Full Wrap #1

OpTic fans may want to turn away after another miserable performance this weekend. On the other hand, Thieves seemed to have found their footing and finally lived up to the super team hype.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

“FlopTic” strikes again

• After their poor start to the stage, Falcons seemed like the perfect round one matchup for OpTic to get their confidence back. They were not. A 3-1 series win where OpTic looked shaky throughout, including getting 3-0’d in the control made it clear that their struggles were here to stay. Is it really a win when Falcons were a round 11 away from forcing their first map 5?

• Ultra made quick work of OpTic in their next match, handing them their fourth 3-0 of the stage. The Scump watch party was in shambles to start the search. A 3v2 post plant round loss followed by a JoeDeceives 4-piece ace led Ultra to a hot 3-0 start. Dashy was the single bright spot in the series for OpTic, the only positive player on the team and his 12/7 helped to force a round 11, which ultimately wasn’t enough.

• Shotzzy should take his own advice and figure out how to play the game. Another weekend with two negative series, dropping a 0.91 vs Falcons and a 0.81 vs Ultra. He has yet to have a 1.1 or better since Minor 1 and OpTic’s only wins since then have been against the two worst teams in the CDL.

• Kenny’s seat has been hot all season and it’s only a matter of time if he keeps putting up stinkers like this. Another series with a 0.7 and more YY’s than kills

• The current OpTic roster has only earned 10 of their 85 CDL points and they only hold a 15 point lead over 9th place. Missing champs would be an embarrassing feat after winning last year. All eyes are on OpTic this upcoming week, with a start in the losers bracket at their home Major looming.

New FaZe boogeyman

• Since starting the season 0-3 the perennial favorites FaZe have shown up, winning both Minor and Major 1. They have won 14 of their last 16 series, with both losses coming to Vancouver Surge. The first loss could have been brushed off as a fluke if Surge had not knocked them off this weekend 3-2 en route to the Minor Final.

• Despite the loss Simp was in MVP form, posting a 1.2 K/D and leading the series with 103 kills. He was trailed closely by Nastie and the surprise of the stage Neptune, who has made the most of his return to the CDL. They both amassed 101 kills in the series.

• The back to back losses to Surge should raise some concerns for FaZe, they certainly don’t want a different Canadian team to have their number all year again. FaZe will look to regain form this coming week with matches against Rokkr and Breach. Two matches that should pose no problem if FaZe is still a top contender.

Surge are the real deal

• Neptune has proved to be the best roster move of the Stage as the replacement for Hicksy. Surge has looked to him for slaying and he has delivered. He paced the entire team and tournament with 384 kills. Does the team’s success after dropping Hicksy signal the end of his CDL career? 

• Surge has been the surprise of the stage, entering the weekend with a 3-0 record that boasted a win over Major 1 winner FaZe. But the question remained, are they for real? Vancouver answered quickly, dispatching Boston easily in the round of 12. They then repeated their upset win against FaZe, knocking off the juggernaut 3-2. After going down 2-1 they proved their clutch gene with Nastie and 04 combining for 22 kills in map 5. They then stomped Toronto Ultra in a dominant 3-0 before going nearly the distance against Thieves in the Final. Revenge opportunity? Surge vs Thieves will kick off next Friday’s resumption of qualification matches. 

• Surge won both hardpoints in the Final, including a masterful 237-204 comeback in map 4 where Ghosty got caught out and 04 picked up a huge 2 piece to break the Thieves setup. Thieves proved their dominance control, winning both with a combined 6-0 round count. Surge was competitive in the searches, losing map 2 in a round 11 before winning map 5 6-4 to take a 3-2 lead. Thieves proved to be too much, and Surge would fall 6-3 in Map 7 Skyline as Thieves exorcised their Major 1 demons. Are Surge the only team that can compete with FaZe and Thieves? 

HyDra returns to MVP form

• The two points Thieves seemed they could improve on following Major 1 was their search and destroy and HyDra’s individual performance. They got both this weekend. Thieves legend Octane summed up his play perfectly with his tweet, “HyDra looking reaaaaal Sublinery lately.” HyDra finished the Minor with a 1.23 and was the only positive player for the Thieves in the final. That is very much Sublinery. Thieves also turned their search around, finishing the weekend 4-1 in the mode and winning finals through the ultimate Neslo with two search and control map wins.

LAG playing AR musical chairs

• The good: Guerrillas M8’s plugged Priestahh back into the lineup alongside Lunarz this weekend and they were able to finally get another win on the board in 3-2 fashion over Heretics. Their map 5 curse is seemingly broken. Now time for bad: The hardpoints were not close and both ARs were a big reason why, going a combined 67/99 across the two maps. Oh yeah, and the win netted them 0 CDL points.

• They were quickly dismantled by Ravens 3-0 in the next round and the AR’s struggled again. Priestahh’s 0.58, 39 kill series is likely sounding alarms in Gotaga’s head. Who’s next for LAG and will the 2023 World Champs finally be completely separated? 

KEY MATCHES

Guerrillas M8 3-2 Heretics

• #M8WIN finally! Minor 2 kicked off with Guerrillas M8’s getting a win over Heretics. This series featured no close maps outside of the control, where defense easily won every round. Heretics dominated the hardpoints but the Neslo was in for Guerrillas M8’s. Priestahh finished 17/7 across the two search maps to lead M8’s. 

Cloud9 3-2 Rokkr

• Battle of the mid: two teams that can look like Sunday contenders one day and then look like they need a roster change the next treated us to a map 5. Well, maybe not much of a treat. Rokkr forced a map 5 after falling down 0-2, just to get slammed 6-2 behind Kremp’s 10/4 and Sib’s 9/6.

Surge 3-2 FaZe

• No revenge for FaZe… FaZe came out hot but Surge found their footing in the search where they were able to find a combined 12 first bloods across the 21 rounds which helped them take both maps. A new creddy spot from Neptune and a 2-piece from Drazah’s trophy pushed Surge over the edge.

Ultra 3-0 OpTic

• OpTic 3-0 simulator. Another series that left Kenny asking Y, Y can’t I get a kill? The hardpoint looked like ranked play for Ultra but OpTic showed life forcing a final round in both maps 2 and 3 where Ultra iced up.

Surge 3-0 Ultra

• Battle of the north: This wasn’t much of a battle and more of a Neptune and 04 show. All of Ultra ended the series negative and Surge was looking confident heading into finals.

Thieves 4-3 Surge

• Minor 2 finals went down to the wire. Surge were able to take both hardpoints off the best hardpoint team in the game and Thieves looked dominant in control with two 3-0’s. Losing map 2 in round 11 fashion will be the map that haunts Surge, who held a 5-4 lead before two clean defensive vault rounds from Thieves stole the map.