Who Is CWL’s Number Two?

Team eLevate is in the thick of second place talk; are they all the way to the number two spot though? (Photo Courtesy: MLG)

With all of the recent happenings in Call of Duty World League, the question is starting to gain more traction. Who is the second best team in the CWL?

OpTic Gaming is the easy number one choice. They’ve been dominant in CoD for over a year now, and during Black Ops Three play, they’ve been nearly untouchable. A Stage One win in the finals and the regular stage play has been followed up by a great Stage Two. They’ve won two LAN events after Anaheim, (ESWC being the other) during the past few months, and they currently sit atop the CWL standings at 10-3 (they didn’t play a match Tuesday evening). Anaheim was total domination from the Green Wall. They only lost three maps, and two of those were in the Championship. A dominant, undefeated weekend and another trophy are returning to Chicago, Illinois with the boys from OpTic.

With all of that being said, OpTic is the only clear choice to be atop the CoD world. The second, third, and fourth best teams are all wide open.

Rise Nation is probably most of the community’s pick for the number two spot. They made it to the Stage One finals against OpTic and nearly won the Stage One Championship. Since then, they’ve maintained a dominant record. However, two LAN events (ESWC & Anaheim) have revealed some flaws for the team. They lost to Team eLevate and finished third. At ESWC they were beaten by Splyce and gave up maps to several EU teams. However, they still weren’t a total embarrassment. A lack of dominant play throughout, they’d get beat 3-0 by OpTic and have to play out of the Loser’s Bracket. They would finish Third at Anaheim after losing to eLevate in the Loser’s Final. The LAN draught continued for Rise and had raised serious questions about the teams ability to take the next step forward. Luminosity Gaming was able to complete the Stage sweep of Rise on Tuesday night, and Rise now sits at 9-6 and in fifth place for Stage play. That comes on the heels of a 3-1 defeat thanks to Team SoloMid, who has been one of the worst teams in the CWL this Stage. Is Rise still number two? We all thought so after Stage One, but maybe they aren’t.

With all of the trouble Rise has had, they’re still a top team. The talk is only gaining traction thanks to stellar play by a variety of other teams in the CWL.

eLevate managed to finish off Anaheim with a second place finish; they performed well above expectations. They nearly beat OpTic, who was flawless for the tournament, and forced a winner-take-all scenario in a second best of five. However, they still lost. In CWL play, they are 8-5, one spot above Rise in the standings. That’s all after an 0-3 start. 8-2 in the last 10 matches, eLv, is making noise in CWL. The only losses since the abysmal start are thanks to Rise and FaZe Clan, two teams we have constantly been talking about. The move to drop Remy and acquire Felony has made huge waves. They dropped Remy’s .74 K/D and picked up Felony’s 1.0 since joining the roster; the slaying has been a huge part of the turnaround. Felony also has added a huge boost to Search and Destroy for eLv, with a score per minute of nearly double that of Remy’s (78-47). The team is riding a hot streak, can they keep it up?

FaZe Clan is another interesting choice. A mainstay in the CoD community, they’ve always been good. However, they’re currently just a step behind OG. They can slay just as well, if not better, than any of the competition. However, they’ve been unable to close games out. A Tuesday evening loss to Dream Team has them sitting in third place. It’s been the inconsistency that often hurts FaZe. With all of the ability to be a top contender, they just have to find the consistent ability to slay and play objectively to really have a shot at number two.

Last but not least, EnVyUs. An enormous 3-1 victory over OpTic before heading to Anaheim gave the team a boost. Since returning they played two matches on Tuesday, winning one and losing the other. The team is in second place on the CWL leaderboards at 10-5. Losses to Rise Nation and Luminosity in Anaheim would be the factor in an early departure for EnVy. Despite that, the team still stands near the top of CWL. They are looking to continue the push now. However, the failure on LAN over the weekend may be a sign. There were some substantial critiques of the event, with slow turn on controllers being the biggest gripe. EnVy may have had a legitimate complaint, but they still finished below what the goal was.

So, who is number two?

Currently, I’ll still give the nod to Rise. They’ve given fits to OpTic over and over again. Despite the dominance from OG of late, they’re still one of the few teams that have shown they can beat OpTic straight up. Yeah, they’ve played below expectations on LAN. But they’ve also won a LAN tournament this year and taken OpTic to the brink of a loss at the conclusion of Stage One. Rise is still number two for now, but eLevate is closing fast. A good run in CWL play and even better showing at Anaheim has placed them in the thick of the talk. They need to finish the season strong, but they’re knocking on Rise’s door right now.

For FaZe and EnVy, they may be above the other two in the standings; they aren’t as good, though. It’s not a wide gap, but it’s still a gap. EnVy beat OG with the Green Wall in Las Vegas, playing at a game shop. So that win isn’t tone setting. A poor performance from both on LAN pushes them to three and four.

My current power rankings:

1. OpTic Gaming
2. Rise Nation
3. Team eLevate
4. Team EnVyUs
5. FaZe Clan
6. Luminosity Gaming
7. Dream Team
8. Cloud9

Be sure to follow and subscribe to TGH on our site, Facebook, and Twitter. Feel free to head on over to the fourms and leave your feedback as to who the best teams in the CWL currently are.