CoD World League is back after a one-week hiatus, and it didn’t miss a beat. In an exciting matchup between Rise Nation and FaZe Clan, both teams played well at times and offered up one of the most memorable hardpoints that we’ve ever seen.
The night was highlighted by the matchup of 3-1 competitors, but it wasn’t the only highlight. The first match of the evening, Dream Team was able to hold off the Nadeshot owned, 100 Thieves in a 3-1 victory. DT would take a 2-1 lead after 100T faltered, yet again, in Uplink. This time on Evac the team would get beat 16-6 and fall to 0-5 on the stage in Uplink. Not only are they 0-5, but they’ve also been outscored 56-24. This resulted tempted the CoD World League Twitter page (@CODWorldLeague) to poke fun at the former MVP of eSports. They tweeted a short gif of Nade air balling a shot at Six Flags that he posted in a recent vlog. It was all in good fun, but it’s no joking matter for his team. With Uplink (and respawn modes in general) playing a critical role in CWL, they must find a way to improve. It’s led many to start rumblings for a team shuffle.
After the slugfest that occurred on Uplink, the teams went to Fringe for CTF. The game was close and low scoring to start. A good pull in the middle of the first round allowed 100T to take a 1-0 lead. They would falter near the end of the first round and allow DT to tie things at one apiece. In the second, both teams got a quick score to run the score to 2-2. However, with overtime looming, DT put their skill on full display. A quick two piece near the barn allowed DT to pull and score with an easy pull. Nelson’s late attempt to get a pull fell short and 100T fell to 1-4 on the stage. DT increased its mark to 4-1 and will be tied for first place going into Wednesday’s competition.
The second game of the night featured Team eLevate and Team SoloMid. eLevate would find a tremendous start from Aqua; he went 7-0 to gain a 30-0 lead early. For TSM, it was all about a strange switch-up. Whea7s would switch to SMG’s as Pacman assumed the AR role. Both players looked out of place, and Whea7s would start 1-10, he’d never actually find his game. ColeChan was the only player that could keep TSM within range early with his 16-7 start. As TSM fought back from a large early deficit, they’d fall just short 250-234.
The second map was a really exciting SnD, one of many we’d see on the night. TSM was dominant winning the first two and only suffering one death. eLevate battled back in game three with only one player going down and then things settled down. FeLonY picked up a nasty two-piece in front of church and helped eLe win the round and even things up. However, Whea7s had his own two-piece in the next round to get back on top. Continuing the back and forth theme, They split the next four. In round nine, Faccento had an incredible two-piece on cliff to give eLe a 4-2 advantage in which they’d win and put TSM’s backs against the wall, 5-4. However, a 4-1 lead quickly formed for TSM and AquA could only pick up a pair of kills. Whea7s closed out round 11 for a TSM win, evening the series up 1-1.
On the next two, Uplink going to eLe and CTF going to TSM, we’d see frantic gameplay in Uplink only to be followed by a 1-0 CTF. Back-to-back 11-8 and 1-0 scores were equally insane matches, and it set up an even more crazy game five.
eLevate wasn’t expected to win the SnD, but they were able to get the upset. After being down 5-1, they’d somehow pull off five straight victories to win the map to clutch the win. Faccento went extra large for eLe and got the team to 2-3 on the season as TSM would take the L and are now 1-4.
Game three was expected to be the game of the night, a battle for first. Rise versus FaZe. Both teams are coming off of long flights home from Europe after competing in a LAN over the weekend.
Game one was the most exciting Hardpoint match we’ve ever witnessed. FaZe dominated the game as a whole, only trailing after one hardpoint, the last one. Jumping out to a quick 30-0 first hill lead, things were all FaZe early. Heading into the first Bunker turn, things were 92-79 and decently close after Faze won the third hill. However, the fifth hill (Bunker) was a turning point. 137-79, it was all FaZe, and the route appeared to be started. After seven hills, FaZe led 193-121. A dominant hold on Bunker was the key point in the match. FaZe saw its lead shrink from 235-166 to 235-216. A full hold for Rise made things interesting. With the match still leaning in FaZe’s favor at mid-map, they just had to get 15 points. The contests from Rise were on point, and they evened things up at this point. Both teams were in the 240’s. After going back and forth in mansion, Rise was able to win it by one point, 250-249. An insane turn of events would set the tempo for the match.
On the final mid hill, Looney had a stupid contest and turned it into a three piece to give Rise valuable points to even the score up. But on the bunker hill, it was Octane’s tempest that allowed them to hold it for the full 60. A sweet shot outside of back bunker towards square would quickly go from one kill to three. The string of electric eliminated all opposition facing Rise and FaZe was forced to concede the final 15 points. Two huge plays near the end allowed Rise to set themselves up for a huge comeback.
Zooma would go 10-6 in SnD and put FaZe back in a tie for the match. However, it was short-lived. After being tied 5-3 at the half, Rise would capitalize on mistakes in Evac Uplink. In the first round, FaZe spoiled as many as five points. They’d spoil even more at the start of the second round. After tying the game 5-5, Rise outscored FaZe 13-2 to win 18-7 and take the 2-1 lead into CTF on Fringe.
The Fringe game would get interesting, and both teams went back and forth. A 2-1 FaZe lead at half would be erased after Loony went off and got a late capture forcing OT. In OT Octane pulled a scythe out to help Rise get the first round pull in 1:52. In doing so, he’d gain a Cerberus amongst the rest of his streaks. The Cerb had a nasty two piece kill, and a Slacked three-piece and return would close the game out. Rise held on to win 3-1.
OpTic was up next and would dispose of compLexity rather quickly, 3-0. Scumpii put on one heck of a display pulling a +32 on Stronghold in the first Hardpoint. He finished 50-18, the 50-bomb was all he needed to get OpTic charged up. OG would win 250-141. Formal gave us some nasty jump Snipes and won a 2-v-1 with two nasty shots in route to a closely competitive, 6-5 SnD. And the team rallied around each other to hold coL off in the last Uplink. OG won 11-9.
In the final match of the night. H2k put on a display of excellent play. The only match that was close was the first hardpoint. It had shades of FaZe-Rise, coming down to the third mansion hardpoint. H2k won it 250-236 in part because of huge plays from legal on an eight streak. Phizzurp popped War Machine in mansion to finish things off with three kills around the kitchen counter. A 6-1 drubbing on SnD would preface the incredible 17-5 win on Uplink for H2k. Lacefield and Phizz both turned up in Uplink Lace went 29-15 with four carries and had a 14-streak to end the first round. H2k led 11-1 and erased all hope for C9. Phizz backed him up, going 31-19. The game was never close as H2k joined the 4-1 crowd.
Heading into the second night of competition in week four of stage two, the standings look like this:
H2k 4-1
Rise 4-1
DT 4-1
FaZe 3-2
OG 3-2
ENV 2-2
LUM 2-2
C9 2-3
ELV 2-3
TSM 1-4
100T 1-4
COL 1-4