Full Wrap #11

We’ve seen this story before. OpTic got themselves a star from Challengers and rejuvenated their season in the process. Only one more week of online Call of Duty left to play, and more contenders are appearing.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

No Longer Looking For 1

Chaotic is how you could describe OpTic’s roster situation this season, but Mercules may put an end to that for at least a few months. Merc’s strong debut at Major 3 with Ultra had seemingly guaranteed him a roster spot for the remainder of the season, and he finally found his new home one week later than expected with OpTic.

First match: series-leading 100 kills and a 1.33 K/D. Even with the Mercules takeover, OpTic fell to Breach 3-2, losing both Search and Destroy maps. OpTic will need to fix their Search if they want to make a Sunday.

How could Merc possibly top his performance against Breach? By leading OpTic to a 3-0 victory over the Ravens, a team that has beaten OpTic all season. Additionally, Merc led the series in kills again while posting a 1.51 K/D. OpTic will need to win one more series to guarantee Winners’ Bracket going into the final week of Qualifiers, with matches against LAGM8s and Ultra remaining.

Mercules showed out in his first weekend with OpTic, currently leading Stage 4 in K/D with a 1.40. It’s safe to say the future is looking green for Merc.

Troubled Terrors

Another disappointing weekend for FaZe where they went 1-1 with matches against two bottom teams in Cloud9 and LAGM8s. Not much has changed; Cellium is in MVP form, the Tiny Terrors underperformed, and their Hardpoint is a serious cause for concern. Is it just a phase, or is it just FaZe?

In FaZe’s first match, the new look Cloud9 squad came out swinging. FaZe lost all 3 respawns, only taking the Search, as Cloud9 took the series 3-1.

Tiny Two-Piece: In the two HP losses against C9, Simp and aBeZy were a combined 95/121 (0.79), both ending negative in the mode and series.

When you need a bounce-back, LAGM8s is the perfect team to have on the schedule. Simp came out hot in the Hardpoint, going 29/15 (1.97) and FaZe raced off to a 1-0 lead. FaZe made another 3-5 comeback in Search and then aBeZy had his turn taking over in a respawn with a 23/17 (1.35) performance to close out the 3-0 victory. I mean seriously.

FaZe’s HP problems have been magnified with the removal of their best Hardpoint map, Protocol, where they boasted a 10-2 record. All roads lead back to improving their Hardpoint play if FaZe wants to win another event this year.

Welcome to Miami 🏖️ 🌴

Miami took care of business this week to move to 4-0 and the top seed in Major 4 qualifiers. They wins were against two lowly teams with 3-1 victories over Falcons and Cloud9, but nonetheless, this has been a new look Miami.

Since elevating SupeR to the roster at the beginning of Stage 3, they have become legitimate contenders, leading the league with a 10-3 record. Their only losses in that time frame have come at the hands of LA Thieves and Toronto Ultra (twice).

Search and Destroy wins championships, and SupeR wins Search and Destroy. Miami started the season 11-20 in the mode but since adding SupeR, they are 15-3, including 12 straight online map wins.

Is Miami’s rookie duo one of the best in the League? SupeR leads the entire league in SnD K/D (1.49) and Kills Per Round (0.87), as well as having the second-best Opening Duel Win % at 62%. #1 is his teammate RenKoR.

Still, question marks remain for this team. While they have become perhaps the team to beat in Search, they have losing records in both respawn modes with SupeR. They auto-veto Protocol Control, and they don’t have a solid Hardpoint or Control map to fall back on when they need a win. Despite their 10-3 record, they have not won a single one of those series 3-0. Against top teams and in seven map series, that is not a recipe for success.

Winners’ Bracket Worries

With one weekend of Qualifier matches left to go for the season, Winners’ Bracket is still wide open. The only teams who have locked in their spot are the Heretics (4-0), FaZe (3-1), and Ultra (3-0).

Thieves and Surge matched up in the Major 3 Grand Finals, and both have a record of 1-2, putting them at risk of missing Winners’. They will need two wins to guarantee Winners’ Bracket, with Thieves playing Breach and Cloud9 and Surge playing Ultra and Rokkr. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

The other teams fighting for Winners’ include Ravens, Breach, Rokkr, and Cloud9, who all sit at 1-2 except for Cloud9 (2-2), who will likely be capped at two wins with their final match against LAT being a formality. Thanks to Falcons and M8s for holding the 11th and 12th spots down.

TOP PERFORMERS

Cellium: MC’s frantic bid to add another MVP to his trophy case led to another dominant weekend. In FaZe’s surprise loss to Cloud9, Cell led the team in kills (99), K/D (1.16), and damage (12,703) while being the only player positive. In Atlanta’s bounce-back win versus LAGM8s, he trailed Simp by just one kill for the team lead with 55 but led the lobby in K/D (1.45) and damage (7,598).

ReeaL: While the rookie AR duo has garnered a lot of praise, the team could not function without ReeaL. Against the Falcons, he led the lobby in kills (112 in four maps), K/D (1.20), and damage (13,938). He then did nearly the same in their second series of the weekend against Cloud9, posting the second most kills (97), second highest K/D (1.11), and second most damage (12,154).

Insight: It hasn’t been the best year for Jamie Craven, but he was able to turn back the clock on Sunday with a 1.24 KD performance against Minnesota. After a mixy Skyline, he was able to slow the game down to his own pace. After a mixy first two maps, he posted 17/10 (1.70 KD) in a 3-0 stomp.

Abuzah: The second-year Belgian was a slaying force in Surge’s 3-0 victory over Boston. He led the lobby in K/D (1.27), kills (70), and damage. His 9,062 damage was 1200 more than any of his teammates was able to muster. He set the tone for Vancouver early, posting 43/28 (1.54) in Map 1 while adding the second most time on his team (68s).

Mercules: The buzz around Merc only grew after his head-scratching exclusion from the CDL during Week 1 of Major 4, and his online debut showed why. In both of OpTic’s matches this weekend, he led the lobby in kills and K/D, something they have not been accustomed to out of their second AR player this season. He was a standout in Control, posting 31/20 (1.55) and 34/11 (3.09) statlines, leading to two map wins.

BONUS

Season of Sweeps

Sweep or be swept. Winning the first map has never been more important than in Black Ops 6. The matches Sunday highlighted how the season has gone, all ending in 3-0's, with the final match marking the 77th 3-0 of the season.