Scump & FormaL claim this amateur squad would beat CDL pro teams

Jacob Hale
scump and formal on optic chicago podcast

Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper are arguably two of the biggest names in Call of Duty history, and they’ve now explained why they think the WestR Challengers team could seriously compete in the CDL.

WestR — formerly of Atlanta FaZe Academy — consists of Thomas ‘GRVTY’ Malin, Paul ‘PaulEhx’ Avila, Carlos ‘Venom’ Hernandez and Alex ‘Zaptius’ Bonilla.

After being a dominant force during the 2020 Challengers season, they’ve carried their momentum into 2021 and have won the first four Challenger cups of the season, making short work of much of the competition.

While you might expect most teams’ good fortunes to eventually run out, but Scump and FormaL actually think differently, saying they believe WestR will dominate all season — and could go much further.

Atlanta FaZe academy squad CDL 2020
The former Atlanta FaZe Academy side, currently dominating Challengers as WestR, would likely love the chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage.

During the January 20 episode of the OpTic Podcast, the group was discussing how New York Subliners can prepare for their season without ZooMaa following his injury-provoked retirement, when the topic of top amateurs came up.

While they agreed that WestR are a really good team, FormaL said that how Challengers teams work is bound to keep WestR on top. He said: “The other teams that aren’t winning the cup, they’re just swapping players. Every week they’re just beating up on new rosters over and over again.”

Scump agreed with FormaL’s sentiment, but did also reiterate that they’re a very good team, while reminding everyone that there are only very few players who come up from Challengers each year and make a big impact.

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The gas didn’t stop there, though, as they went on to explain that they think they would be pretty successful in the Call of Duty League, too.

FormaL said: “If WestR came up together and got put in the pro league, they’d be a good team.” Scump agreed, adding that he would expect them to be a “top 6 to top 8” team.

While this is a big co-sign from some legends of the game, the team certainly look set up for success, and some even argue that they should have been signed by Paris Legion in the CDL. Needless to say, when they do make it into the league, they’re going to want to make an impact.

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About The Author

Jacob is Dexerto’s UK Editor and Call of Duty esports specialist. With a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing, he previously worked as an Editor at Ginx TV. Jacob was nominated for Journalist of the Year at the 2023 Esports Awards. Contact: jacob.hale@dexerto.com.