As the Call of Duty League heads into its final weekend of the Major 3 Tournament Online Qualifier Matches, one thing remains the same, the storylines are fun and exciting. This weekend’s matches have the potential to create major drama and chaos amongst the CDL Points standings.
As the Call of Duty League teams head into their final week of Major 3 Online Qualifier Matches, many are in a dogfight in the middle of the CDL points standings. Going into the weekend the teams that occupy 6th-11th place are all within 30 points of each other. The standings, in order, respectively; Rokkr, Surge, LA Thieves, Mutineers, Ultra and Subliners. All six of these teams will be looking to gain the 10 CDL points possible from an online qualifier match win. And for a couple of them, two matches this weekend means the possibility of serious reshuffling in the standings.
Ironically, of all the matches this weekend, there is only one scheduled between two teams brawling in the middle of the standings.
The match will be between the seventh-ranked Seattle Surge and the ninth-ranked Florida Mutineers. This will be one of two matches for each of these two teams this weekend and could have direct implications on the points standings.
Panic Mode? Thieves fans are already there.
The Los Angeles Thieves have struggled to find a consistency level to put them among the league’s best and it has to be a bit surprising for everyone. A team loaded with old and new talent, many thought this would be one of the teams competing for championships at every major. Instead, over halfway through the league season, the Thieves team sits eighth in the standings. On top of this, they are still weighing different options and trying to figure out their best possible roster. They recently underwent a roster change moving Kenneth “Kenny” Williams to an SMG, a role he had not played for the last couple CoDs. The change has not done much to help. Kenny’s glaring struggles on the SMG role are enough to consider asking the question. Should they move him back to an AR? Or try to substitute Pentagrxm? LAT is 1-2 so far in the Major 3 Online Qualifier Matches. A spot in the winner’s bracket at the Major 3 Tournament looks slim for LAT as their final matches will be against two of the best teams in the game. The first will be on Saturday against another out-of-form but high-ranked team, the Boston Breach. Their second matchup is the last match of the weekend and is anticipated to be one of the highest spectated matches of the week.
There have been many teams, no change from previous years, that have made roster changes during this year’s Call of Duty League. Oftentimes it is very difficult to make a roster switch and see large amounts of success. One of the few teams that is now on the lookout for this is the Minnesota Rokkr.
Before the Pro-Am Classic a few weeks ago, amid the month-long Call of Duty League break, the Rokkr made a one-for-one roster move. The team decided to play the game under a different system.
Main AR Michael “MajorManiak” Szymaniak was subbed out of the starting roster for longtime Call of Duty pro and Vanguard challengers star, SMG Colt “Havok” McLendon. “Havok” joined the team in hopes of pairing him with a player with a similar type of pacing to their current young superstar, Eli “Standy” Bentz.
Initially, the change did not seem to be much help as the Rokkr did not make it out of their Pro-Am group and only had one win coming against a challengers team. The team immediately began receiving backlash about their decision to sub “MajorManiak” out, but the team stood by it.
Since then, in the Rokkr’s first four matches of the Major 3 Online Qualifier matches, they are 4-0. A record many did not see coming, even considering what some would call a weak strength of schedule thus far. Led by veteran world champion Dillon “Attach” Price, the Rokkr have a chance this weekend to prove they are here to stay.
That chance will come against a consensus top two team in the game and the number one team in the CDL points standings, Atlanta Faze. Despite their obvious dip from last year’s dominant run, the Atlanta Faze have created standards for themselves with high expectations and an even higher acceptable floor. There is no team to prove your worth against more than one of the best in the game.
The match will take place at 6pm est on Friday.
What should the Toronto Ultra do with their substitute star, Thomas “Scrappy” Ernst? That is a question only those in the Ultra’s organization can answer, but it is quite a big one.
The Toronto Ultra have been possibly the most inconsistent teams in the game, until as of late. After finding almost no success in the respawn game modes for months on end, after the break, the Ultra began to show large signs of improvement.
The Ultra’s only loss during these stage matches so far came in a 2-3 against a red-hot Minnesota Rokkr. After losing that match the Ultra went sunday knowing they had a high-stakes match on the line. It did not help Sunday morning when the team found out Main AR Jamie “Insight” Craven was sick and unable to play in the match.
But there was never a reason to fear, the Ultra have “Scrappy” as their substitute.
“Scrappy” has become known as one of the best Call of Duty players in this game after his dominant run in Challengers. Known for his smack-talk and ability to fire teammates up, “Scrappy” also has one of the straightest shots in the scene. He proved exactly that during the team’s highly significant Sunday match.
The Ultra would win the series 3-2 over another red-hot team in the scene currently, the New York Subliners. That was on the back of the substitute, who posted a 1.26 K/D in the series and made big plays to win them maps.
The success of the now-proven young superstar has created a large question mark over the heads’ of the Ultra’s coaching staff.
Do they continue with the hot hand and see if Scrappy can continue to change things for the better? Or similar to the situation in LAG , will Ultra bring “Insight” back for “Scrappy”.
The team has two matches this weekend with the understanding the CDL points from those matches can prove to mean everything.
They will take on both non-US based organizations, first a matchup against the Paris and Legion on Friday and then a possible highlight reel series against the London Royal Ravens
Optic Texas proved once again last weekend that they are good and good at everything. Continuing to play with their substitute Byron “Prolute” Vera for the injured Inder “iLLey” Dhaliwal, Optic continued their run of dominance through the Major 3 qualifier matches.
Optic Texas are now 3-0 through their first 3 matches and have only lost one map. That map came this last weekend, in what would turn out to be their fifth out of five series wins against the Atlanta Faze.
Not a single person believed that Optic would struggle with a substitute because of the sheer talent that the main three guys on the roster bring, but no one expected them to look even better. With “Prolute” the team has not taken any dips and surely loved his play against Faze when he dropped a 1.38 K/D across the series.
Even with “Prolute’s” immediate success in the roster, Optic has made it quite clear that “iLLey’s” return is To Be Determined but inevitable.
They will continue to try and prove they are the best team in the game this weekend in their two matches against the New York Subliners and the Los Angeles Thieves.
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