Censor joins Triumph Gaming as team becomes NYSL’s Challengers team

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A top Call of Duty League’s Challengers organization, Triumph Gaming, have officially become the New York Subliners’ Academy Team and signed Doug ‘Censor’ Martin, who finally gets his chance to play after being a substitute all year.

For months, Censor has decried a CDL system that prohibits substitute players from official playing opportunities lest their teams have an affiliated Challengers squad.

Those issues appear resolved as the Subliners and Triumph have announced an affiliation, thereby satisfying the contract and Challengers ruleset stipulations that precluded Censor’s chance to compete.

Censor replaces David ‘Davpadie’ Maslowski in the lineup, joining fellow CoD veterans FeLo, Nagafen, Royalty, and Standy just ahead of their tournament action this weekend.

TRIUMPH GAMING CHALLENGERS ROSTER

• Tyler ‘FeLo‘ Johnson
• Jared ‘Nagafen‘ Harrell
• Mathew ‘Royalty‘ Faithfull
• Eli ‘Standy‘ Bentz
• Doug ‘Censor‘ Martin

While it’s unclear exactly how the meta will shift, given recent gun adjustments and GA’s, Censor is joining one of the strongest teams in Challengers so it will be interesting to find out what role coach Steve ‘Mochila’ Canle gives to his new player.

• Read more: Atlanta FaZe “blacklisted” from CDL scrims over new GA rules

In his reaction video, Censor was absolutely ecstatic about his chance and committed to proving his doubters wrong.

“This is a huge opportunity for me personally and I can’t be more grateful than I actually am,” he said. “This is truly just a dream come true to me … It’s time to get to work, let’s get it.”

 

The source of Censor’s issues with the CDL stemmed from an inability to compete in Challengers as a substitute for a team without a true Challengers affiliation. Per the CDL’s official amateur ruleset, “players may negotiate the right for the CDL Team to designate the player as eligible to compete in Challengers on an affiliated Challengers Team or Academy Team.”

Since the Subliners lacked such an affiliation, there was no simply way for the veteran to participate in the amateur circuit without breaching his contract. This new partnership with Triumph solves that predicament, allowing one of CoD’s storied players to get back into tournament play.

• Read more: Call of Duty League Playoffs move online with “new integrity measures“

As for why he had yet to play in official CDL matches for the Subliners, many have speculated that New York’s roster was too stacked and that his level of play and preferred style didn’t quite match the lineup’s most impressive addition thus far: Makenzie ‘Mack’ Kelley.

Now that speculation has followed him over to Triumph, thanks to multiple seven-kill duds he recently put up in scrims against the Chicago Huntsmen, including one where he had 27 deaths.

It’s hard to judge a player exclusively by their performance with a brand-new team and against one of the CDL’s strongest rosters. So, while the “C7” memes may be popular now, it’d be unfair not to expect improvement from Triumph—especially against Challengers competition.

Until proven otherwise, this is an intriguing, winning situation for all parties involved. The CoD semi-pro scene gains popularity, the CDL and Subliners get to provide more opportunities for bench talent, and Censor finally gets his shot at competitive Call of Duty action.