Top 20 Players of MW3: #14 Abuzah

The #14 player of the Modern Warfare 3 season brought to you by House Bet is the winner of our Rookie of the Year vote, Jordan “Abuzah” François.

In our Rookie of the Year voting, Abuzah narrowly came out on top to win Rookie of the Year over Isiah “Gwinn” Gwinn by a handful of points. Abuzah was a top prospect coming out of Belgium last offseason, as he impressed with Awobabobs over two years in Challengers. Once he moved from SMG to Main AR on Seattle, his true potential was unlocked. From Stage 3 to Champs, Abuzah led the team with a 1.03 overall KD while averaging a league-high 96.2 seconds of hill time per 10 minutes. He pushed Seattle to their best, showing it against New York at Champs when he tied the 5-map series kill record at 122 kills. Starting next season on the Main AR should allow him to be at his best all year long.

Season Review

The Seattle franchise went into a full rebuild last offseason, losing key star players Amer “Pred” Zulbeari and Daunte “Sib” Gray. It was a full squad wipe, even moving on from all three coaches on the roster. In their place came Rambo Ray to rebuild from the ground up. Abuzah was rated the best Challengers prospect, so securing his services was a major win for the franchise, but they would start him on the SMG. The AR duo were both former World Champions in Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson and Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal, giving the team leaders and veterans. The final spot on the roster was another former World Champion and ultimate pacesetter, Cuyler “Huke” Garland. With three World Champions and the best challenger player in Modern Warfare 2, the expectations were higher than the rest of the mid-field teams going into Modern Warfare 3.

📸 Photo by @SeattleSurge

The season began with Seattle expected to be a Top 8 team but how much higher was the big question. In the opening qualifiers, they proved to be an excellent Search & Destroy team, but the respawns were the weak point. With wins over Miami (3-2) and LAT (3-1), the Surge ended 3-4 with the 7th seed going into the Major. In a hard opening match in Upper Round 1, the Surge would fall to Ultra 0-3. Abuzah & Co would bounce back, taking down both Boston & Carolina 3-2 to secure the Top 6 spot. That’s where the run would end, as OpTic Texas would take down Seattle 3-1, eliminating Surge Top 6. With three online wins & a Top 6 at the Major, 60 CDL points was a good haul.

Unfortunately, turmoil would find the Surge right after the major. With concerns & drama flying around iLLeY, the team would bench him from the starting roster. iLLeY was a major contributor to their SND form, and it hit the team hard. With Paul “Breszy” Breszynski on the roster in his place, the team struggled in the second qualifiers. They’d go 1-6 in series with a league-worst 25% map win rate (6-18). It wouldn’t get better at the Major, as a 1-3 loss against Las Vegas would eliminate the team in Top 12. After a great Stage 1, the team followed up with just 10 CDL points earned in the entire Stage 2.

📸 Photo by @CODLeague

After the disaster Stage 2, the team would shift the starting roster yet again. This time, it included multiple shifts, including moving Abuzah into his natural position of Main AR. Arcitys would be benched to open up the position, while Jovan “O4” Rodriguez joined the team in the SMG spot. This paired Abuzah with his longtime teammate on the AR while adding a premier SND player in O4.

With the new team in place, their form began to shift. With wins over New York (3-1), Carolina (3-2), and Las Vegas (3-0) during the third qualifier, the Surge locked in a Upper Bracket start at Major 3. They’d have another tough matchup to start and would fall to the Toronto Ultra 1-3 to drop into the Lower Bracket early. From there, they’d have a run, taking down both Minnesota & Carolina 3-1. With the Top 6 secured, the Surge would play New York in the Lower Round 3 match. Sadly, the Subliners would come out on top, eliminating the Surge. While they weren’t able to overcome either Top 4 team, the 60 CDL points earned gave them an excellent spot in the season standings.

📸 Photo by @CODLeague

With a stage of practice with the new team, expectations began to rise for the Surge yet again. They’d reach those expectations in the final qualifier of the season. Abuzah & Co would take down Toronto 3-2 while also beating Minnesota (3-0) and LAG (3-1), who were close in the season standings. With these key wins, the Surge finished with the 3rd seed in the qualifier, the highest placing on the season. With a non-Top 4 opening match at the Major, Seattle was able to overcome Las Vegas 3-2 to move onto Upper Round 2 for the first time on the year. While they would fall to Atlanta (0-3) and Toronto (2-3) in back-to-back matches, they finished Top 6 again and secured a spot at Champs. While they couldn’t crack the Top 4 teams, they were clearly the 5th-best team in the League.

While they qualified for the Champs, it would sadly be over quickly. The team would fall in the opening match 2-3 in a nailbiter against the New York Subliners. Abuzah would do everything he could, tying the record of 5-map series kills (122) and setting the record with 23,026 damage. It was Abuzah at his best (1.28 series KD), but it wasn’t enough to overcome HyDra and the Subliners. It’d get worse for the team, as they’d find themselves in another game 5 against the Miami Heretics in Lower Round 1. The Heretics would come out on top, as ReeaL would go from kill-less to making key plays in the final two rounds. With Miami taking the game 5, it would eliminate the Surge in Top 8 at the biggest tournament of the year.

How good was Abuzah in 2024?

Hardpoint

There were two different seasons for Abuzah in Hardpoint this year. During the opening two stages, the team struggled mightly in respawns, but Abuzah showcased some potential on the SMG. From Stage 3 to Champs, Abuzah led the team with a 1.02 overall KD, 23.7 kills per 10 minutes, and 4477 damage per 10 minutes while averaging a league-high 96.2 seconds of hill time per 10 minutes. He showcased his best during Champs. Abuzah had a team-high 1.15 KD in Hardpoint while leading the League with 5382 damage per 10 minutes, granted on a small sample size. Going into the next year in his main role, Abuzah will take big leaps in his Hardpoint form.

Much like with Abuzah’s individual form, the Surge made a major transformation in the second half of the season. They ended the year with a 32-41 record, going 15-27 in Map 1s. Once O4 joined the roster & Abuzah went to the Main AR role, though, the Surge went 23-18 with the 3rd-best average margin of +25.9. They lead the league in multiple categories, including points per minute (22.3), hold percentage (79%), and break percentage (31%). They were 9-8 on LAN & 14-10 online. It was a completely new team, but their downfall was a very bad rotation win rate (46.8%, 11th).

Search & Destroy

The Surge was one of the best SND teams at the beginning of the year, and Abuzah was a big reason for that. He ended the year with a 1.08 KD in the game mode, adding 0.71 kills per round, 173.8 ADR, and a 50.5% opening duel win percentage. Abuzah also finished with 11 clutches on the season, leading the League with 9 1v1 wins. Just like in Hardpoint, the rookie shined at Champs in the mode. Abu ended with a team-high 1.33 KD at the tournament with 0.90 kills per round, 225.5 ADR, and 66.7% opening duel win percentage. Every single important stat took a leap in the biggest tournament of the year.

This was the only mode on the year that the Surge finished with a winning record. Seattle finished 29-26, ranking 6th in the Call of Duty League. With iLLeY on the roster, they started 11-4 with a 5-1 record on LAN. It would go down in Stage 2, but the team balanced out with the pickup of O4. The negative for the team was that they struggled badly at the end, finishing with a 1-6 record in their final 7 maps.

Control

Arguably, the weakest mode on the season was Control for Seattle. The rookie ended the year with a 0.98 KD in the mode, the 2nd-highest on the team behind iLLeY’s 1.04 in Stage 1. He added per 10-minute data of 17.6 kills and 3635 damage to go with 1.9 ticks per attacking round. At Champs, Abuzah was the only player with a positive KD on the team, ending with a 1.15 KD, while Breszy ended with a 0.83 & O4 at 0.76. He led the team with 20.7 kills per 10 minutes, 4185 damage per 10 minutes, and 1.8 ticks per attacking round. With a team better on the Control side, Abuzah’s individual numbers could skyrocket next season.

A look ahead to Black Ops 6

Abuzah’s future is one of the biggest questions this season. Currently, he is on a one-year deal that is set to expire after the Esports World Cup. This will make him one of, if not the most sought-after, Free Agents, depending on if one of the Top 4 teams makes a change.

Multiple teams will be vying for his services, as he has proven to be one of the better Main AR players after just one season in the Pro League. His strengths of being able to have great impact while soaking hill time in Hardpoint or winning 1v1 clutches in SND, makes him a star in all three modes.

After the conclusion of the EWC, all eyes will be on where Abuzah will be heading for Black Ops 6.

📸 Photo by @MediabyIsiah

Support the Photographers & Designers by giving them a follow on Twitter:

Designers: @vLionMan & @RoseveltPSD
Photographers: @Spribs_, @MediabyIsiah & @CODLeague