th)

Tier 3

Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro - OpTic Texas

Previous Tier: Tier 2 (Down 1 Tier)
Team Record: 3-0 Record (100%), 9-3 Map Count (75%), 1st Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 3:00 pm EST vs FaZe Vegas

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 0.99 (9th)
Slayer Rating: 86.2 (13th)
aKD: 1.08 (6th)
TES Rating: 56.3% (15th)
NTK Pct: 68.5% (10th)

📸 Photo by @Spribs_

Cuyler "Huke" Garland - OpTic Texas

Previous Tier: Tier 1 (Down 2 Tiers)
Team Record: 3-0 Record (100%), 9-3 Map Count (75%), 1st Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 3:00 pm EST vs FaZe Vegas

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 0.88 (22nd)
Slayer Rating: 74.0 (23rd)
aKD: 0.85 (19th)
TES Rating: 55.4% (18th)
NTK Pct: 68.9% (8th)

Dylan "Envoy" Hannon - Paris Gentle Mates

Previous Tier: Tier 4 (Up 1 Tier)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 8-3 Map Count (73%), 2nd Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 6:00 pm EST vs Cloud9 New York

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 0.92 (18th)
Slayer Rating: 85.7 (16th)
aKD: 0.84 (20th)
TES Rating: 57.6% (9th)
NTK Pct: 65.8% (17th)

Tier 4

Kyle "Kremp" Haworth - G2 Minnesota

Previous Tier: Tier 4 (Unchanged)
Team Record: 1-2 Record (33%), 6-8 Map Count (43%), 10th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 9th at 3:00 pm EST vs Riyadh Falcons

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.04 (8th)
Slayer Rating: 99.9 (1st)
aKD: 1.15 (4th)
TES Rating: 58.2% (7th)
NTK Pct: 65.3% (19th)

Tyler "aBeZy" Pharris - LA Thieves

Previous Tier: Tier 4 (Unchanged)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 6-4 Map Count (60%), 4th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 11th at 6:00 pm EST vs Toronto KOI

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 0.98 (11th)
Slayer Rating: 82.4 (18th)
aKD: 1.01 (10th)
TES Rating: 57.0% (10th)
NTK Pct: 69.9% (3rd)

📸 Photo by @LAThieves

Paco "HyDra" Rusiewiez - LA Thieves

Previous Tier: Tier 3 (Down 1 Tier)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 6-4 Map Count (60%), 4th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 11th at 6:00 pm EST vs Toronto KOI

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 0.94 (16th)
Slayer Rating: 86.0 (15th)
aKD: 1.04 (8th)
TES Rating: 54.6% (21st)
NTK Pct: 58.9% (24th)

Jovan "O4" Rodriguez - FaZe Vegas

Previous Tier: Tier 5 (Up 1 Tier)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 6-7 Map Count (46%), 6th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 3:00 pm EST vs OpTic Texas

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 0.98 (12th)
Slayer Rating: 88.5 (10th)
aKD: 0.99 (12th)
TES Rating: 56.4% (14th)
NTK Pct: 65.6% (18th)

Tier 5

Eric "Snoopy" Pérez - Boston Breach

Previous Tier: Tier 4 (Down 1 Tier)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 7-6 Map Count (54%), 5th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 4:30 pm EST vs Vancouver Surge

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.15 (3rd)
Slayer Rating: 99.7 (2nd)
aKD: 1.20 (2nd)
TES Rating: 60.1% (4th)
NTK Pct: 66.3% (15th)

José "ReeaL" Castilla - Toronto KOI

Previous Tier: Tier 5 (Unchanged)
Team Record: 2-1 Record (67%), 8-5 Map Count (62%), 3rd Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 11th at 6:00 pm EST vs LA Thieves

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.11 (4th)
Slayer Rating: 90.6 (6th)
aKD: 1.08 (7th)
TES Rating: 59.7% (5th)
NTK Pct: 69.8% (5th)

📸 Photo by @TorontoKOI

Marcus "Afro" Reid - Cloud9 New York

Previous Tier: Unranked (New!)
Team Record: 1-2 Record (33%), 7-6 Map Count (54%), 8th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 10th at 6:00 pm EST vs Paris Gentle Mates

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.08 (6th)
Slayer Rating: 87.2 (12th)
aKD: 0.97 (14th)
TES Rating: 57.6% (8th)
NTK Pct: 70.2% (2nd)

Justice "Estreal" McMillan - G2 Minnesota

Previous Tier: Tier 5 (Unchanged)
Team Record: 1-2 Record (33%), 6-8 Map Count (43%), 10th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 9th at 3:00 pm EST vs Riyadh Falcons

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 0.99 (10th)
Slayer Rating: 90.0 (9th)
aKD: 0.95 (15th)
TES Rating: 56.8% (12th)
NTK Pct: 66.0% (16th)

Amer "Pred" Zulbeari - Riyadh Falcons

Previous Tier: Tier 5 (Unchanged)
Team Record: 2-2 Record (50%), 7-7 Map Count (50%), 7th Seed in Stage I
Next Match: January 9th at 3:00 pm EST vs G2 Minnesota

Overall Stats (Active SMG Ranks)
KD: 1.06 (7th)
Slayer Rating: 90.3 (8th)
aKD: 1.14 (5th)
TES Rating: 59.4% (6th)
NTK Pct: 68.6% (9th)