Battle Royale is yesterday's news! Why Elena Plunder: Blood Money is the secret star of Call of Duty: Warzone.

Yes, I know, millions of players are currently playing the Battle Royale from CoD: Warzone. I like to play a few rounds myself in the evening: Between the orphaned buildings of Verdansk I get a thrill when I crawl through the landscape with my rifle at the ready and watch careless players through my visor - without knowing whose crosshairs might be crossing my back.

But I have even more fun with the underestimated mode of Warzone - Plunder: Blood Money. All I hear from my ignorant colleagues is "Plunder Was?" and I see them starting the next round of Battle Royale. A shame! Because Plunder is so much cooler and more innovative than Battle Royale. And it's about time to explain this in a totally objective and scientific way.

How does the plunder mode work?

• 102 players fight on the Warzone map to see who hoards the most money.
• Each squad of three has the goal of collecting one million as quickly as possible.
• Money is obtained through random finds, cash drops, supply crates, kills or contracts.
• Whoever dies respawnt, but loses half of his money. The fortune is only safe if you transport it by helicopter or balloon. The three richest squads are marked on the map and released for hunting.
• After 30 minutes the match is automatically over. If a team accumulates a million before that, an overtime of a few minutes is started, in which all earnings are doubled.

Plunder is faster and more aggressive than Warzone.

CoD: Warzone is a merciful Battle Royale shooter: If I die, my team may revive me or I simply fight for a second chance in the Gulag. But if you play too recklessly and risk too much, you will lose quickly despite these measures. That's why most players move cautiously across the vast map and seldom look for a duel. Every gun battle can eventually lead to a premature end. In the most annoying case, this even forces me to leave the match and look for a new one.

In Plunder it's completely different: In the loot money mode there is a respawn mechanism. If you die, you can simply return to the game 20 seconds later - without gulag or team help. Because you have much less to lose, players are much more aggressive than in Battle Royale.

I lose money when I die, but the shooter picks it up or leaves it by my body - and you always respawn near your virtual grave. Plunder says with it quite clearly: Get it and take revenge on your murderer! Because I start with my own loadout and don't have to rely on storage boxes with equipment, the hunt is opened immediately.

Plunder uses the Warzone map much wiser.

The Battle Royale map of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare may not be the biggest map. But it is full of handmade abandoned farmhouses, rusty factories and skyscrapers with potential sniper nests gleaming out of boarded-up windows. The design of many places in Verdansk works so well because they are borrowed from popular Call of Duty maps.

However, in the Battle Royale I don't get enough of them for my taste. As soon as you explore a little bit, you are overrun by a green cloud of gas, which makes even hard-boiled war tourists want to go sightseeing. Within a short time, almost all the interesting places close in front of me. Plunder, however, does without the gas and thus makes my discoverer's heart beat faster.

Even better: The loot mode even rewards me for staying and exploring. After all, I need to get as much money as possible quickly. Kills are the riskiest way. It's much easier to earn money by tracking down packages of money lying around, searching for storage boxes or completing jobs that also yield a good amount of cash. Besides, I get to know the map, which gives me an advantage in Battle Royale.

Plunder is tactically more demanding

If you want to win in the Battle Royale, you naturally need skill and tactics. But often luck plays a big role in what equipment you find and who you run into on the extensive map. There are many more factors in the game of Plunder, where only a good strategy leads to success.

The more money I carry with me, the more my pulse races. Every enemy player can shoot my full account back into abject insignificance. If I earn too much, I will become a visible prey for enemy squads armed to the teeth.

My money is only finally safe when I let it float off the map at a buying station via Cash Deposit Balloon. Otherwise, the only thing left for me to do is to call a helicopter, which equals a fanfare and a target on my back. And there is also my team! Do I prefer to let a partner accumulate savings while I play guard or bait for him? Every junket match makes my head permanently rattle!

Warzone may contribute new ideas, but in the end it's just another Battle Royale mode. Plunder, on the other hand, shows that there's so much more possible on a big shooter map than the everlasting "Make 1 out of 100". So please be less ignorant than my colleagues: I'll see you tonight on the server!