Gen.G coach defends their controversial CoD substitutions, believes other teams will follow suit
Gen.G coach Joey ‘Nubzy’ DiGiacomo has spoken in depth about the state of substitutions in Call of Duty on the DraftBuff podcast.
Nubzy defended his team’s choices to sub out Jared ‘Nagafen’ Harrell for Michael ‘Spacely’ Schmale, only to bring back Nagafen two weeks later, and boldly claimed that all the other CWL teams will soon follow suit.
The American team faced criticism on July 3 as they announced SpaceLy would be taking Nagafen’s spot just two weeks after making the reverse move. Following this change, Nubzy suggested that it was unfair for the organization was called unprofessional and cynical for doing something no one else had.
Gen.G have been criticized by Call of Duty fans for their approach to substitutions.He said that this was an intended move and that Gen.G are: “The first team to take advantage of this”. “This” being using an active professional player as a substitute.
The discussion followed on from Nubzy’s argument that subs weren’t taken seriously at all in 2019, with multiple teams – such as 100 Thieves and OpTic gaming – using their coaches to fill the sub role. However, Gen.G have taken advantage of this extra position on the roster, using it as a tool for rotating the squad, based on the form of individual players. Much like any traditional sports team would do.
.@JoeyNubzy on the way teams used substitutes in the CWL this year. pic.twitter.com/T2tZThhkEg
— THE COD REAPER | Lion :lion_face: (@vLionMan) July 9, 2019
Nubzy claimed that more teams will follow suit and take advantage of substitutions in the future. “Next year, your favorite professional players are getting swapped out when they have bad series,” he said.
Some fans took this final statement as a hint that the Call of Duty League will follow in the steps Activision’s other franchise league, the OWL, and allow teams to make substitutions mid-series. Poklane on Reddit said: “Pretty interesting little thing he says at the end, he heavily implies that next year you’ll be able to sub players in and out every series.”
However, Nubzy has since confirmed that his statements were not supposed to foreshadow any imminent changes to the rules surrounding substitutions in competitive CoD:
“Just to clear up any confusion, I am not sure at all on how subs will work for next year. What I said at the end was more of an example of subs in every other since work.”
Last updated 12:33 ET, July 10, 2019.