On the winning team: Luminosity’s Banned, Washy, and Envy talk Call of Duty: Mobile esports

After taking home the gold in the Call of Duty: Mobile Snapdragon Pro Series Season 3: North America (CoD Mobile SPS Season 3 NA) event, Luminosity players look strong heading into the 2023 CoD Mobile World Championship. Ahead of this tournament, we interviewed Luminosity's Kent "Banned" Nerves, Christian "Washy" Manalo, and Alex "Envy" Primitivo!

Even before the launch of CoD Mobile, Banned was already familiar with mobile games such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) and Rules of Survival. However, after discovering CoD Mobile one night, the rest was history.

"Me and my Filipino friends were playing one night and we just heard of CoDM getting released as a beta," Banned said. "We went to go try that out, and we did rank grind for a little bit."

As for Washy, he discovered the game through a YouTube ad. He told esports.gg how CoD Mobile is actually his first mobile game ever. Similar to Banned, Washy also climbed through the ranks. He later joined a server for competitive players.

"I started getting noticed," Washy said. "And here I am now — on the winning team."

In addition to winning first place in CoD Mobile SPS Season 3 NA, Luminosity's CoD Mobile esports team earned the gold in many other tournaments. In 2023 alone, the team secured victory after victory.

Here's the summary of Luminosity's 2023 CoD Mobile results so far:

Envy revealed how they all worked together to find the right organization. He detailed the process of contacting multiple organizations before joining Luminosity. The open communication with Luminosity allowed the players to talk things out before signing.

Soon enough, the three players formed a team with Maiwand "Vague" Zai, Brian "Tectonic" Michel, and Angel "Marshy" Gonzalez. Vague, Tectonic, and Marshy were part of Tribe Gaming last year. The team won the 2022 CoD Mobile World Championship over Luminosity.

"I think it was the synergy that we kind of needed," Envy said. "We were second place the whole last year, so I think this synergy between us and Vague, Tec, and Marshy is kind of something that we needed."

Envy noted how Luminosity clicked with each other in scrims and tournaments as well. "And it doesn't matter who's benched out or if someone subs in," he added.

On top of practices in the form of scrims on the weekdays and some weekends, the players also have their own channels for content creation.

To Envy, interacting with his viewers is motivating during ranked play. He acknowledged how competitive matches also give viewers a chance to understand CoD Mobile better. His livestreams are more focused on talking with the chat.

"I used to play ranked just by myself," he said. "It's not motivating enough for me. I can't just sit down and play the game for two hours. When I'm able to livestream, it's like interacting with other people that, in a way, look up and want to get better at the game. I'm always down to answer questions and help them out."

Banned agreed. "I try to play as good as possible so my chat is entertained," he said. "I care about how chat is feeling or doing more than the gameplay itself."

Washy's approach, however, is different compared to Envy and Banned's interactions. "I'll be doing my thing, I'll focus on that," he explained. "And the moment I die — there you go. I'm reading the chat."

This year's CoD Mobile World Championship will take place at DreamHack Atlanta between Dec. 15 and Dec. 17. It will feature 16 teams across different regions as well. Washy, Envy, and Banned expressed confidence heading into this tournament and shared some insights about what it takes to claim victory.

Banned said that his team knows how to adapt their approach based on the playstyles of their opponents. Meanwhile, Envy described the distinct mechanical skills and playstyles of Luminosity's squad, leading to unique strengths. This diversity lets them shift the momentum of any game.

"My best strength would probably be a sniper. I would say at least up there with sniping against other regions in the world," Washy added.

In terms of the meta, Banned and Envy noted the increasingly aggressive and fast-paced playstyle in CoD Mobile. This means preparing for that same level of aggressiveness from other teams as Luminosity players head into Stage 5.

That's all for now. Stay tuned on esports.gg for more CoD Mobile news and updates!