On Sunday March 29, 2020 the Call of Duty League returned for an exhibition match. Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson and Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi picked teams of other Call of Duty League pros and battled it out. The broadcast seemed to be a dry run of the new online-only format. The game was casted by Philip “Momo” Whitfield and Miles “Miles” Ross while the entire broadcast was actually all controlled by Momo. He did quite a good job as the stream went off without a hitch while having no significant issues. The match occurred during the weekend of the cancelled Dallas home series so it was a welcomed sight to see a game take place.
The Teams
The players were selected beforehand for the CDL Exhibition Match and were then put into teams by captains Arcitys and Accuracy. The teams follow:
- Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson – Chicago Huntsmen [VOD linked]
- Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson – Florida Mutineers [VOD linked]
- Brandon “Dashy” Otell – OpTic Gaming Los Angeles [VOD linked]
- Dylan “Dylan” Henderson – London Royal Ravens
- Ben “Bance” Bance – Toronto Ultra
- Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi – New York Subliners [VOD linked]
- Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal – Dallas Empire
- Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer – Minnesota Rokkr [VOD linked]
- Renato “Saints” Forza – Los Angeles Guerrillas
- Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov – Seattle Surge [VOD linked]
The Match
Only Hardpoint was played with 5 maps, the best of 5 would be the winner. The match was streamlined as there was very little downtime between maps. It was very fast paced and provided some intense viewing as both of these teams were very similar in skill level.
Hardpoint Hackney Yard
Dylan started the map off strong for Team Arcitys and because of his slaying the team took an early lead. Apathy responded with an 8 kill streak to turn the tide and overtake team Arcitys. Dashy ran an MP7 loadout instead of the commonly used MP5 during this map. Team Accuracy continued to outplay Team Arcitys as they maintained a steady lead. They would then begin to pull away as they started to dominate Team Arcitys. Team Accuracy closed out Hackney Yard with a 100 point lead at 250-149. Apathy went on a tear with 33 kills while iLLeY had 32 kills.
Hardpoint Gun Runner
Dylan dominated again early in the match allowing Team Arcitys to take a small lead. Bance was fragging out with Prestinni as Team Arcitys prioritized rotations and because of this they maintained their lead through the half. Team accuracy began to close the gap. Accuracy and iLLeY popped off as Team Accuracy brought the score to a tie 221-221 with 1:50 left on the clock. On the warehouse hardpoint Team Arcitys flooded in on Team Accuracy. The hardpoint was a total bloodbath. Team Accuracy pulled ahead and stole the win from Team Arcitys at the very end in an absolute melee inside the warehouse. It was a nail biter of an ending in a very intense and high kill game.
Hardpoint Rammaza
Throughout the beginning of the map Team Accuracy maintained a small lead. Team Arcitys closed the difference and tied it up right before the half way mark. Then Team Accuracy pulled ahead as they locked Team Arcitys in the back spawn. Team Accuracy maintained their lead as Team Arcitys fought for survival. The final score was 250-230 as Team Accuracy took the map. iLLeY dropped 38 kills with his Toronto Ultra skinned MP5 (iLLeY plays for the Dallas Empire).
Hardpoint Azhir Cave
Team Accuracy started with an early lead but Team Arcitys closed the gap and stayed right behind them. Dashy and Dylan were frying which allowed Team Arcitys to surpass Team Accuracy. The hardpoint kept changing back and forth as both teams were neck and neck. Team Arcitys pulled ahead and battled it out for the win, putting the teams first point on the board.
Hardpoint St. Petrograd
Prestinni, Vance and Dylan started slaying early to give Team Arcitys an early lead. Team Accuracy responded while Accuracy and iLLeY pushed back. Dylan then fired up and turned back the tide against Team Accuracy. Both teams were mere points away from each other as they both were consistently getting kills. The cafe became a war-zone as Team Accuracy pulled ahead. Dylan again goes on a rampage as Team Arcitys closes the gap. Prestinni and Arcitys go all out to get right on the heels of Team Accuracy. The twins maintained the pressure and then surpassed Team Accuracy. Both teams then flooded the apartments to try and finish the series but did not get enough time to close it. As the teams battled it out it would come to one more final hardpoint. Team Arcitys would take the win 250-244 in another extremely close match.
CDL Exhibition Match – The Final Score
Team Accuracy – 3 MVP – iLLeY
Team Arcitys – 2 MVP – Dylan
Good to be Back
The CDL Exhibition Match was a fun game overall. It was great to watch the pros play again with the Call of Duty League starting to come back. Miles and Momo had a great cast as Momo did an excellent job behind the controls. It was smooth sailing until a slightly rocky ending but it was actually quite funny and worked well as an outro. It was a nice surprise to get to see this match as everyone waits for the official return of the Call of Duty League 2020 season.
Featured photo courtesy of Call of Duty League
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