Best Call of Duty Players of All Time

Many people built their professional eSports careers on Call of Duty, and it was one of the first games to place eSports into the mainstream. All of this can mainly be attributed to Call of Duty and its success. Today we want to commemorate all of the best Call of Duty players by making a list that showcases each player and their Call of Duty career.

Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow

A lot could be said about Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow. He was the jewel of the original OpTic Gaming team, and spent five years of his ten-year career devoted to them. He played with some of the biggest teams, and has a whopping twenty-four significant wins to his name, with three of those being world championship victories.

To put it into perspective, COD champs tournaments are the most important Call of Duty championships, and having three cod champs titles is nothing short of iconic. The amount of teams he competed with also plays a huge factor when it comes to his championship success. He was very fortunate to have met and played with some of the best players in the world at the time, and we doubt that he would have seen the same amount of success with other lineups.

His performance was amazing, to say the least, and he made a huge name for himself - one that will continue to echo throughout the Call of Duty eSports scene for years to come. Experience and skill like his don’t appear often, and people wonder if his retirement came a bit too early. At the end of the day, his career’s success contributed a lot of growth to Call of Duty as we know it.

Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper

FormaL built his career from the ground up. He entered the competitive scene in 2013, but his rise to fame wouldn’t start immediately. He started by playing for smaller organizations, and eventually worked his way up to a spot on the OpTic Gaming team. He went on to secure a world championship for Optic in 2017, and proved himself as a serious force to be reckoned with.

Other players dreaded playing against him. His skill with an AR could rarely be matched, and his fragging capabilities are what largely set him apart from other players. OpTic Gaming simply knew how to utilize his inner beast, and it worked in their favor many times. He was also a favorite pick in nearly every Call of Duty league championship, which further contributed to his overall success and status.

Formal unfortunately retired from competitive Call of Duty in 2021 to pursue a career in Halo eSports. This doesn’t come as a surprise given his prior experience in Halo’s competitive scene before he started playing Call of Duty.

Tyler ‘TeePee’ Polchow

TeePee is a name that not many players remember. TeePee started playing Call of Duty competitively in 2010, and he managed to make a name for himself quite early on. He competed until 2016, which does make for a pretty short career.

Competing with teams like compLexity, OpTic Gaming, and EnVyUs allowed him to broaden his horizons and show everyone what he’s truly made of. Although short, his six-year reign was eventful enough. His legendary performance netted him a world championship win, and up to sixteen other significant career wins.

Retiring in 2016 wasn’t exactly the end of his career, as he later went on to help OpTic Gaming as a coach and substitute player. The most notable career path that he took post-retirement was becoming a CWL analyst during the Call of Duty World League Era.

Seth ‘Scump’ Abner

A list like this would not be complete without Scump; one of the best and most popular professional Call of Duty players in the world. Scump started competing seriously when he joined OpTic Gaming in 2011. Thirty-one major wins and only one champs title, Scump is still determined to continue his flourishing career. Although he did join other teams, most of his career was spent and is currently being spent playing for OpTic Gaming.

What made him unique was the following that he managed to build on youtube prior to his colossal success in eSports. His youtube channel went viral on the Call of Duty youtube scene because of how he would dominate public lobbies in Black Ops 2, and people stayed not only for his skill, but also for his likable personality.

He was one of the most influential Call of Duty YouTubers from 2013-15, and his exposure is what got more and more people into competitive Call of Duty. He was absolutely unstoppable at a certain point in his career, and many were astonished at the fact that such a young player was single-handedly creating Call of Duty history.

Reports estimate that he made over one million dollars in prize pool money alone. This doesn’t include sponsorship deals and other sources of income, so we can only imagine how fruitful his labor actually was. Surprisingly, Scump is still competing and even creating content for his 2.3 million subscribers. From what we gather, he shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter

Crimsix/C6 is a figure that truly exceeded everyone’s expectations. He’s been a world champion since many can remember, and has racked up more significant wins (thirty-eight) than any other player in the history of competitive Call of Duty.

Alongside Karma, C6 is also one of the only people to have three world championship wins. As for pure skill and performance, C6 could realistically only be matched by someone like Scump.

Similar to FormaL, C6 first started playing competitively in Halo, and then later transitioned into Call of Duty during Black Ops 2. This didn’t really matter as much, C6 fit right in and went on to join teams like Dallas Empire, OpTic Gaming, and most notably: compLexity. Many players viewed him as an anti-hero figure during his time in compLexity, and this was mainly because of their "rivalry" with OpTic Gaming at the time.

Immense pressure followed C6 throughout his career, yet he never faltered; going on to defy all odds through sheer dominance. Amassing over 1.3 million dollars in prize money, C6 went on to become the highest-earning Call of Duty player in the world. He had an unstoppable ten-year run, and he announced his retirement a couple of days ago. The idea has been thrown around, and he stated that he’s seriously considering it.

Nonetheless, no one really faults him for retiring. He’s built a solid presence on the internet, has more money than one will ever need, and proved to himself that he’s the best Call of Duty player in the world. Such talent can’t be replicated, and it’ll be long before we see someone as good as him in the Call of Duty eSports scene.

There’s not much else to say. If you’ve enjoyed this list, make sure to consider checking out some of our other articles like the best Call of Duty YouTubers and Streamers ever.