CDL New York is over and the Huntsmen fell just short of another title. The weekend was full of action, map fives and high octane Call of Duty. Chicago brought their A-game and cannot be upset with a second-place finish. With their strong performance over the course of the weekend, the Huntsmen now sit at second place in the standings. With one more event left for Chicago, it appears they are performing near their peak which will spell trouble down the line for the competition.
Courtesy of London Royal Ravens
The Huntsmen kicked off CDL New York against the London Royal Ravens. The Royal Ravens are a good team that consistently challenge the Huntsmen. Chicago adjusted to the new meta better than most teams and gave London more than they could handle. The Huntsmen emerged victorious 3-1 to open up CDL New York.
London out-rotated Chicago early through the first set of rotations. Despite this, London only held onto a 31 point lead. The Royal Ravens continued to out-rotate Chicago, but Chicago managed to break hills and keep the score close. The difference in map one was P5. London beat Chicago to the hill both times and broke away late. London handed Chicago a rare map one loss putting all the pressure on the Huntsmen.
Chicago put on a clinic on map two. The Huntsmen were dominated by wuskin the last time these two teams met. It was very evident Chicago did their homework. Chicago came out aggressive. They threw smokes to cover up long pathways and got up in the face of London. In round three, the tide truly turned. The Huntsmen clutched up in a three versus five scenario and devastated the Royal Ravens. After this, Prestinni and Envoy carried the Huntsmen to victory combining for a 15-8 performance.
The Huntsmen applied great pressure early in the Domination. Chicago did a great job of being present at A while simultaneously holding B&C flags. The Huntsmen kept the Royal Ravens contained to their spawn flag which was the difference maker. In the second half, London controlled B early and brought the score back to even. Down the stretch, Arcitys got behind London and caused them to commit resources to hunt him down. Ultimately, this was their downfall in the second half.
Early in the Hardpoint Chicago played a bit sloppy by giving up setups and early rotations. At the end of the first set of rotations, the Huntsmen earned the spawns for Tire Shop – the hardest hill to break in the game. Chicago managed to etch out 57 seconds and a 30 point lead and simply did not let off the gas. Trading roughly 50% of the remaining hill time with London earned Chicago a map four win and 3-1 series win.
Courtesy of the Call of Duty League
Whenever Chicago and New York meet sparks certainly fly. The knockout round at CDL New York was no different. New York took Chicago to map five once again, but the Huntsmen simply were too much for them to handle and Chicago emerged victorious 3-2.
Chicago came out of the gates hot on map one. After the first set of rotations and a 55-second hold on P5, the Huntsmen enjoyed a 78 point lead. New York snowballed time on first and second hills bringing the score back to even. Just as they have done all season, Barber Shop hill has been Chicago’s saving grace. Their 53-second hold eventually paved the way to their first yet another map one win for the Huntsmen.
The Huntsmen came, saw and conquered. They simply outplayed the Subliners on the second map. Chicago managed to position themselves better and get opening picks, putting New York on their back foot. Chicago did not allow New York to trade out kills and ultimately played more unified which lead to a quick map two victory.
The Chicago Huntsmen played an incredibly sloppy map three. They started with the better spawns and relinquished them early. New York’s map control in the first half put Chicago at a 15 point deficit heading into the second half. The Huntsmen being overzealous was their downfall. They were down just 12 points with 1:45 left. Instead of holding A&B flags, they opted to triple cap. The Huntsmen ultimately lost the gunfights at A&B which opened up the map for the Subliners to take advantage and squeak out a win.
In typical fashion, the Hardpoint between these teams came down to the wire. The match was extremely close and it was a huge hold on Tire Shop which earned the Huntsmen a 192-171 lead late in the map. Unfortunately, New York took complete control of the map and kept Chicago cornered to the opposite side of the map. Down the stretch, the kill feed lit up yellow and the Huntsmen could not get close to the hill.
New York’s fifth map Search and Destroy woes continued in the knockout round. Chicago outmaneuvered New York on the map. Many of the Huntsmen’s rounds were won by Envoy and Prestinni flanking or someone causing enough of a distraction to enable players to get behind the Subliners and rip them apart. In the later rounds it was superior map positioning by the Huntsmen which secured them a spot in Championship Sunday.
Courtesy of Atlanta FaZe
This was the most anticipated match of the season. Two juggernauts going after a spot in the finals. Despite FaZe being a top-two team with the Mutineers, Chicago simply outclassed Atlanta in the semifinals. Chicago crushed the Atlanta FaZe 3-0 to earn themselves a spot in the finals.
The Huntsmen played a near-perfect opening map. On P4 and P5, Chicago’s slaying was too much for Atlanta and they jumped to a 150-70 lead quickly. Unfortunately for FaZe fans, things only got worse. Abezy secured the P2 spawns for Atlanta; however, the team pushed up too far and relinquished spawns to the Huntsmen. In the blink of an eye, Chicago had accumulated a lead of 108 points and FaZe had no window to make a comeback.
Once again, Chicago nearly played a perfect second map against the best Search and Destroy team in the CDL. The Huntsmen’s teamwork was at a peak. They moved throughout the map as a unit and picked off members of the Atlanta FaZe one by one. Chicago did not enable Atlanta to trade out kills and simply took more map control than FaZe.
The Chicago Huntsmen were resilient in the third map. Chicago gave up early map control despite the better spawns. The Huntsmen still managed to earn back control of the map and have a five-point lead at the half. Early in the second half, Chicago lit up the kill feed. They outslayed FaZe and managed to capture all three flags. After this, the match was over. Prestinni destroyed his former teammates going on a 15 kill streak keeping Atlanta out of a spot in the finals.
Courtesy of the Call of Duty League
Unfortunately, the Huntsmen ran out of magic in the finals. Chicago failed to execute and made little mistakes on each map which ultimately cost them the trophy. New York came out and swept Chicago 3-0 to win the home series. Despite this, there are a lot of positives for the Huntsmen to walk away from CDL New York with.
The Rammaza Hardpoint came down to execution late by the Subliners and ZooMaa more specifically. After the second rotation to Barber Shop the Huntsmen led 226-174, but New York out-rotated and outplayed Chicago after that. ZooMaa continued to flank behind the Huntsmen and cause issues at the end of the map. Heading into the last hill (P5) Chicago earned the initial time. New York subsequently earned the back spawns and ZooMaa snuck behind to take out all of the Huntsmen.
Chicago looked fantastic in Search and Destroy all weekend, except for this map. Chicago looked like the team of old by digging themselves a hole early and trying to climb out. New York held better positioning on the map and picked off Chicago one by one. Down 2-5, the twins pulled off a miraculous two versus four and Chicago won another round to bring the score to 4-5. Unfortunately, the deficit was too much to come back from and Chicago dropped their second map in a row.
Once again Chicago struggled to gain momentum on Hackney Yard Domination. Despite starting with the better spawns, Chicago gave up map control early. The team played a bit too staggered and were down 24 points at the half as a result. The Huntsmen had a much better start in the second half. They were consistently holding two spawn flags and reduced the deficit to 14 points. New York simply executed a team push late after getting all five Huntsmen down. After this, they regained two spawn flags and it was all over for Chicago.
Featured image courtesy of Activision
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