Top 20 Players of MW2: #5 KiSMET

The #5 player of the Modern Warfare 2 season brought to you by Thunder Pick is none other than the Bulldog, Matthew “KiSMET” Tinsley. As the SMG duo with Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez, KiSMET had big shoes to fill but did that & more.

KiSMET was instrumental to the Subliner's run this season, helping bring the best out of his teammates while playing at a high level individually. The New York Subliners won a total of three championships in MW2, including taking the CoD Champs Grand Finals 5-0 to be crowned World Champions.

Season Review

KiSMET was a major catalyst for the Subliners in Vanguard, helping them claw into Champs from a huge points deficit. He came into the lineup and instantly helped the team win the Pro-Am Classic and place 2nd at Major 4 in New York. Going into Modern Warfare, it was expected that the team could continue this form and be a dark horse contender.

The season began right where they left off, marching through a Pro-Am bracket. After going 2-2 in the qualifiers, the Subliners would dismantle LAG and Minnesota to reach the bracket stage. After falling to Seattle in Upper Round 2, New York would beat Las Vegas, Toronto, Atlanta, and then get revenge on Seattle in the Grand Finals. It would be the first of many for KiSMET and the Subliners.

After a strong start, the team would hit bumpy roads for two straight stages. The team would perform well online, having a 3-2 record in both the Major 2 & 3 qualifiers, but that couldn’t get it to translate directly on LAN. The low point was dropping series to both Toronto & Florida to finish last at Major 3. This would turn out to only fuel the team to reach their peaks yet again.

Every team will have off-tournaments, it’s how they learn from those losses to be better in the future. Subliners took that Stage 3 low and turned it into a 4th place finish at the 4th Major with a 4-1 record in the qualifiers. The team got even better during the final stage of the season, marching through the Lower Bracket from Round 1 to take the Grand Finals. They won five straight series before taking down Atlanta FaZe in the Finals. New York would carry this into Champs, taking down Minnesota & Texas before falling to Toronto in the Winners Finals. Subliners quickly rebounded, defeating FaZe 3-1 before dismantling the Ultra 5-0 in the Finals. It would be widely regarded as one of the best CDL seasons for a team in the short history of the League, rivaling the Cold War Atlanta FaZe and MW19 Dallas Empire seasons.

How good was KiSMET in 2023?

Hardpoint
New York were one of the best Hardpoint teams in the CDL during Modern Warfare 2. The team finished with a 53-34 record over the entire season but had a ridiculous 32-16 record on LAN. KiSMET was a crucial part of the Subliners’ success, playing at a fast pace and doing the majority of the objective work. For the year, KiSMET finished with a 1.00 KD in Hardpoint, but had 22.8 kills per 10 minutes, 75.8 seconds of hill time per 10 minutes, and averaged 52.4 engagements per 10 minutes. He led New York in both hill time and engagements, showing that he was versatile and efficient in the mode.

KiS was equally as efficient in both online and LAN matches. Overall, he finished with a 0.99 KD on LAN with 23.2 Kp10M, 71.1 HTp10M, and 2726.4 DMGp10M. His best stage of the year was during their Stage 5 victory. There he had a 1.09 KD over the stage with high marks in slaying (25.0 Kp10M), damage (2898.6 DMGp10M), and hill time (70.1 HTp10M). His play unlocked his teammates to perform better and take down top teams regularly on LAN.

SnD
Search & Destroy was an underrated mode for KiSMET this year, as he continued his fast pace in this mode as well. The star SMG finished the season with a 1.04 KD in SnD while adding 49.1% opening duel win percentage, a team-high 76 plants, 0.73 kills per round, and went 61-42 in opening duels on the defensive side. He was very dependable per round as well. KiS finished the year with multiple kills in 17.2% of his rounds played while he only didn’t score a kill in 49.8% of his rounds. Add in a league-high 6 aces, and it shows how much of an X-factor KiSMET was in Search & Destroy.

Overall as a team, the Subliners finished the year with a 40-29 record in the mode, but that decreased to 21-18 on LAN. They were a better team online, going 19-11 in the qualifiers, but that form just didn’t translate at every tournament. KiSMET actually improved on LAN even though his team results did not. He finished the year with a 1.07 KD on LAN in SnD with improvements to his opening duel win percentage (53.4%), his kills per round (0.76), his ADR (100.8), and limited his rounds with 0 kills (47.7%).

Control
The final mode to take a deeper look into is Control. For the 2023 season, the Subliners finished the year with a 33-21 record in the mode, but they improved greatly to 20-10 on LAN. Overall, they finished the year on LAN with a 52-26 record in respawn modes, earning two times as many wins as losses. KiSMET was again vital to the success of the team in Control. While his 0.97 KD for the year might not seem very impressive, he finished with per 10-minute data of 18.8 kills, 2315.6 damage, and 43.86 engagements, while adding a team-high 2.7 ticks captured per attacking round. He was moving quickly on the map while doing the bulk of the objective captures.

KiSMET played better on LAN against the top competition compared to the online qualifiers. Over the year, he had a 1.01 KD in LAN matches compared to 0.91 in the qualifiers. He improved his per 10-minute data to 19.7 kills, 2345.5 damage, and 44.5 engagements. This also includes KiSMET having a 0.96 attacking side KD and 2.9 ticks captured per attacking side. While HyDra led the team in slaying, KiSMET finished very close to the MVP with almost double the objective work in LAN matches.

A look ahead to Modern Warfare 3

Looking forward to the Modern Warfare 3 season, the Subliners have opted to make changes to their starting roster. After winning Champs, New York became the first CDL team to voluntarily change its team. Daunte “Sib” Gray would be brought into the team in the place of Preston “Priestahh” Greiner. This move doesn’t hurt New York on paper, as each player will stay in the same roles and Sib brings in more slaying. The sacrifice comes in chemistry, communication, and SnD play but nothing will be certain until the new starting four get series in together and rebuild the lost chemistry. Nonetheless, the Subliners will undoubtedly continue to fight for championships in 2024 and are firmly ranked inside the Top 4 with Atlanta, Texas, and Toronto.