Huke Calls on Competitive COD to Address Toxic Environment, Adderall Abuse

Competitive Call of Duty player Cuyler “Huke” Garland released a video on Wednesday speaking on his perspective of his Cold War season thus far.

The veteran reflected on the formation of the championship-winning Dallas Empire roster from Modern Warfare, the roller coaster ride of a season he’s had, and aspects of the Call of Duty League he thinks should change.

The Fallen Empire

Huke touched on how going into the Modern Warfare season, teaming with the likes of Shotzzy and Illey was considered crazy compared to other players he could’ve joined. However, his approach was to align himself with a group of people who wanted to be there, who cared about winning, and who could communicate through any differences they may face as a squad. “I wanted to be a teammate for them that I never really had,” said Garland, referring to the roster’s two new young players.

Empire succeeded in their season-long goal at the end of Modern Warfare, but Huke wasn’t able to enjoy the moment for long. “I won champs and I didn’t really feel good, on the inside.” Huke stated how he felt good about the win, but a few days later the effects of taking Adderall while competing had taken its toll on him. “I realized that night what it was doing to me, and It wasn’t doing anything good for me.”

The current Los Angeles Thieves player compared his first championship win to the first time he won an event at 16-years-old and wondered why it didn’t feel anywhere near as satisfying. “It was a feeling you couldn’t even put into words,[that first win], so much joy, I was really proud of myself.” But Huke realized that somewhere along the way his mentality had shifted in how he approached the game.

“I was playing out of anger rather than joy.” Garland said how taking the drug was making him angry toward the people he loved, something he didn’t like and wanted to change about himself.

Huke spent the offseason focusing on fixing that. He cut out the Adderall and started implementing healthy alternatives into his routine, such as cold showers, meditation, and eating healthier. He was able to build up confidence that he could perform without using Adderall.

When Empire won their first match of the season, it was Huke’s first sober professional Call of Duty series in about two years. He felt elated after the victory, saying how he “felt like a kid again.” Huke said the concern that he needed Adderall to perform dissipated after he saw he could compete at a high level without it.

Through Stage 1, things felt good, but there was a shift after a poor performance in the Grand Finals of the first major. Huke said how a teammate called him asking him why he was making these changes in his life. The close-knit vibe of the defending champions was beginning to falter from Huke’s point of view, and his confidence started to lower.

“Some of the things people were saying to me just didn’t sit right with me at all.” Huke stated how getting slandered by his teammates on a day-to-day basis didn’t feel good and made it a toxic environment to play in. He decided to switch gears and tried harder than ever to become a better teammate and put everything else he was working on to improve in his life on the back burner.

In the midst of this inter-team turmoil, the Dallas squad had a talk. After being called out by his team for decisions he was making on and off the sticks, Huke tried to appeal to the once open-minded squad he had been teaming with for more than a year. “I owned up to mistakes, now can you guys hear me out? I feel like I don’t have a voice, I feel like you guys don’t respect me,” he said to them at the time.

Huke felt like he was getting talked over, but resorted to doing everything his team told him. “I was doing things I’d never done in my 8 years of competing.” He was taking notes on game plans and watching more VOD than ever before, all in an effort to gain his teammates’ trust back.

“I was getting talked to like I didn’t know how to play Call of Duty. That was my biggest thing.” Huke expressed how there were noticeably not as many open-form talks as there were during Empire’s championship run last year.

With all this going on behind the scenes, Dallas won their match against Paris Legion and Huke thought all the hard work was paying off. He texted his teammates after the match asking who wanted to get on and keep practicing but got no response. Eventually, he got a call informing him he was benched. “Not a single word from my teammates. Not a single word from anyone on anything I was doing wrong. Just benched.

“After that, I realized it wasn’t a good situation for me, time to move on. There’s no winning in this situation,” said Huke. “It was hard, I won champs with those guys. We were a unit.”

Huke explained how last year, at times when Illey and Shotzzy got down on themselves he sat down and talked with them. Such communication was absent when Huke needed it this season. “No one reached out to me to try and lift me up. You don’t want to shit talk your own teammate, you want to lift them up, that’s how it was last year.”

Joining Los Angeles Thieves

Huke viewed the beginning of his tenure with Los Angeles as a fresh start. He was happy to be somewhere new and was hungry to get back to competing. He talked with the team about the respect issues he was dealing with at his previous team, hoping for a better team dynamic to be a part of.

However, Huke was soon benched by Thieves as well and was informed by a friend in the competitive community that there was a narrative surrounding his name that he was on psychedelics and needed help. Huke stated how an old teammate had made this accusation and that at least one of his new teammates bought into the claim.

“For people to believe that, and no one said a thing to me for 2 months. All because I was making positive changes in my life.” He continued, “I don’t do any of that. For no one to reach out to me and ask if I’m okay, which by the way, I’m okay.”

Huke also brought up how people at parties were referring to him as ‘crazy Cuyler’ throughout this period. “For that to be a thing, and for pros to actually believe that, I just want to shed light on that, that’s not true, at all.”

Problems in the COD Scene

Huke then revealed some of the current issues plaguing the competitive Call of Duty scene.

“Everyone wants instant success, they don’t want to be a team.” Huke alluded to the fact that you need a team where you can communicate through any problem if you want to succeed. He doesn’t understand why so many players and teams aren’t trying to work for success rather than making a team change and hoping things work out.

“That’s the thing about Call of Duty, it’s literally high school. The toxicity in the pro scene, and the toxicity in gaming in general, sometimes it can be tough as a competitor. I hope this shines some light on the mental health side of it.”

Huke also stated how he feels the whole pro scene has lost sight of what got most of them to this top-level in the first place: fulfilling their dream of being able to play video games as their career of choice.

“We gotta do better, as people. I understand we’re competitors but, why are we slandering each other for no reason? It’s not high school, we’re professionals. We get to do this for a living. Let’s focus on the game, let’s focus on getting better.”

Adderall Abuse in Call of Duty

Before ending his video, Huke said that taking Adderall in the COD scene can feel like a pressured thing. He sees new players enter the scene and do well at first, then face some adversity and see others having success in the league by using the drug. So then players can feel pressure to do it themselves. “I just want to show that you can play without it. I proved to myself this year that you don’t need it.”

“I personally want to set a better example for the kids and the next generation of players coming up, I want to set a positive example.

“On a positive note, I’m doing great. I’m excited for whatever is next. If it’s competing in COD, another game, wherever it is, I really am grateful for all the support throughout the years.”

Of course, it has since been announced that Huke, along with Slasher has been reinserted into the starting lineup for Thieves. See Huke and Los Angeles match up against the Minnesota Rokkr Friday, June 11th at 4:30 pm ET.

Community Response

In the roughly 24 hours since the video was uploaded, professional eSport players and fans alike have offered their support for Huke. Former Call of Duty player Frosty and Halo World Champion Lethul tweeted the following:

Huke’s Thieves teammate Slasher put out a tweet about how he has been calling for substance reform in competitive Call of Duty for years:

Two-time world champion Patrick “ACHES” Price had his own statement on the issue of Adderall abuse in the CDL.

Huke’s Youtube video has been viewed over 79,000 times and has over 8,000 likes at the time of this writing.

With the use of Adderall at the pro level now in the most public light it has ever been, time will tell if the CDL will move to enforce the restriction of the drug more significantly during the final phase of this season and beyond.

Stage 4 pool play continues Thursday, June 10th, with Los Angeles Guerillas taking on Toronto Ultra at 3:00 pm ET.