Christopher Lehr, known widely amongst the esports industry as “Simp”, is notably one of the best competitive Call of Duty players to date. After only becoming eligible to compete 2 years ago, he became a world champion within his first year.

Growing up in Long Island, New York alongside his parents and older brother, his introduction to gaming was through the Nintendo Gamecube, courtesy of his father. When Nintendo began to become distant, he moved over to bigger consoles and started playing Call of Duty with his friends from school. During middle school, Simp and his friends began playing Gamebattles in Black Ops II; where the Search and Destroy scene was at one of it’s peaks.

At 15 years old, Simp began competing in offline events, predominantly at Elite Tournament Gaming (ETG), one of east coast’s largest local tournament hosts. Simp secured first place at ETG 11, alongside Destiny, ProFeeZy and Yohan. He went on to win 2 more ETG events consecutively. Simp admired the competitive scene of Call of Duty and became friends with James “Clayster” Eubanks: 3x World Champion. Clayster was a mentor for Simp.

In 2018, Simp joined eUnited Cadets, the academy team of eUnited alongside iLLeY, TurnUp2eZ and Cellium. On March 8, 2019 Simp moved up the ranks and joined eUnited as a substitute - he had only turned 18 one month prior. Before his eligibility, Simp accumulated approximately $33,550 in online and offline earnings.

Making his debut into competitive Call of Duty, Simp joined forces with Cellium, Abstract, Phantomz and GRVTY for CWL Fort Worth Open 2019; which they secured first place and took home $15,000. He represented FC Black, FaZe Clan’s sister team on loan. The team dominated the open bracket, by only dropping four maps across the whole tournament, beating notable APAC favourites, Mindfreak in the winners final and grand final.

Simp was no longer a substitute for eUnited, yet part of their starting roster for the remainder of the CWL Pro League 2019, just 2 days after his first open event victory. eUnited dominated the Pro League and finished with an overall 18-4 win-loss rate. The team took away $89,375 for placing T2.

Before the Pro League came to a close, eUnited participated in CWL London and CWL Anaheim, placing 2nd and 5th-6th respectively. In London, eUnited were the top team in their group pool, only falling short to Envy. However, they found their revenge as they eliminated Envy in the losers semi final. eUnited made their way into the grand finals, but had to rematch against 100 Thieves: the team that had knocked them into the losers bracket in WR2. Despite their efforts, they did not secure first place, and took home $80,000. Heading to California for CWL Anaheim, eUnited once again dominated their group pool, but their match-up against a dominant OpTic Gaming meant their journey at Anaheim was cut short and placed T6 overall.

Simp and his teammates headed into the CWL Pro League Playoffs 2019 and sent Team Reciprocity, Gen.G and FaZe Clan into the losers bracket. They faced Gen.G in the grand finals. Despite a 3-0 loss for eUnited, they had a lifeline to secure the CWL Pro League 2019 Champions title and claimed victory with a swift 3-0 clean sweep. Simp was also crowned MVP of the tournament.

Finishing Simp’s rookie year into competitive Call of Duty, eUnited and 31 other teams headed to Los Angeles for the Call of Duty World League Championship 2019. They were granted first seed from their victory in the playoffs and cleared their group stage with an 100% win rate. Only dropping a total of 4 maps in the bracket, eUnited faced their final opponent to claim the title against 100 Thieves. The series went down to the wire with an Arsenal SnD. eUnited led the series 5-4 and with their calibre, struck gold with the world championship title, the golden rings and $800,000 prize. Simp was awarded MVP of the tournament.

On October 26, 2019 Atlanta FaZe, owned by FaZe Clan, announced it’s team heading into the fresh Call of Duty League franchise: Simp, Priestahh, Cellium, MajorManiak and aBeZy. They took to the stage at the Minnesota Launch event in January 2020, beating Dallas Empire 3-0 and New York Subliners 3-1. They came joint first alongside Chicago Huntsmen in the standings.

Their major tournament debut was at their own hosted event, where they defeated OpTic Gaming LA and London Royal Ravens to qualify. In the finals, Atlanta FaZe went head-to-head with Minnesota Rokkr and secured the reverse sweep to take one step closer towards winning their home series. Grand finals saw their opponents, Florida Mutineers, but a dominant 3-0 claimed their victory and the $50,000 prize - Simp’s first major win.

Atlanta FaZe came 3rd-4th in Los Angeles ($10,000 prize), but that was the final LAN event Simp’s attended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Call of Duty League moved to an online format.

Simp’s online debut for the CDL was Chicago’s home series; where the team placed second ($30,000 prize) and fell short in the grand finals against Dallas Empire. Nevertheless, the team gained momentum and dominated the Florida Mutineers home series; taking down OpTic Gaming LA 3-1. They continued to place second at Minnesota, Paris and Toronto respectively.

Unfortunately, the debut championship of the franchise remained online, but that did not stop Atlanta FaZe’s dominance. They were first seed in the Call of Duty League and defeated Chicago Huntsmen. They were knocked out in the winners finals by Dallas Empire in a 3-2 defeat. A rematch between FaZe and the Huntsmen saw Simp’s chances of becoming a two-time champion becoming closer. Their final match was against Empire and battled in a best of 9 series. As Empire were from the winners bracket, they started with a 1-0 advantage. Atlanta FaZe secured victory in the second hardpoint in Gun Runner, but Dallas Empire claimed victory with a 5-1 win. Simp secured $900,000 shared between his team for second place and overall earned $1,140,000 in the 2020 season.

Simp was awarded part of SCUF Gaming’s Team of the Year and Call of Duty League’s respawn player of the year 2020. The Call of Duty League 2021 season saw Black Ops: Cold War revert back to 4v4 competitive mode. Simp remained part of the Atlanta FaZe squad, but former eUnited teammate, Arcitys joined forces for the new season. The journey into the 2021 season is still high for Simp, with LAN reinforced for the Call of Duty League in June 2021 for Major VI.

Written by Alisha Wicks