After last night’s action, we move into another important date for several teams. It’s important for the teams at the bottom to start immediately gaining momentum. The teams in the middle work to separate the contenders from the pretenders. And the teams at the top work to secure the top seeds for the Stage Two Finals.
Luminosity Gaming (3-6) 9th v.s. Cloud9 (4-5) 8th
This game was one that would pit the new roster of LG against C9. Could LG find a way to close the gap on the 3-6 record? A win for LG would move them into the sought after top eight.
It all started with a huge HardPoint matchup. LG cemented their dominance early with a blowout, 250-121. Nameless paced the action by finishing 35-22, adding 1:14 in the hardpoint. The ultimate difference came in the slaying department. Not a single LG player dropped below 1.0; the team finished with a 1.24 Kill/Death ratio. For C9 it was the complete opposite; only one player (Assault, 1.19) finished above the 1.0 mark. The team finished with a 0.80 K/D.
In the Search and Destroy, LG would play a man down. Studyy had connection issues, and it was a 3-v.s.-4 for LG. It wouldn’t matter. A 6-2 win was over almost before it started. Nameless,11-4 K/D, and Spacely, 12-5, carried LG to an easy victory, despite being outnumbered. Again, the 1.93 K/D for LG compared to the 0.56 K/D for C9 would be the decisive stat.
Finally finding the slaying they were searching for, Cloud9 out slayed the opposition in the Uplink matchup. It wasn’t a wide margin, 1.06-C9 and 0.95-LG, but it was enough to gain an 11-5 win. Three carries and a throw for Silly would give him a superstar performance in the match.
The theme carried over to Capture the Flag, C9 outslaying LG 1.03-0.97. However, the result wasn’t the same. Saints and Spacely went a combined 40-26 with two flag captures. It allowed LG to hold on to a victory. For LG, it means a 2-0 week and now puts them in the hunt for the finals. So far, so good. Cloud9 shouldn’t go into panic mode yet; a good week of scrims and they should be okay.
Rise Nation (6-3) 3rd v.s. H2K (6-3) 4th
Rise Nation fell from its first place slot and went into the match looking to avoid its first 0-2 week of the stage. H2K was looking to push itself above Rise and get directly in line for the top of the standings.
The first map, HardPoint on Stronghold, would be an absolute slugfest between two of the top teams. It was back and forth all the way through the first rotation of hills; Rise held a narrow 114-96 lead. Starting the next set of hills, it would change for just a moment. Rise would dominate the middle hill and take an 114-107 lead, pushing that to 185-109 on the Bottom Mansion Hill. Rise set that up by a well-timed push to gain spawns, they forced the spawn up to the top mansion and gained a significant lead. Rise would start to make things close in Rock Alley; they narrowed it to 185-159. Continuing to push momentum, H2K had a good set of kills in the Bunker Hill. The 80 point lead was narrowed to a 221-211 lead. However, another great rotation from Rise enabled them to close the map out at the Middle Hill, winning 250-211.
The biggest difference early was Rise stepping up in the slay category. Loony and Slacked on the first and fourth hills had big moments. It was Loony extending a streak to nine from Rocks to Bunker. That gave Rise Nation valuable score. Loony ended up on top for Rise; he finished 38-27 with 1:19 in the hill.
SnD has been a good mode for both teams this year, but more so for H2K. Despite the apparent advantage for H2K, it appeared as if the Casters were split to begin it. Mr. X was expecting a 2-0 Rise lead and Maven predicting a 1-1.
Starting out, Fears led the flank all the way to A-Bomb, picking up an insane snap kill on Loony and following it up with a nice kill on Loony. He’d get the defuse, and it was 1-0 H2K. From there Phizzurp
would put his backpack on and jump to an eight kill streak. It was 4-0 before things had even started. He would get full streaks in the process, and that would enable them to only lose one round. Rise looked uncomfortable the entire time. It would end with Lacefield picking up two final round P0-6 kills and Legal getting a two piece to finish off a good team win.
H2K would outslay Rise by a few more kills. However, they couldn’t score in the first half of Uplink. Rise did most of the scoring. Utilization of their specialists was key, scoring four points thanks to camo and overdrive. They added another point thanks to a nice cross map, from trains to front barn, pass from Loony. It allowed Rise to lead 5-0 at half.
H2K was able to drop three of Rise’s players and get an easy camo dunk to narrow the lead to only three; the slaying was finally playing out. Slacked countered with his nice play, using his kinetic armor and getting a nice throw. Rise would rebound it back to a dunk and gain an 8-2 lead with two minutes remaining. Phizzurp and Legal hit their throws. It was 9-4 with a minute left. Loony’s final overdrive dunk put them up 11-4, and that would be it. Rise was up 2-1 heading into CTF.
The CTF would be a total annihilation by Rise. They outslay H2K 67-56, giving them the K/D advantage 1.20 to 0.82. That enabled them to retain total control of the map and finish H2K off, 3-1. Seven flag returns marked the death nail for H2K. Rise avoided the two-loss week.
FaZe Clan (6-2) 1st v.s. Team SoloMid (1-8) 12th
This match was expected to be all FaZe all the time. However, the opening HardPoint was not exactly as predicted. FaZe got all they could handle and TSM nearly pulled off an unprecedented upset.
FaZe would eventually outslay TSM 120-98. Looking purely at that stat, you’d expect a dominate performance. But it was much more back and forth. FaZe would dominate in off-hill kills, but some timely plays and anchoring from TSM allowed them to keep the match within 20. The final score would end up, 250-238. Enable led the way for FaZe; he finished it up on top with kills 38-24, adding 1:40 in the hill. For TSM, it’ll be a wasted opportunity. FaZe, as per the usual, will be upset that they were on top slaying but allowed the opponent stay close enough to do damage; that strategy won’t work tomorrow night against OpTic Gaming.
TSM may have gained some momentum. They would take a 2-1 lead, winning both defensive rounds, and they shut down FaZe’s pushes both times. FaZe would win both of its defensive rounds, and early on, it was 2-2. Both teams were trying to find that first offensive win. Whea7s and Attach led both teams at 5-3 through four rounds.
Clayster made a nice finish to the fifth round and FaZe took its first offensive round. Back-to-back wins by FaZe, they had control 4-2. In a 2-v-1, Attach had the chance to give FaZe a huge lead. However, after tagging up one player top glass, he would drop on the rush. Ivy would get two kills and take home the tying round for TSM. Just as FaZe had the chance to run away, they let TSM back in it. Zooma gave FaZe Nation a sigh of relief as he shut down Ivy’s chance to clutch a 1-v-2. Ivy was last left again, this time, he finished things off and to Round 11 the map went. Ivy left with a 1-v-3 to win it, would take one out. However, with two still up, they defused the bomb, and Ivy was seconds late from securing a TSM upset. Two maps slipped through, and FaZe was in control 2-0.
A 3-14 start from Ivy and ColeChan allowed FaZe to jump to 4-0 at the outset. On the flipside, Zooma and Attach started 21-7, both double positive. FaZe typically slays with the best of them, and in Uplink, it allowed them to keep the push going. TSM cut into the momentum with a one point throw. However, kinetic armor would benefit FaZe near the end as they drove in and finished with another dunk. 6-1 at the half.
ColeChan got a sneaky move around Back Grandmas to get an opening dunk for TSM it allowed them to cut into the momentum and attempt a rally. Another throw would make it 6-4. It was Ivy flipping his K/D to positive. He slayed and led TSM into a close game. But they couldn’t continue the push. Another FaZe dunk coupled with map control made it 8-4, a two-possession game again. A throw and good overextension made it a three-point game for TSM. After TSM had dropped four, Whea7s was forced to hold spawns. He was effective for a second, killing three. But a nice kinetic coupled with a three streak from FaZe made it 10-5. A late dunk made it 10-7, yet it was too little too late, and FaZe pulled out a 3-0 victory.
For the match, FaZe won the slay, 246-197. It was a big game by FaZe in that category, but they still have work to do.
Dream Team (6-3) 5th v.s. OpTic Gaming (6-2) 2nd
With FaZe winning, OpTic needs a win to remain atop CWL. Dream Team could boost itself above OG and several others with a win; that’d put them in the running for a top-two seed. A big week for OpTic started with this match against Dream Team.
OG would start things in traditional fashion. They trailed early, 31-26 through two hills. That could be credited to Crimsix’s 1-7 start. After that, he’d go on a tear. A 12-3 run would give OG the 96-40 lead. They continued to push and through the first rotation, it was 133-51. Scump was 19-10 and Crim rebounded to 16-13. From there, OG never slowed. They’d win it on the final hill of the second rotation, 250-122 in a total blowout. Scump’s 41-24 performance echoed his 50-bomb two weeks ago on the same map.
In SnD, OpTic came to play. Jumping to a 5-0 lead thanks to Formal’s snipes and Scump’s VMP damage. They were electric up and down the board. Scump finished 10-3 and Formal finished 7-5. Near the end, two rounds were salvaged by DT. It was all for not and OG would close out the win, 6-2.
A quick opening salvo was fired by OG. Formal started 4-0 and OG had a throw just as the game started. DT countered by quickly slaying all four OG players and moving into top barn. It took them 15 seconds to get the throw, but they were able to equalize the map. Despite the quick start and overwhelmingly dominant map control OG displayed, they could only scrape across a last second throw. A half that looked offensive to start, turned into a defensive round. It was 2-1 at half.
Crimsix, Scump, and Formal’s Scythe enabled OG to get another quick throw. Having nice map control, it again looked like it could be another set piece for OpTic. However, good defensive kills by DT allowed them to stop the charge down 3-1. A tempest and map control by DT allowed them to skirt a pair of dunks in. The only way to beat it was to try and push an overextension. They pushed it and slayed their base out. That allowed Formal to get another barn throw and cooled the DT aggression down. An amazing camo play by Crimsix gave him a dunk in the face of two DT defenders. In a flurry of scoring, OG took the 6-5 lead.
For the next two minutes it was back and forth battles at bricks. A missed throw from OG turned into a counter push from Sender and DT. Chino picked the ball up deep in the base and took it all the way to tin, giving it to Killa. Killa used his camo perfectly and took it to top grandmas. He juked out OpTic and, despite being one shot, got the dunk for the 7-6 lead. With 20 seconds remaining, DT threw the ball on top of bricks for a 15 second reset and it gave them an incredible win in Uplink.
Crimsix and Scump started out 8-3 and 7-3 respectively giving OG the map control needed to secure the maps first capture. The 1-0 lead would quickly extend to 2-0 after OG fought a couple of kills and won the spawn battle to comfortable the flag through the middle of the map. At half, OG led 2-0 and felt comfortable. It looked like a 3-1 series win was in order. Sender was able to slay near cages to give DT its first capture. Another capture came from DT when they pushed through Greenhouse. OpTic tried the overextension but was just seconds late. Scump dropped to 14-15 at one point after the game drew even. With both flags out, Karma had to get to the DT side of the map. A nice jumping kill and return would give OG a 3-2 lead. Coupling on that they’d get one more capture and take a 4-2 lead with 40 seconds left, that was all she wrote for DT.
OpTic and FaZe will now play for sole possession of first place tomorrow night in the match of the week at 9:00 P.M.
Team EnVyUs (6-3) 4th v.s. compLexity Gaming (2-7) 11th
coL came into the series as the overwhelming underdogs. They’d shed that title in the first map. Many of the casters expected them to come alive in SnD, if at all. But they’d have none of it.
coL led the entire way, never trailing at the end of a hill. Early on it was slaying from outside of the hill that allowed them to wrack up a big 83-48 lead. Jkap started 3-9, and the lack of slaying would continue for EnVy throughout the map. Ricky starting 13-7 and Parasite starting 16-6 pushed the lead to 114-55. In the first Bunker Hill, Ricky would get five Purifier kills and allow the team to lead 139-82. Rotating through, coL continued the push. On the Middle Hill, Slasher and EnVy would try and start the comeback.
On the Middle Hill, Slasher and EnVy would try and start the recovery. An aggressive Scythe would allow him to get four kills and make it 146-119. But just as they got in it, Ricky turned it on again. At 27-15 with 1:26 in the hill through seven HardPoints, he was clearly dominating. It would get as close as 187-161 on Bunker Hill. But once again, a 232-186 lead was pushed via the purifier. Goonjar finished things up with three tempest kills and in the 11th hill, the game ended 250-217.
coL won the first round to start the SnD. However, they did it differently than most; they won on offense. Parasite’s quick 4-0 start and Goonjar getting a round ending kill allowed them to jump out 2-0. With that, coL smelled blood. They came alive and looked like a renewed team. Parasite getting another round winning kill, coupled with Slasher’s 0-3 start made it a quick 3-0 deficit for EnVy. Parasite and Goon combined to start 10-2 for coL.
A 3-v-1 against Parasite would enable EnVy to get an easy win and stop the bleeding momentarily. EnVy got a nice boost from Jkap, and they cut the lead to 3-2, but a dropped sixth round gave Parasite and coL the 4-2 lead.
Slasher’s wall run to water allowed him to take the first two out for EnVy. Goonjar was quickly in a 1-v-3; he’d cut one down and nearly get a second, but it wasn’t to happen. EnVy worked on staying close, just trying to find an offensive strike. A 4-4 tie would follow, and it was a best of three between the two teams. The three-round winning streak for EnVy put them up 5-4; all of a sudden, coL was in danger of choking the 2-0 series lead.
A first-blood nade from Parasite made round 10 interesting, but coL would unsuccessfully rotate after Parasite was gunned down near A. An HC-XD kill on Goonjar would allow EnVy to take the 3-2 advantage and close it out. MirX 1-9 SnD will certainly make coL fans scratch their head.
A quick smoke out and dunk from coL was huge for the momentum for the team. If they could get Uplink going, that would be a giant swing for the rest of the season. Parasite continued the push, and MirX won his gun fight out of tin, it allowed coL to put EnVy on its heels. Looking lost, a heave over barn missed keeping EnVy on the backside of the momentum. But Apathy wouldn’t stop after the missed throw, 20 seconds later he pushed through for a dunk and it was 3-2, the lead was all but evaporated. One of the most important plays of the season was Parasite camoing and dunking the ball; it was the first time coL had been able to push through the lines since the first push. It was a little resiliency that has been absent all season from the team.
As EnVy continued the push, Goonjar jumped for an interception but was quickly slain by John. It ended up hurting coL as EnVy got the two-point dunk over the one-point throw. Parasite held the ball under the Uplink for three seconds to allow his team to position itself; he would finish with a dunk. He didn’t hold it long enough, and JKap would get a camo dunk with only three seconds remaining. It was 8-7 at the half.
Using Scythe, Heatwave, and Tempest, EnVy pushed up the map to get a dunk. It burned all of the EnVy specialists, but they did convert successfully. Parasite’s ring-around-the-Rosie in trains and throw to back rocks allowed his team to spawn in and thwart the EnVy counter-push. MirX and Parasite pushed to mid-map control and threw the long one-pointer up, but missed. It was back to even, as both teams fought for map control. coL would gain control and pass to Top Barn for Parasite. He used his camo as he jumped out, but an EMP killed his camo, and he was killed before scoring, it was a pivotal play. coL, showing more resiliency, pushed forward again for another throw. Game tied at nine with 1:30 left. Continuing the push, CoL dunked it, and a three-point swing gave them the 11-9 lead. With 17 seconds left, Goonjar sealed the win with a throw. Just before the end, a camo dunk from parasite made it a 14-9 win.
Without the SnD loss, it would’ve been a 3-0 coL win.
It was a story of Goonjar in the first round of CTF. Goon’s six kill streak and a capture would allow him to gain his tempest and full streaks. Continuing the streak in the second round, Goon would get an eight streak rolling as he added another capture to take the lead 3-1. John would get back to the coL base and end the streak at nine for Goon. However, that wouldn’t allow EnVy to capture. coL was complacent with turtling and protecting its flag. Parasite got a capture and flag carrier kill; Goonjar would pick up the flag and kill after Parasite went down. He’d get his third capture of the map, and it was 4-1, advantage coL.
Of EnVyUs’ losses, they’ve lost to the worst teams TSM and coL now. The other two came against the top two, FaZe and OpTic. EnVy’s hot streak came to a disappointing end, 3-1.
Tomorrow night, 100 Thieves (2-7) will play against Team eLevate (5-4) at 5 P.M. EST.
The match of the week is for first place. OpTic Gaming (7-2) will battle FaZe Clan (7-2)at 9 P.M. EST on Twitch.Tv.