Top 20 Players of MW3: #20 Nero

The #20 player of the Modern Warfare 3 season brought to you by House Bets is the man setting the pace in Vegas, Dylan “Nero” Koch. 

Nero broke into the scene during Call of Duty Vanguard with the Boston Breach, showing off his talents on the SMG. After spending a year on the roster, he was left looking for a team heading into Modern Warfare 3.

The Las Vegas Legion jumped on the opportunity, bringing in the high-slaying sub & he wouldn’t disappoint. He led the team in respawn KD (1.10), kills per 10 minutes in Control (19.3), and many more. Nero’s gunskill & pace in respawns cemented his place on the Top 20 list. While the team failed to qualify for Champs at the end of the year, Nero played terrific individually.

Season Review

The Legion revamped their starting roster completely heading into MW3. They failed to qualify for Champs in MW2, reaching a high of Top 6 during Major 1 & 3, but finished 9th in the overall standings. While they had big names in James “Clayster” Eubanks and Donovan “Temp” Laroda, the team went into full rebuild mode in a quest to finally qualify for CoD Champs for the first time in the CDL era.

📸 Photo by @WillJ540

The season started slowly for the Legion, as the team would finish 1-6 in the opening qualifiers to finish 12th heading into Major 1. While they were able to take Texas & Carolina to game 5s, the team didn’t have the ice to finish off the wins. Starting in the Lower Bracket at the Major, Las Vegas took advantage of Miami going winless on LAN, beating them 3-0 in their first match to move on. Unfortunately, their lack of map 5 ice caught up to them again as they would fall 2-3 to LAG to finish Top 8. 

With just 25 CDL points earned in the first stage, the Legion decided to make a move. While Nero had a 1.09 KD in HP, the team looked lost in both SND & Control. Rookie Evan “Purj” Perez and Eli “Standy” Bentz overperformed, but the Legion took another chance on Purj. They would move Purj into the SMG position with Nero while signing rookie Giovanni “Gio” Webster to be the fast-paced AR. With the new roster, Legion looked like a Top 6 team. They’d finish 5-2 in the qualifiers for Major 2, securing the 5th seed and their first Upper Bracket start. Sadly, it wouldn’t translate to LAN. They fall in back-to-back matches against Toronto & Carolina to finish Top 8 yet again.

📸 Photo by @MediabyIsiah

With the LAN failure at Major 2, the team would make another roster change. Obaid “Asim” Asim joined the squad after achieving challenger’s success with FaZe Black. He would take the place of Purj, but not for long. While Nero had a 1.11 overall KD & 84.4 Slayer Rating in Stage 3, his new SMG duo struggled badly. He’d be quickly replaced with an ex-Paris Legion player Giancarlos “oJohnny” Carrasco. Ultimately, the slow start to the start was too much to overcome. The team would finish 2-5 in the qualifiers and be forced to start in the Lower Bracket at Major 3. Their run would be short-lived, as a loss to Miami 2-3 cemented the Top 12 finish & 0 CDL points. 

Now, with a solidified roster, the Legion would need to make a run in the final stage of the season if they wished to qualify for Champs. The failures of Majors 2 & 3 put them down but not out. During the final qualifier, Nero was electric. He had the 2nd-highest respawn KD in the League (1.16), with a 1.14 in Hardpoint and 1.20 in Control. The team would finish 4-3 behind him, taking down New York 3-0 and Texas 3-2. 

📸 Photo by @Spribs_

Needing a good haul of CDL points at the Major, the pressure was on. The Legion dropped the first match to Seattle 2-3, dropping down to the Lower Bracket early. With a sweep over the Breach, it looked like there was a small possibility of a run, but that door was slammed shut by New York. After the 1-3 loss against the Subliners, Legion finished Top 8 & was eliminated from Champs. With 165 CDL points on the season, they finished 20 points below Miami in 8th. It was another year of watching the biggest tournament of the season from home.

How good was Nero in 2024?

Hardpoint

Nero was one of the best SMGs in Hardpoint during the Modern Warfare 3 season. He excelled at not just slaying, but also in objective work. Nero finished with a 1.12 KD in Hardpoint, ranking 6th in the CDL on the season. He added per 10-minute stats of 22.7 kills, 66.2 seconds of hill time, and 4187 damage. 

With Nero’s strong play, it helped make Hardpoint the best mode on the season for the Legion. They finished with a 30-28 record overall, ranking 5th in the CDL. They were 4th in Hold percentage (75.3%) and 5th in Break percentage (25.2%). They started the series off fast, having a 22-15 record in map 1s with a +17.6 average margin. Las Vegas were also better on LAN, sitting at 9-6 at Majors while 21-22 in the qualifiers.

Search & Destroy

While Nero excelled in respawns, Search & Destroy hasn’t been his strongest mode individually. He finished the year with a 0.91 KD in the mode, slightly improving to 0.92 in LAN matches. In the opening duels, Nero went 66-93 for a 41.5% win rate. On the attacking side, his opening duel win rate dipped to 35%. For the per-round date, Nero had 0.68 kills, 0.75 deaths, and 135.8 damage per round.

The Legion started the year off decent in SNDs, going 10-9 in the first 20 maps. Yet, it all went downhill from there. Las Vegas would go on a 3-17 run during the middle of the season. Overall, the team would finish 18-31 on the year with the 11th best round win rate (47%). They struggled with the team play on both sides. Legion ranked 9th in converting opening duel wins (71%), 10th in Post-Plant win rate (60.9%), and 12th in Retake win rate (23.2%). It was amplified on LAN, as the team went 3-10 at the Majors & 15-21 in the online qualifiers.

Control

The swing-mode Control was another strong point for Nero in MW3. The entry-SMG finished with a 1.07 KD in the game mode while leading the team with 19.3 kills per 10 minutes. Not only did he slay well, but he also led the team with 1.9 ticks per attacking round. On the defending side, Nero finished with a 1.22 KD on the year & 1.36 KD in LAN matches. Speaking of LAN, Nero led the Legion with a 1.18 KD in Control, 4th in the CDL. At the Majors every major stat improved including kills per 10 minutes (20.5), KA/D (1.30), and NTK% (76.3%). 

The Legion had moments in Control on the year but, ultimately, slightly underperformed. They finished 17-20 overall and 11-6 in round 5s on the season. Ranking 12th on the attacking side (19-60) and 6th on defense (52-26) shows where the weakness was. On the positive side, Legion finished the year on a 4-map winning streak and was 6-3 on LAN. 

A look ahead to Black Ops 6

With the season coming to an end after the Esports World Cup, the Legion is expected to allow its players to explore their options. This would give Nero a chance to explore chances with teams higher in the standings.

While the Top four teams currently have a solidified SMG duo, there could be a need for entry SMG in multiple teams. If a roster shuffle happens across the League, teams like Seattle, LAT, Minnesota, and more will be acquiring on Nero.

With how well Nero played in respawns this season, he will be a hot commodity heading into Black Ops 6.

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