The new Call of Duty League kicks off in January 2020. With all the teams finally revealed, it’s time for fans new and old to get to know them. Today, we’re shining a light on the Chicago Huntsmen and exploring the origin of the team’s name.

Wallpaper by Reddit user Eprice1120.

The Chicago Huntsmen are operating under NRG Esports, who also owns the Overwatch League team San Fransisco Shock. NRG’s new co-CEO Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez joined to lead the Chicago Huntsmen in September 2019 and his joining was announced almost immediately after he left Immortals Gaming Club.

In a YouTube video published a few days ago, H3CZ sat down to talk about his journey in esports, Call of Duty, and his future plans for NRG. In the same conversation, he shed light on how the “Huntsmen” name came about which is revealed to have roots in his own history as a Call of Duty professional player.

“Snipers by definition are hunters and we’ve always been a sniping team at core. That’s what got us to where we’re at today.”

They call themselves the Huntsmen because they’re all about “being the hunter and not the hunted” explained H3CZ. According to H3CZ himself, his original Xbox 360 profile bio stated that same phrase so he claims that it isn’t a new idea. Huntsmen has always been the identity. Now it’s finally cemented as a name.

In the same video, H3CZ explicitly states that he has set the goal of carrying NRG to becoming the first US$1 billion esports organisation. It’s a goal that many other companies have set their eyes on, including Team Vitality.

The future of Call of Duty esports definitely looks exciting. The Chicago Huntsmen will be having their first match on 26 January 2020 against OpTic Gaming Los Angeles. With both H3CZ and Huntsmen’s Seth “Scump” Abner being former OpTic Gaming players, it will be no doubt carve up some new storylines.

Thanks, Dexerto.