TCM Gaming was one of the biggest wild cards of Season Two of the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Pro League. Back in March, no one knew what to expect when it was announced that GunShy, ShAnE, Jurd and Moose would be moving over to the United States, but over the next ten weeks, proved they were able to compete with the best, with a spot to compete in the X Games just within their grasps.
Before that was all said and done, however, GunShy announced that Gfinity’s Spring Masters I event would be his last event, meaning TCM would need to find someone to fill his very large shoes to finish the season. They didn’t have to look far to find their new fourth.
Dylan “MadCat” Daly is a new name to Major League Gaming’s Pro League, but novice is the last word you’d use to describe this slayer from the United Kingdom. His first taste of competitive Call of Duty came during Call of Duty: 4, playing Gamebattles with a school team, and got his first LAN experience going to ECL 3 in the Summer of 2011.
His major introduction to the competitive scene was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops at EGL 4, where he won EGL’s Breakthrough Player Award after a sixth place finish with Imperial. When the game switched to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, he would return to EGL 5 with a new team, Western Wolves, where they would finish second only to the future OpTic Gaming roster. Western Wolves would become SK Gaming a few months later in time for EGL 7, where they would again finish second. It wouldn’t be until EGL 8, playing under the banner of TCM Gaming for the first time in his career that he would finally bring home first place.
MadCat would play under TCM Gaming for the first big European event of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 season, Insomnia 47, where he would help his team bring home third place. From there, he would play two events with Cloud 9, taking home a third place finish at Insomnia 47 and a second place finish at EGL 9 before finding a home with Epsilon eSports, and current teammates Jurd and ShAnE. They would take home first place finishes at SkyLAN, FCO (French Cup Organization) 2, and DreamHack Valencia, and a second place finish at EGL 11, and a third place finish to close out the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 season at ESWC (eSports World Cup).
After beginning the Call of Duty: Ghosts season with a disappointing ninth place finish at the MLG Fall Championship, redemption came in the form of a first place finish at the Call of Duty European Championship, teaming up under TCM Gaming once again with Moose, GunShy, and MarkyB. At the 2014 Call of Duty: Champoinships, the squad would finish 9th-12th, along with Epsilon and fellow European team Vitality.Rises. MadCat would go on to fill in for Apathy on Team Kaliber during UGC Niagara 2014, helping them to a seventh place finish, and would close out the Ghosts season with Epsilon at ESWC, finishing in sixth with the squad.
At the beginning of the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare season, MadCat would help Epsilon secure first place finishes at Insomnia 53 and the Call of Duty European Championship. Though Epsilon would have a tough run and wouldn’t break out of Pool Play at the 2015 Call of Duty: Championships, they didn’t let that stop them as they won the first Gfinity Open, and took first at Anicend 1. They would see identical finishes at their last two events as a roster, finishing 5th-8th at both ESWC, and the inaugural Gfinity Spring Masters I event.
After acquiring MadCat, TCM Gaming would only drop four matches during the last two weeks of Season Two, a good enough performance to attain them the fifth seed going into the Championship at the X Games. They’ve got a tough road once at the X Games, however, as that seed almost certainly guarantees an early match against the dominant squad of OpTic Gaming.
But hey, if you’re looking to bet on a dark horse, Jurd, MadCat, Moose and ShAnE would sure fit the bill.
As we ramp up to the X Games, be sure to follow OpTic Intel on Twitter, as we’ll have more player profiles and special features, map-by-map updates, and our nightly recaps!