Florida Mutineers will keep Prestinni benched ahead of Dallas CDL event
It was unveiled earlier this weekend that Preston "Prestinni" Sanderson might not be competing under Florida Mutineers banner anytime soon after the esports organisation decided to replace him and opted to continue competing in the Call of Duty League with Maurice "Fero" Henriquez instead.
Shortly after finishing second in Atlanta, Mutineers announced Prestinni made the decision not to attend the Los Angeles Home Series event, citing personal reasons as the factor that contributed to his decision. As his replacement, Mutineers fielded an experienced veteran Fero, who helped his team pocket sixth-place finish in Los Angeles Home Series at the start of March.
Some speculate Prestinni decided not to travel to Los Angeles due to the coronavirus outbreak, however, the speculations were not confirmed nor denied. In the weeks that followed, Call of Duty League opted to switch over to an online format amid COVID-19 pandemic, however, Prestinni remained benched, as he was unable to return to his starting role with Mutineers, who instead decided to keep Fero on their main roster.
With the switch from LAN Home Series to online format, Call of Duty League could also see a massive shift in the power rankings, considering some teams are far better online compared to their LAN performances. Mutineers seem to be one of those teams, as they have apparently found their stride while scrimming, where they see a reasonable amount of success, fielding Fero instead of Prestinni.
“Not my decision anymore to be benched. So no that’s not the case,” commented Prestinni on a Reddit post, thus confirmed he will not be taking part in the LA event.
Although the former World Champion at first benched himself, it was revealed that he had no say about returning to the squad ahead of the Dallas event, claiming he was replaced with Fero and that he will remain benched until further notice. Because the league rules prevent CDL substitutes to play in Challengers scene, Prestinni has meanwhile been playing and scrimming "with other teams" in a bid to keep himself busy and sharp, should the opportunity arise for him to return to CDL.
“Before people start coming at me about scrimming with a new team, it’s just a team for fun to pass the time. I’m still playing for Mutineers,” said Prestinni in his Twitter post.
As of today, Mutineers have yet to release an official statement on the matter, however, it all seems like Mutineers will continue fielding Colt "Havok" McLendon, Chance "Maux" Moncivaez, Cesar "Skyz" Bueno, Bradley "Frosty" Bergstrom and Fero as a replacement for Prestinni.
This decision by the Florida Mutineers could also inspire Prestinni to start looking for a new team this, or the next season, which could see him reunite with his twin brother Alec "Arcitys" Sanderson, who is currently competing at the Chicago Huntsman.
We will get to see the new-look Florida Mutineers CoD squad in action at the upcoming Dallas Empire event, which will also be the first 2020 CDL event that will be played online. The event is slated to begin on Saturday, March 28, and conclude a day later, on Sunday, March 29.
Just like any other event up to now, with the exception of the Launch Weekend, the Dallas event will feature eight teams, who will compete in a two double-elimination format (GSL) groups, where best-of-five (Bo5) series will be in place. Top two teams from each group will then advance into the semi-finals as the top seeds, while the group stage runners-up get placed into the lower seed.
Joining Florida Mutineers will be Chicago Huntsmen, Dallas Empire, Los Angeles Guerrillas, Minnesota RØKKR, Paris Legion, Seattle Surge and Toronto Ultra.
Florida Mutineers Call of Duty team is now:
Colt "Havok" McLendon
Chance "Maux" Moncivaez
Cesar "Skyz" Bueno
Bradley "Frosty" Bergstrom
Maurice "Fero" Henriquez
Preston "Prestinni" Sanderson – substitute
Ricky "Atura" Lugo – substitute
Nick "MaNiaC" Kershner – substitute
