KCP Chronicles: Kansas City Pioneers Return to Call of Duty for Black Ops 6 Season

KCP Chronicles: KCPods Compete in Last Chance Qualifiers but Fall Short of Champs Dream.

Written by Trey Donovan

On November 11, 2024, the Kansas City Pioneers returned to the Call of Duty scene, acquiring the roster of Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson, Eli “Standy” Bentz, Giancarlos “oJohnny” Carrasco, Dillon “Wrecks” Slotter, and coach Ian “Jiren” Shalk. This marks a three-year hiatus from the last time KCP was in the COD scene. With this return to the scene let’s go over this squad in depth.

Starting with one of the most iconic players in the CDL, Arcitys was coming off a Challengers Championship in Modern Warfare III and is a 2-time CDL World Champ with FaZe in Cold War and eUnited in Black Ops 4. Arcitys brings energy and is known for trash-talking, but he backs it up as a talented AR (assault rifle) player. He will lead this squad of young guns looking to repeat as Challengers Champs heading into the year as the fourth seed in NA and sixth Globally.

He started last season on the Seattle Surge, but with inconsistent performances from the team, he was dropped. That is when Lore Gaming picked him up, and Arcitys started running through Challengers squads with a Kill/Death (KD) ratio of 1.06 and a search and destroy KD of 1.36. With another Treyarch title this year, Arcitys looks to dominate again. Let’s get into one of the young guns he will be leading.

Standy has had a sporadic career so far, with a great rookie year in Cold War. He was one of the best rookies that season and helped power the Minnesota Rokkr to a Champs spot. He would see some inconsistent play in Vanguard before a solid year in MWII. For the MWIII season, he would start with the Las Vegas Legion as an SMG player but didn’t have a strong start before getting dropped. Standy would get picked up by Rokkr again and looked good at times. He would break the CDL kill record in SnD with 14 and showed his flashes throughout the year

He would end last season with an overall KD of 0.92, which is a little below the league average. However, he would put together a great year in SnD with a KD of 1.55 and great performances on LAN. He will be one of the sparkplugs for this squad, as he is a talented player who has the potential to make some noise in the CDL. Next up, we have a similar player to Standy, in both journey and talent.

Never having a full year in the CDL, oJohnny is looking to build up another chance to get to the big leagues this season. The MWIII season would be his longest time in the CDL, and he showed some prowess for a 21-year-old flex player. He would be playing for the Las Vegas Legion and showed sparks of potential, but like the Legion, he would be inconsistent. He would have a KD of 0.94 on the year, but he would finish the year on a good note with a solid showing in the Major 4 Qualifiers and Major 4. He would also show some good SnD prowess in MWIII, like Standy. The story is just starting for oJohnny’s career. Next up is a player who has slayed out in respawns in the Challengers League for a couple of years.

Last up we have Wrecks, who had a great season in MWIII with FaZe Black. He is the only one on the team with no CDL experience, as he was playing College COD in MWII at Fisher College and in Challengers as well. Throughout his career, he has been the respawn reaper at the AR role. In MWIII, he had an overall KD of 1.09, but he is way more inconsistent at SnD from a KD perspective. He would post a KD of 1.04 which is great, but he was either taking over maps or struggling to get on the board from stage to stage. He would also play in the Esports World Cup under team Stallions and showed some prowess by sweeping Team Heretics

Overall, this looks to be a team that is hungry to put together a great year and with the talent and potential on the roster, this will be a scary team to face in the Challengers League. With that they will be in action on November 23 as they will play in the first Challengers Cup. Best of luck to the squad as they start the year. #KCPCOD.