Clayster

Modern Warfare 2
Clayster started playing competitive Call Of Duty in 2007. In 2009, during the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 era, Clayster proved he was a top player by achieving a spot at the MLG National Championship 2009. In 2010, during the Black Ops season, he competed at both MLG Dallas as well as MLG Raleigh. Due to his academic commitments at West Virginia University, Clayster took a while off of competitive gaming to fully focus on his education. In 2012 Clayster started playing competitive gaming again during Black Ops 2 and he experienced almost unbelievable success.

Black Ops II
During Black Ops 2 Clayster played for OpTic Nation, RoughNeX, Thrust, and UNiTE. After placing top 24 at the 2013 Call of Duty Championship with UNiTE, Clayster would get his biggest opportunity yet; the chance to join compLexity. Clay joined a line-up of ACHES, TeePee, and Crimsix going into the MLG Spring Championship, and the team went all the way to the Grand Finals to then face the juggernaut team, Fariko Impact. Here, compLexity became the "Impact Killers" and started one of the most dominant dynasties in Call of Duty history. During his time as a member of compLexity, he and his teammates experienced incredible success, winning seven of the final eight events of the Black Ops 2 season.

Ghosts
After winning the first event of Call Of Duty: Ghosts, Clayster was dropped from compLexity due to personal issues within the team. Team KaLiBeR, who had lost Goonjar to EnVyUs, took the opportunity to pick up Clayster to join Sharp, Neslo, and Theory for the Call Of Duty: Ghosts season. Clayster's first event with Team KaLiBeR, saw the team make it to the grand final against his old team compLexity. Despite Clayster's desire to beat his old team, he and the squad lost the series, going home with a 2nd place finish. After the event, with a flurry of roster changes in the community, it was announced that Clayster had left Team KaLiBeR to join the OpTic Gaming squad alongside NaDeSHoT, Ricky, and Parasite for the remainder of the Ghosts season. Unsurprising to many fans of competitive Call of Duty, this roster did not last; a conflict of opinions and personalities, combined with all-too-similar play-styles saw both Ricky and Parasite leave to join Curse LV. OpTic Gaming took this opportunity to pick up MBoZe and Saints to complete the roster with NaDeSHoT and Clayster. Saints did not last long either, however, and former OpTic player, Scump, rejoined shortly after he had left. With this roster they found reasonable success placing 3rd at the 2014 Call of Duty Championship. After the World Championship and PAX East, there was another flurry of roster changes which resulted in MBoZe becoming the new captain of the revived OpTic Nation pro team and ProoFy taking his place on OpTic Gaming alongside Clayster.

The team placed 8th at UGC Niagara, and were invited to attend the first MLG X Games Invitational. Here, OpTic Gaming performed at a higher level, advancing all the way through their bracket to face off against Team KaLiBeR in the Grand Final. In a Game 5 of Search and Destroy on Sovereign, Clayster secured a 6-4 win in a 1v1 with Goonjar, and cemented his place in history as one of the first Call of Duty Gold Medallist's. Following X Games, Clayster and OpTic Gaming were off to MLG Anaheim. They went into this event full of confidence off the back of their 1st place finish at X Games as well as gaining the second seed after finishing second in the MLG League. They fought off all the competition 3-0 until they faced Evil Geniuses (formerly known as compLexity) in the winners final, which they lost 3-0. They won the losers final against TCM 3-0 to face Evil Geniuses in the Grand Final, but crashed out in the second best of 5 in the continuation match. This left them placing a very respectable 2nd. Clayster and OpTic Gaming then traveled to London to compete at Gfinity 3. Here, along with many other top teams, OpTic Gaming had a poor weekend finishing 5th-8th. Clayster himself performed exceptionally well in the Sovereign Search and Destroy of their knockout match against Epsilon, but they were unable to close the win out, losing the series 3-2. After Gfinity 3, the team were looking to bounce back at UMG Dallas, but were still unable to replicate their form from X Games and MLG Anaheim. The team placed 4th after losing to OpTic Nation. UMG Nashville was next up and the OpTic Gaming roster was hoping to place well in the tournament. However, that was not the case. They ended the tournament placing 5th-6th.

With the Season 3 Playoffs steadily creeping upon them, OpTic Gaming wanted to make sure that they ended the Ghosts season strongly. They went into the tournament seemingly off their game. It was the last match of the night and OpTic Gaming performed poorly against Denial, losing 2-3. The next day, however, OpTic Gaming were rejuvenated, not dropping a single map the entire day against Rise and OpTic Nation. On Championship Sunday, OpTic Gaming were looking to carry the momentum from the previous day into their match with Most Wanted. However, Most Wanted proved they were the better team, beating OpTic Gaming 3-0, eliminating them from the tournament in 4th place at the last event of Ghosts.

Advanced Warfare
After the Ghosts Season 3 playoffs, OpTic Gaming announced that they had dropped Clayster and ProoFy. Along with the community generally, Clayster was upset about the decision. However, his departure was dignified, thanking the OpTic organization and the fans for their continuous support throughout his 10-month tenure on the team. With almost every top team offering him a spot on their roster, Clayster made the decision to join EnVyUs, trading places FormaL who joined OpTic. The decision made his fans, and EnVyUs fans, very pleased, hoping that the team could potentially be a force within the community. Surprisingly though, the EnVyUs squad did not do as well as they would have expected at the first Advanced Warfare event, MLG Columbus, where they ended up placing 5th-6th.

Despite the poor start, EnVyUs, in only the 2nd week of playing in the league, became the first team to beat the Columbus Champions, FaZe who were yet to lose a league match. EnVy were unable to carry this momentum forward though, and concluded with a 9-12th placing at UMG Orlando 2015. Over the coming weeks, EnVy squad had a patchy stage in the League, moving up the leaderboard until 17 January 2015, when Clayster was traded to Denial, to play alongside JKap for ZooMaa and Saints.

Denial proved to be Clayster's strongest team since his time in Black Ops 2 days with compLexity. As Clayster recalls in his "RosterMania" recap video on YouTube, it all started when they decided to play some league matches together and convincingly won a number of maps against OpTic, the dominant team at the time. He went on to explain that as the roster continued to play in league matches together, they recognized the immense potential of their roster: Clayster, Attach, Replays, and JKap. The team finished the first season of the MLG CoD League in 2nd place, trailing their rivals OpTic Gaming. At the MLG Pro League Season 1 Playoffs, Denial fell first round in the Winners' Bracket against nV. However, Clay and the team showed great resilience in the losers bracket, defeated team after team to finally face OpTic in the Finals. They fell to OpTic 3-0, finishing in 2nd. Denial's run at the NA Regional Finals was similar. They fell to Revenge 3-0 in the second round of Winners, considered one of the biggest upsets in the tournament. Yet again, Clay leads his team through an impressive run in the losers bracket, where they also won the rematch against Revenge, defeating them 3-0 this time. They climbed to the Grand Final to face OpTic for the second time, losing 3-0 again. This time, however, they kept the series much closer, losing the Hardpoint by only 7 points, taking Search and Destroy to Round 11, and losing 2-point Uplink game.

Finally, the time came for the Call of Duty Championship 2015. The team had a shaky start, as they fell 3-2 to Prophecy who won 3 straight maps, concluding their pool with the 2nd seed. Things began to look even more grim when the Championship Bracket was released, and Denial was pitted to face off against none other than OpTic, in the first round. However, Denial avoided defeat, playing exceptionally and taking the series vs. OpTic with a convincing 3-1 map count. After handing OpTic their first loss at a LAN tournament in the past 2 events, Denial gained the confidence to begin a strong performance in the Winner's Bracket. Bucking their usual trend of falling early in the tournament, they continued their run with a 3-0 over Team Kaliber and a 3-1 against Automatic Reload, earning a spot in the Winner's Bracket Finals to face Revenge. Clayster and the team won this match 3-2, before defeating Revenge again in the Grand Finals by the same scoreline. Denial was crowned champions, winning Clayster his first ring, $100,000 and the MVP award.

Black Ops 3
Clayster and his team were invited to Totino's Invitational, a single-elimination tournament taking place a week and a half after the game’s release. FaZe fell short to Team Kaliber in the first round, losing 2-0, eliminating them from the tournament with a 5th-8th finish. Unfortunately, this set a precedent for the rest of Black Ops 3 for the team. Next, they were invited to the Invitational CWL Stage 1 Qualifier. Placed in group A, alongside the returning compLexity, albeit with a new roster, Happy Hour, and the former OpTic Nation roster, now simply known as Nation. FaZe won both their matches against Happy Hour and compLexity, granting them a spot in the upcoming CWL Stage 1 NA Online League.

Clayster attended UMG South Carolina 2016, where FaZe fell victim to the single-elimination Game 7, losing to a determined Team Liquid in the quarterfinals, giving Clayster another disappointing finish. The team completed Stage 1 with a 15-7 record, securing the #3 seed for the Stage 1 Playoffs. In the first round, they came up against compLexity yet again, sweeping them 4-0. However, FaZe’s victory was short-lived, after their matchup against a strong Rise Nation, where they lost 4-0, placing 3rd-4th. The team then traveled to Paris to compete at ESWC 2016. They finished the group stage with a flawless record, sweeping PuLse Gaming and Exertus eSports for a spot in the playoffs. However, as they had experienced numerously already throughout the season, they fell short in the first round, losing 0-3 against a strong Splyce roster, placing 5th-8th.

At MLG Anaheim Open 2016, FaZe exited pool play with a disappointing 1-2 record, sending them to the losers bracket, where they began an almost legendary losers bracket run. First defeating Echo Fox 3-1, then pulling off the reverse sweep against two of the best EU teams at the time, Splyce and Infused. The outlook was positive for FaZe, but they lost 3-1 to Rise for a 4th place finish. FaZe completed the controversial Stage 2 with a 13-9 record, securing the third seed to face Dream Team at the Stage 2 Playoffs. However, FaZe yet again disappointed, losing to Dream Team in Game 7, for another 5th-8th finish.

At MLG Orlando Open 2016, FaZe finished pool play with another flawless 3-0 record. However, they were beaten into the loser's bracket, where they progressed until facing the in-form Team EnVyUs. Clayster personally had a very poor performance, notably in the game 4 Stronghold CTF, finishing the map with a kills-deaths record of 4-22. Clayster apologized publicly on twitter for the performance, claiming he was unaware he was playing so poorly.

The FaZe Clan qualified for the 2016 Call of Duty World League Championship - the biggest tournament ever played in Call of Duty at that time. Clayster and the team performed excellently in pool play, not dropping a single map going into the winners' bracket. Their performances continued in bracket play, defeating Team Infused 3-0 in the first round. The team had high expectations going into Day 3, however, they were sent into the losers bracket, by eventual winners EnVyUs. FaZe came up against Millenium, with MiRx in place of Swanny, as the latter was unable to attend the event. FaZe won the series 3-1, to set up a match against Splyce once more. The match went to an intense Game 5 Search and Destroy, which FaZe lost 6-2, after less than satisfactory performances from Enable (3-8) and Clayster himself (4-5). FaZe finished the championship event in 7th-8th, netting them $50,000 in prize money.

Infinite Warfare
FaZe started the Infinite Warfare season well, winning the PlayStation Experience Invitational. This event was not attended by many of the top North American team's however, such as OpTic on 2016 champs EnVyUs. Regardless, Clayster and his teammates had shown they were comfortable with the new Call of Duty title, and their outlook for the season looked bright. At the first major event of the year, CWL Las Vegas, the team performed well again, beating OpTic and Splyce 3-1, to reach the the semi-final against Rise Nation. FaZe lost the match 3-1, placing them in losers bracket. They defeated Allegiance 3-1, before ultimately falling to Cloud 9 3-2 in a close match, placing FaZe 3rd at the event. FaZe performed worse at the next event, CWL Atlanta, only managing a 5-6th finish, after losing to OpTic Gaming for the first time in an elimination match at a LAN event since Advanced Warfare. The team faired better at CWL Paris, reaching the final where they again faced OpTic. The match got off to a false start, with technical issues forcing a stop to the first Hardpoint, while FaZe were up 42-13. However after the restart, OpTic won the match with a convincing 3-0 scoreline, consigning FaZe to 2nd place. Clayster was visibly upset during the loser interview, and was reported to have thrown his medal in frustration, although he later denied this claiming he threw it into the crowd for a fan to catch.

Trivia

 * For a long time people thought Clay's first name was actually Clayton, but that wasn't the case, Clayton is in fact his middle name. His first name is actually James.
 * Clayster is considered the hype-man on all of his past teams.
 * With OpTic Gaming in 2014, Clayster took home 1 of the first 4 XGAMES Gold Medals in all of esports.
 * Clayster was crowned MVP of CoD Champs 2015, leading Bracket Play with a 1.31 K/D
 * Clayster was one of six players to be a part of the compLexity/Evil Geniuses dynasty; winning a total of 7 events with this dynasty.
 * Clayster was the first CoD player to win every championship accolade.
 * Clayster was one of six players to compete on both, OpTic Gaming and OpTic Nation.
 * Clayster is the most successful Modern Warfare 2 player with over $15,000 in prize money.
 * Clayster is one of two players to participate in every million-dollar tournament.
 * Clayster is the player with the longest time between two major championship victories with 1400 days between 2015-09-20 (MLG Pro League 2015 Season 3 Playoffs) and 2019-07-21 (CWL Pro League 2019 Playoffs).
 * Clayster was a 2016, 2017, and 2018 CWL Pro League All-Star.
 * Clayster is the only player to win a World Championship on each of the three main Call of Duty developers' games (Sledgehammer, Treyarch, and Infinity Ward).
 * Clayster and Crimsix become the first console esports players to win over $1 Million in prize money.
 * Clayster is one of three players to win back-to-back Call of Duty World Championships. (2019 and 2020)
 * Clayster is one of four players to win a Call of Duty World Championship on both a boots-on-the-ground and exo movement Call of Duty.
 * According to Hastr0, the Dallas Empire invested over $500K into Clayster for the 2020 season.