CDL Dallas was an incredibly exciting event of high octane Call of Duty. The event was full of ups and downs for the Chicago Huntsmen. Chicago started group play with arguably the toughest opening match playing the Minnesota ROKKR. This match was an absolute nail biter with every map coming down to the wire. The Huntsmen then played a very close match against the Paris Legion where they eventually came out on top and earned themselves a spot in the semifinals. In the semifinals, the Huntsmen took on the Florida Mutineers and ultimately lost for the second tournament in a row. So far this season the Florida Mutineers appear to be Chicago’s kryptonite.
Minnesota ROKKR
The Huntsmen played an extremely close match against the Minnesota ROKKR. Both teams had a lot to prove as they were both at the top of the standings heading into this tournament. Minnesota could taste blood in the water as they reached the finals in their last tournament. The Chicago Huntsmen were looking to redeem themselves after getting reverse swept by Florida in CDL Atlanta. Each map came down to the last few seconds and proved to be captivating for fans on both sides, but the Huntsmen managed to prevail and sweep the ROKKR 3-0.
Hardpoint on Rammaza
The Huntsmen started out strong by rotating early and claiming lots of time on the money hills. The Huntsmen were able to hold a ~40-60 point lead for a good majority of the first half of the Hardpoint. Then Chicago’s road turned out to have a few potholes on it. After losing a hefty amount of time on hills one through three on the second set of rotations, the Huntsmen found themselves down 225-189 heading into the fourth hill. Chicago dug their heels into the ground and managed to earn a whopping 58 seconds on the fourth hill which put the score at 247-225 heading into the last hill. All Huntsmen fans were holding their breath as Chicago fought tooth and nail just to contest and try to earn three seconds of hill time. Envoy earned himself three kills in a short span and opened up the slightest window for the Huntsmen to crawl through and take map one.
Search and Destroy on St. Petrograd
What is there to say besides Envoy, Envoy, Envoy? Search and Destroy got off to the worst start imaginable for Chicago. The Huntsmen were down 0-5 in the blink of an eye with Envoy and Scump combining for one kill and ten deaths. Envoy earned four kills in round six and got the ball rolling for Chicago and they never looked back. Dylan absolutely took over the Search and Destroy and the ROKKR had no answers for him. He slid through the cracks, flanked behind enemy lines and carried the team to a final round 11. Gunless put the Huntsmen ahead with first blood, but Scump over-challenged after getting Silly weak and died evening the life count at 4-4. The ROKKR managed to plant the bomb and a smoke was thrown down as all chaos broke loose. Envoy had nerves of steel and jumped on the bomb to successfully ninja defuse the bomb capping off what was an incredible 14-6 performance.
Domination on Gun Runner
The score was close for the entirety of the Domination. Both teams held their ground well with most of the score fluctuations coming from holding the B flag rather than capturing spawn flags. In the first half, Chicago’s largest lead was only 15 points and in the last 45 seconds the ROKKR managed to turn the map into a one-point game with the Huntsmen up 77-76. The second half was more hectic with players running from side to side on the map consistently changing the spawn flags and creating madness on the map. With just over a minute left the Huntsmen were up 130-127. The Huntsmen aggressively pushed up to the A flag and managed to capture as they now held flags A and C with only 56 seconds left. From their push to A, Chicago earned 12 of the next 13 kills to ultimately put the nail in the coffin and secure a clean sweep winning the Domination 150-143.
Paris Legion
The stakes were high in the match against the Legion given the winner would advance to the semifinals and earn themselves more CDL points. The Paris Legion were looking for revenge after losing to the Huntsmen in the semifinals of CDL London 3-2. Sadly for Legion fans, the Huntsmen were still on top of their game and emerged victorious taking the series 3-1.
Hardpoint on Gun Runner
The Huntsmen dropped the ball on map one. The map started off well for the Huntsmen as the score was even early. A strong rotation to the last hill earned the Huntsmen a large chunk of time and put them up 25 points heading into the second set of rotations. The Huntsmen had another set of successful rotations to the third and fourth hills and managed to build on their lead bringing the score to 201-131. Kismet took over for the Legion throughout the rest of the game. The Huntsmen lost control and after the second set of rotations the Huntsmen found themselves up by only 33 points. Heading into the second hill Kismet earned a double kill and spawned the Huntsmen out as Paris managed to earn the majority of time on the second hill and force a lead change of 236-221. With three members of the Huntsmen setup near the third hill everything looked to be under control. Unfortunately for Chicago Kismet earned a triple kill and paved enough room for the Legion to steal the map from the Huntsmen 250-230.
Search and Destroy on St. Petrograd
Envoy earned himself the title King of Paris after his top tier performance on St. Petrograd. The Huntsmen did a great job early on switching up strategies. Some rounds were played extremely fast and others quite passively never letting the Legion get comfortable on the map. Chicago found themselves up 5-2 as Envoy led the charge again and started off 9-3 as if nothing had changed since the match against the ROKKR. Chicago was a little sloppy in rounds eight and nine and could feel the pressure as the score was now 5-4. Round ten was immeasurably tense as the round clock reached 35 seconds left with no teams earning a kill. Envoy then heroically pushed up to the Legion’s side of the A bombsite and managed to get an opening kill on Zed. Envoy then went on to kill Kismet and the entire Paris Legion squad. Dylan achieved the ace to end the map at 15-5 bringing his St. Petrograd kill total over the past two days to 29.
Domination on Gun Runner
The Huntsmen came out hot and never cooled down in Domination. They held a two-cap for most of the first half and put tremendous pressure on the Legion. This pressure resulted in a 23 point lead at the end of the first half. In the second half, the kill feed was green light a Christmas tree. The Huntsmen were on a tear and could not be stopped. With 48 seconds left Chicago held a 40 point lead and it was mathematically impossible for the Legion to come back. Chicago won the map in dominating fashion by a score of 174-147.
 Hardpoint on St. Petrograd
The second hardpoint was ridiculously tense and full of action. After a bit of sloppy play by both teams after the first set of rotations, the Huntsmen were up 125-111. Chicago did not do a great job of rotating through the first two hills of the second rotation and found themselves down 173-165. Zed was out-rotating the Huntsmen on almost every hill and was winning the favorable spawn for his team. Moving to the fourth rotation the Huntsmen were up 203-190 and the match was about as tense as it can get. The Legion took over on the fourth hill and the Huntsmen could not break into the hill until there were nine seconds left. Fortunately, Chicago constructed an unbreakable setup turning their 211-225 deficit into a 250-231 win.
Florida Mutineers
For the second tournament in a row for the Mutineers appear to have Chicago’s number. The Huntsmen strove for redemption from CDL Atlanta, but could not overcome the eventual champions. Chicago played an admittedly sloppy and paid the price for it as they would up losing 3-1.
Hardpoint on Gun Runner
The Huntsmen started off firing on all cylinders. Through the first set of rotations the Huntsmen enjoyed a 153-49 lead on the back of strong rotations and controlling money hills. After getting out-rotated on the second hill and losing the key gunfights on the third hill, the Huntsmen’s lead began to evaporate. The Mutineers held a majority of the time on the fourth and fifth hills and only found themselves down 193-232. Luckily the Huntsmen had built up enough of a buffer that they earned enough time on the first hill to secure the 250-199 victory, negating the need to rotate to another hill.
Search and Destroy on Picadilly
The Huntsmen have a bad habit of starting slow in Search and Destroy and this map was no exception. Chicago found themselves getting picked off one-by-one and quickly down 0-3. The Huntsmen only managed one first blood out of the ten rounds played and were constantly fighting from behind. Despite the slow start, the Huntsmen managed to make the map interesting after clutching up a 2v4 and tying the score at 3-3. The Mutineers were too composed and executed their gameplan to win the map 6-4.
Domination on Hackney Yard
The Domination was the complete opposite of what the Huntsmen are used to. Chicago started on the preferred side where it is much easier to get to the B flag and start the two-cap early. Unfortunately, after a minute of gameplay, the Huntsmen lost most of the gunfights on the map and found themselves with no flags for 30 seconds. Typically the team which spawned on the preferred side finds themselves with a lead after that half, but the Mutineers overwhelmingly controlled the map and held a 95-61 lead. In the second half, Chicago could not get any momentum going. They got picked off left and right making it nearly impossible to execute a team push. Florida never took their foot off the pedal and won 193-125.
Hardpoint on Azhir Cave
Azhir Cave has been the Huntsmen’s bread and butter, but yesterday the bread was a little stale for Chicago. The first four hills were highly contested. Chicago lost a few key engagements on the fifth hill and trailed 81-129 through the first set of rotations. The Huntsmen were out-rotated on the second hill as their deficit began to mount to 119-171. In classic Chicago fashion, forceful holds on the third and fourth hill earned them a slight lead of 201-185 heading into the last hardpoint. The Huntsmen let Florida beat them to the rotation and the Mutineers reclaimed the lead heading into the third set of rotations 225-207. The first hill was highly contested, but what lost Chicago the map was letting Havok slip through the back lines and rotate to the back of Cave East with 35 seconds left on the hill. Once he arrived, Havok earned the spawns for the hill and paved a much easier route to victory for the Mutineers as they won the Hardpoint 250-222.
Featured image courtesy of the Call of Duty League
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