All season long there has been a mysterious computer sitting around promising some sort of SHADOW vs. GHOST event in the future. Well, now that computer has been activated and there is a new Spy Games event here. Well, almost here, at least.

Here’s how it works:

You choose a “secret allegiance” of either SHADOW or GHOST. It does not matter if you have done SHADOW or GHOST loyalty missions for Brutus or TNTina, and you can change your allegiance at any time.

Spy Games use Operation Matches, an LTM which does not appear to be live at the time of this writing, even though the computer is turned on explaining all this (Update: it should be live now). In those matches you will collect intel for your faction, and the more you collect, the more faction-specific bonuses and rewards you will unlock.

What kind of bonuses? Here are all the ones that we know of so far, based on the currently available list for each faction. The first six tiers are auto-unlocked but you have to earn the next five, and more to come in the future.

SHADOW:

Base Unlock: Starter Submachine Gun

Base Unlock: Increased Starting Ammo

Base Unlock: Bandage Bazooka

Base Unlock: Upgrade all weapons to a higher rarity

Base Unlock: Starter Pump Shotgun

Base Unlock: Swim Faster

Tier 2: Rapidfire SMG

Tier 3: Gain shields over time

Tier 4: Decoy grenade

Tier 5: Improved hip fire accuracy

Tier 6: Submachine Gun rarity upgrade

Tier 7: Bandage Bazooka with more charges

Tier 8: Heavy Shotgun

Tier 9: Run faster with your pickaxe out

Tier 10: Jetpack

GHOST

Base Unlock: Starter AR

Base Unlock: Move faster while crouching

Base Unlock: Proximity Mine

Base Unlock: Regenerate health while swimming

Base Unlock: Starter Semi-Auto Sniper

Base Unlock: Faster reload on all weapons

Tier 2: Scoped AR

Tier 3: Spawn with shields

Tier 4: Creepin’ Cardboard

Tier 5: Double Jump

Tier 6: Starter AR rarity upgrade

Tier 7: Spawn with more proximity mines

Tier 8: Bolt-action Sniper

Tier 9: Mark opponents you damage with tracer rounds for a short time

Tier 10: Chug splash

So, between those two, which would you pick?

For me it’s a no-brainer. Even though I am picking SHADOW for the loyalty quests, the GHOST perks just seem way too good here. Regenerate health while swimming? Spawn with shields? Tracer rounds to mark opponents? A double jump??? I mean come on.

For now, that’s the side I will be picking, but who knows, maybe SHADOW gets better upgrades in the future (there are 45 tiers total, it seems). Again, these bonuses only apply to Operation Matches, not regular matches, and those matches have not yet arrived for some reason, but stay tuned for an update when they do. This all sounds quite fun.

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