Introduction

The Call of Duty World Championships 2014 was without a doubt the biggest Call of Duty event this year. 32 of the world's best teams were competing for the huge prize pool of $1.000.000. After long weeks of qualification our SK Gaming CoD team managed to qualify for the tournament in sunny Hollywood.

The annual World Championships is not only a big event within the CoD scene but can even make it in famous newspapers like the Guardian or the German "Bild". With several thousands of spectators, these Championships outdo themselves every time and break all records. This year the championship was streamed for the first time in full cooperation with MLG.tv. Due to this the whole concept could be more professional and was indistinguishable from a perfect television transmission.

Team Manager Daniel "ShoX" Berger traveled with the team and despite all the action around him he has made quite a few videos, interviews and photos for you. All video and interview footage can be found in the video section of the SK Gaming's main page. On the other hand dozen of photos can be found in our Facebook gallery (Day 1/Day 2). Make sure to check them out!


SK's performance at the CoD World Championship 2014

SK Gaming vs. Aztek Gaming

It's Friday the 28th of March, 5 pm CET as SK Gaming is about to kick off their first group match against the Mexican professionals from Aztek Gaming. From the outset it was clear that this match had to be won, because the next two games against FaZe and Trident T1 Dotters were assessed as significantly more difficult. Also they didn't want to disappoint their fans in Europe, who were supporting the team diligently using the hashtag #SKArmy on Twitter and showing that they were totally excited for the upcoming matches.

As it was expected, SK would win the match against the Mexicans with a sovereign score of 3-0. Thus the team was able to proceed highly motivated for the upcoming encounters after the quality of their performance was a little uncertain since there recently was a substitution in the team. Nevertheless, the boys were able to prove themselves and show that the preparation for the event was definitely worthwhile.

FaZe vs. SK Gaming

After this phenomenal victory, Aztek Gaming was followed by one of the 6 best American Call of Duty teams in the form of FaZe. Not only that this team is one of USA's best CoD teams representing their country at the Call of Duty World Championships 2014, but they also consist of players like Jordan 'ProoF' Cannon and Jordan 'JKap' Kaplan who were two former members of EnVyUS and crowd favourite Optic Gaming, also getting called "The Green Wall" by their fanbase.


SK Gaming playing against FaZe on the CoD Champs mainstage.

Everyone was definitely expecting FaZe to win this fight on a sovereign 3-0 or 3-1 score. But things turned out quite differently: After a esch swaged defeat of the Germans in the first round on Domination, it was the time for a great comeback.

With Kevin 'Kivi' Fiala at the top of the Score Sheet the German quartet managed to win the second round. The following Blitz map will go down in the history books as it was tied at 16-16 in the last 30 seconds. FaZe were trying desperately to get the crucial point as Michael 'QuiCky' Bühler had circulated the opposing team and took the lead for SK Gaming. 20 seconds on the clock and FaZe threw everything into the last offensive. SK finally managed to win this round with a narrow margin, making the decisive kills in the last seconds and thus to go 2-1 in the lead against the favorites. None of the spectators could sit still at this sight and not join the team cheering after this round. Even in front of the PC monitor, this was an incredible feeling and you just had to rejoice. Unfortunately the boys lost the subsequent Domination round against the Americans and had thus to go in the decisive fifth round against one of America's best teams.

Although our team started the match with a very well deserved lead, it went to finish off through the incredible experience of those Call of Duty veterans from America to let FaZe win the breathtaking last round against SK Gaming. Final score 3-2 in favour of FaZe.

Watch the final map of SK Gaming playing against FaZe right here on YouTube and enjoy the action!

Trident T1 Dotters vs. SK Gaming

Due to the defeat in the second of the three group matches, the one against the Australian Call of Duty Champions Trident T1 Dotters had to be won. Of course the pressure was correspondingly high. A defeat would mean the departure from the current tournament and the chance of the $1.000.000 prize money dissolving in the air.

At about 2am CET the match was about to go underway. With a similar power, as they have shown to FaZe, everything came down to the decisive fifth round. With the score tied at 2-2 the last Search and Destroy map decided who will proceed in the tournament and which team can go its way and enjoy some free time in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, SK Gaming could not muster the strength to defeat the Australians and was defeated in a likewise very exciting round.


Conclusion

Even if SK Gaming has not managed to get out of the group phase, at first sight the result looks worse than it actually is. With a very tight match against the American professionals of FaZe SK Gaming proved they should not be underestimated. Ultimately, the team was able to draw from these results a lot of courage for the upcoming tournaments like Gfinity 3, Reflex GT 12 or an eventual attendance at Insomnia 51.

Final placements at the Call of Duty $1.000.000 World Championship 2014: