Top 20 Players of MW3: #11 Sib

The #11 player of the Modern Warfare 3 season brought to you by House Bet is the man with all the swag, Daunte “Sib” Gray.

After finding success at times with the Seattle Surge, Sib was one of the most sought-after free agents along with his teammate Amer “Pred” Zulbeari. Both players ended up on the top four teams heading into the year, with the goal of fighting for multiple championships. Daunte would not disappoint, leading the team in damage in two modes while finishing witha 1.05 overall KD on the year. While the team came in 2nd at Champs, they came out victorious at Major 4. Without Sib’s impact on the server, New York would not be able to achieve the success it had.

Season Review

While the New York Subliners won two Majors and Champs during the 2023 season in Modern Warfare 2, they made the play in the offseason to “pack a punch.” They’d bring in Sib to upgrade the flex position in place of Preston “Priestahh” Greiner. With the competition each getting better in the offseason, the pressure was going to be on New York to perform yet again.

📸 Photo by @Subliners

To start the season, the first qualifier would go rather smoothly for the Subliners. They’d finish 6-1 in series, but a 18-11 (62%) map count showed that there were cracks that New York had to work on. These flaws showed themselves during the Major, as the team would drop their opening match against the Minnesota Rokkr 0-3. It would only get worse from there, as they’d lose yet again to the Carolina Royal Ravens 1-3 to be eliminated from the tournament. This meant the team ended Top 12 and earned 0 CDL Points at the opening LAN.

After struggling in respawns during the opening stage, it’d be a major focus for improvement going into Stage 2 for the Subliners. They went 7-8 in Hardpoints & 3-6 in Control during Stage 1, but they would have to perform better if they wished to compete for a title. The second qualifier went much, much more smoothly than the first. New York finished 6-1 again to earn the 2nd seed but had the best map win rate at 74% (20-7). Heading into Major 2, the team would have to prove doubters wrong that were focused on Major 1’s failure. After taking down Boston, though, the team would fall to Atlanta in a heart-breaking game 5. Skyz & Co would quickly rebound, taking down both Carolina & Toronto 3-0 to set up a date with Texas in the Lower Finals. In a highly competitive series, Texas would come out on top, eliminating New York in 3rd. Even though the team wouldn’t reach the finals, the overall performance was a clear improvement for Sib & Co.

📸 Photo by @Spribs_

Even though Sib & Co looked to have put Stage 1 behind them, that form returned during the Major 3 Qualifiers. The team ended with a 3-4 record, good enough for the 5th seed, but had a lackluster map count at 14-13 (52%). There were okay losses to Atlanta (1-3) and Toronto (1-3), but the losses to Carolina (2-3) & Seattle (1-3) hurt. Then, the Major would follow the same path as Major 2. An opening 3-1 win over LAT wasn’t enough to power them by Atlanta, as they’d fall 0-3. After getting a little revenge against Seattle, New York would fall to Texas 3-2 in Lower Round 4 to finish 4th. While the results aren’t bad, they weren’t stacking up to the form they held in the previous season.

Sitting in the 4th seed, the Subliners would need a good haul of points in the last stage if they wished to climb to a better seed. They’d stumble in the first two weeks, going into week 3 with a 2-2 record. In the end, they’d finish with a 4-3 record, securing the 7th seed for the Major. Losses to Las Vegas (0-3) and LAT (2-3) were concerning, but they’d fight through it.

📸 Photo by @Viragophotos

The doubts would creep in quickly at the Major, as a 0-3 loss to Atlanta would send them to the Lower Bracket right off the bat. Much like many of the past Major winners, though, Subliners would begin to string together victories and build confidence. After three straight 3-1 wins over Minnesota, Las Vegas, and LA Thieves, the Subliners would find themselves in Lower Round 4 in a match against the Ultra. On Sunday, New York went to work. They’d take down Ultra 3-0, then do the same to LAG in the Lower Finals. In the Grand Finals, Subliners took control early against Atlanta FaZe. After a couple of maps going back and forth, New York would take Invasion Control to win the tournament. After multiple low points over the season, Sib & Co. would win the final Major and give themselves plenty of momentum going into COD Champs.

With the best eight teams at Champs, New York would have to fight hard if they wished to become the first team to ever win back-to-back Champs. They’d flex the ice early, winning game 5s over Seattle & Atlanta to move into an Upper Bracket Finals match against Texas.

How good was Sib in 2024?

Hardpoint

Sib's best mode of the season was Hardpoint. The Flex AR finished the year with a 1.09 KD in the game mode, second on the team. Daunte added per 10-minute stats of 22.2 kills, 47.6 seconds of hill time, and 4380 damage. He got even better on LAN, ending with a 1.11 KD and 10-minute stats of 23.5 kills, 46.4 seconds of hill time, and 4536 damage. The LAN numbers improved for every slaying metric, showing that he showed up when the chips were on the table.

The Subliners started to slow this season in Hardpoint but ended up turning it around. This season, the Subliners finished with a 47-39 record in the mode, ranking 4th in the CDL. They were 1st in rotation percentage (57%) but ranked 8th in holding (73.9%), showing that the initial setups were an issue that, if fixed, the results would’ve improved. While they struggled in Map 1s (26-25), they did perform better in Map 4s (21-14), showing that map pools & vetoes could’ve been a reason for the struggles. Even in their worst game type, they still ranked 4th in the League.

Search & Destroy

The one weak mode for Sib ended up being Search & Destroy. On maps such as Invasion or Karachi, Sib often played on an island, while the SMGs played highly aggressively. He ended the year with a 0.93 KD in the mode. Daunte also added 0.67 kills per round, 170.4 ADR, and an opening duel win rate of 48.8%. While his damage output was above average, his slaying replicated that. With a great SND team around him, you can’t use his individual numbers against him while the team was 2nd best of the year in SND.

One of the most complete teams in the Call of Duty League, the Subliners were deadly on almost every map in SND. New York ended the season with a 43-28 record in the mode, good for 2nd in the CDL. Known for very clean fundamentals and inspiring creativity, the team that showed the most research into lineups & grenades. Subliners led the League with a 76.2% conversion percentage on opening duel wins. They also were 1st in Post-Plant Win Percentage (74.7%) on the attacking side. With great setups & fundamentals, the Subliners were always a threat in the mode.

Control

Much like Hardpoint, Sib was a key damage dealer on the team. Daunte ended the year with a 1.04 KD in Control, but his per-10-minute stats told a larger story. He finished with 19.8 kills and 4151 damage per 10 minutes played. On the objective front, Sib had 1.7 ticks captured per attacking round, 0.99 KD on the attacking side, and 1.09 on the defending side. Records were also on the table for Sib. Daunte had the 2nd most kills in a Control (44), 2nd & 3rd most Damage in a Control (8,214 & 8,054), and the most non-traded kills in a Control (35).

As a team, Control was good but still had some bumps in the road. Subliners finished with a 30-23 record on the year, ranking 4th in the League. That includes map records of 10-6 on Highrise, 14-11 on Invasion, and 6-6 on Karachi. They were great on attack, having the 3rd best win rate overall (42.2%), but were 1st on Highrise (50%) and 2nd on Invasion (32.1%). Overall, on Highrise, they were also 1st in average life margin (+0.4) and average ticks captured (3.8). Unfortunately, they’re 1-4 record in the final 5 maps showed that it was slightly flawed against the best teams in the League.

A look ahead to Black Ops 6

With the Esports World Cup still on the schedule and Cloud9 officially acquiring the franchise, there are still many questions surrounding the team. Cloud9's owner has already confirmed that the options will be extended, but would a disappointing result at EWC change any plans?

It’s highly doubtful, but the team did make a roster change after winning CoD Champs last season. If any of the other Top 4 teams crash out & make shock changes that put premier players on the market, surely New York would investigate.

But until any further information is provided, the current roster is the one going into Black Ops 6. The current roster is clearly within the top four teams and a threat to win every tournament they enter. As the season progressed, Sib looked like the chemistry was building with the AR duo Skyz. They also have 2023 MVP and 2024 runner-up Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez on the team, giving the squad the firepower to line up with any team in the CDL.

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