The end of the regular season is here. The inaugural CDL season is down to its last event. All top-four seeds are subject to change depending on this weekend’s outcome. With a highly contested, action-packed day one, fans are certainly in for a treat this weekend. Some teams are fighting for a top-two seed while others are fighting just to stay out of the losers bracket at Champs. With so much on the line, the remainder of CDL Toronto certainly will not disappoint.
Courtesy of ESTNN
Yesterday was incredibly stressful for Huntsmen fans. Early on it was clear that Chicago’s gameplay had fallen from its recent peak at CDL New York. Recently, the Huntsmen have been starting matches slower and slower. Map one used to be a near-lock for the Huntsmen earlier this year, but recently they are not as dominant. It is paramount Chicago begins to play their best with the top four seeds up for grabs.
The match yesterday opened on Chicago’s Hardpoint pick: Gun Runner. Early on the Huntsmen were out-rotated and/or out-slayed. Prestinni was moving about the map well, but the team could not get on the same page. When Chicago had any sort of setup, Seattle often found a way to break the hill. Once Chicago found themselves in a deficit they simply could not get the momentum going to get out.
Rest assured for Huntsmen fans, after a scary round 11 win in map two Chicago turned on the jets. In the Domination, a mode where the Huntsmen have struggled this year, Chicago came out and looked great. They carried their momentum into the final Hardpoint and earned a spot in the Knockout Round. If Chicago want to make it to Championship Sunday they cannot start slow on Saturday.
The Dallas Empire are coming off of their third home series win of the year at CDL London. With this win, Dallas launched themselves into second place in the standings. If they want to hold onto their top-two seed, making it to the finals this weekend is paramount. The Empire showed no signs of slowing down Friday against the Florida Mutineers. Dallas are looking very scary ahead of the year’s biggest event.
The Florida Mutineers were regarded as the best team in the game for a while. Their fast pace of play and unconventional strategies have made them lethal this year. Dallas started slow, very slow. The best teams in Call of Duty can make small adjustments on the fly. Dallas did exactly this yesterday. The Empire prevailed for the reverse sweep after being down 0-2 despite the Mutineers’ best effort. Their gameplay looked sharp, they slayed out extremely well, and they came up clutch when it mattered most. For any fans hoping Dallas would let their latest title go to their heads, they were quite disappointed.
Courtesy of the Call of Duty League
It is no secret that the Toronto Ultra started slow this year. The Ultra have begun to look better and better over the past few tournaments. Toronto have even made it to a few Championship Sundays this year. The Ultra put on a very impressive performance against a much-improved OpTic Gaming squad. OGLA pushed Toronto to a map five, but Toronto were simply too strong. Adding CleanX to the starting lineup truly helped the Ultra find success this year.
The Ultra are looking much better despite sitting at tenth in the standings. Toronto are poised to make a deep run at Champs. The Ultra can propel themselves out of the losers bracket with a strong run this weekend. Toronto put themselves in an amazing position to cause an upset early at Champs if they carry this momentum into the event. The Ultra continue to prove they have what it takes to hang with the best teams in the CDL. The biggest question is will they step up and rise the occasion of making a deep run when it matters most?
Featured image courtesy of the Call of Duty League
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