Full Wrap #17

A new CDL season kicked off this past weekend with new teams, new players, a new game, and the same delays. It’s time to find out who cooked this offseason and who’s getting cooked.

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THE NEW CDL

OpTic Texas

Roster: Shotzzy, Dashy, Mercules, Huke

Full Wrap Grade: A

Vancouver Surge

Roster: Gwinn, Lunarz, Abe [R], Lqgend [R]

Full Wrap Grade: D-

Boston Breach

Roster: Snoopy, Purj, Cammy, Nastie

Full Wrap Grade: B

Miami Heretics

Roster: RenKoR, SupeR, MettalZ, Traix [R]

Full Wrap Grade: B-

FaZe Vegas

Roster: Simp, Drazah, Abuzah, 04

Full Wrap Grade: C+

Toronto KOI

Roster: JoeDeceives, CleanX, Insight, ReeaL

Full Wrap Grade: B+

Los Angeles Thieves

Roster: HyDra, Scrap, aBeZy, Kenny

Full Wrap Grade: B+

Carolina Royal Ravens

Roster: SlasheR, Nero, Craze [R], Lurqxx [R]

Full Wrap Grade: B-

G2 Minnesota

Roster: Estreal, Skyz, Kremp, Mamba [R]

Full Wrap Grade: C

Cloud9 New York

Roster: Afro, Beans, Mack, Vivid

Full Wrap Grade: F

Paris Gentle Mates

Roster: Neptune, Envoy, Ghosty, Sib

Full Wrap Grade: A+

Riyadh Falcons

Roster: Exnid, Pred, Cellium, Kismet

Full Wrap Grade: B

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

OpTic Continue Their Winning Ways

As the only roster that remained following Black Ops 6, OpTic’s chemistry has carried over seamlessly, forcing the rest of the league to play catch-up. Other than a minor hiccup at the Kaysan LAN, where they lost to the Gentle Mates in the Grand Finals, OpTic has been the team to beat.

After years of opening weekend heartbreaks, which included Round 11’s and forfeits, OpTic finally started the season off with a win for the first time since moving to Texas. Matched up against the new-look Falcons, they steamrolled the GTA RP duo of Pred and Cellium. The full red carpet was rolled out for the Falcons as they finished -46 as a team. Mercules led the way with a 1.80 series K/D (63/35), and Shotzzy followed closely behind with a 1.50 (69/46). The duo was also first and second for the series in kills, damage, first bloods, and overloads. The Shaq and Kobe of the CDL.

Next up in OpTic’s crosshair was G2 Minnesota, who have been outperforming preseason expectations. That trend continued with a clean 250-197 Map 1 win for G2. Skyz dropped a 1.50 (30/20), Mamba top fragged with a 1.46 (35/24), Kremp chipped in a 1.27 (33/26), and Botzzy made an appearance with his 19/31 (0.61) performance. The Search and Destroy was tightly contested, but only one team had a Mercules who finished 9/6 and clutched two massive 1v2’s, including a ninja defuse. The next two maps went as expected, and OpTic rolled to a 3-1 series victory, this time led by Dashy and his series-leading 91 kills and 1.34 K/D. Batman has arrived in BO7.

The Trio Face Off

Friends turned to foes; after years of stacking CDL points, the former FaZe trio faced off for the first time since splitting in the offseason, and one of them fared better than the rest.

With LAT taking on FaZe, the ex-SMG duo found themselves on opposite sides for the first time in their careers, and they did not disappoint. The Map 1 Hardpoint went back and forth with aBeZy going on an 11 streak and Simp popping 3-piece after 3-piece, where Thieves pulled out a 250-225 win. The pair topped the lobby in K/D and kills, with aBeZy posting a 1.52 and Simp a 1.42. The rest of the series followed a similar trajectory, with LAT sweeping FaZe in 3 close maps. It was truly a battle between the former duo; aBeZy finished with a 1.35 (62/46), Simp with a 1.38 (72/52), and HyDra was the only other player to go positive. Imagine if they played on the same team.

To finish their weekend, LAT had the Falcons on their schedule, which matched aBeZy up against Cellium. Falcons clutched up with a final P2 break on Scar Hardpoint to close out Map 1 250-236 with Exnid (1.40) and Pred (1.30) leading the way. Thieves woke up and rattled off 3 maps straight, starting with a 6-0 in the Search. This time the ex-teammates didn’t steal the spotlight, as Scrap won series MVP with his 1.10 (97/88). Can Simp or Cellium take a series off aBeZy?

We’ll Always Have Paris

Gone is any remnant of the LA Guerrillas branding, and now the rabid fanbase of the newly branded Paris Gentle Mates finally have a team they can cheer for. After squad wiping last year’s absolutely horrendous squad, Gotaga put on a team building clinic, picking up the dropped LAT duo of Ghosty and Envoy, grabbing Sib, and rounded out the team with the breakout player of last year, Neptune. This was comfortably the second best team in the preseason, and the only to beat the complete OpTic squad (albeit while Shotzzy was half asleep). They sought to carry over their success into the regular season and came out guns blazing against Vancouver. 

Vancouver also has a completely rebuilt squad after parting with their entire roster that placed second at four events last year. Their new squad, built around former Halo pro Lqgend, would be happy to place second to last this season. The Gentle Mates welcomed Lqgend to the CDL with a brutal 3-0 (250-152, 6-3, 4-1), where Ghosty led the way with a 1.53 series K/D (66-43). Envoy made very clear in Map 3 exactly how highly COD pros rate Lqgend. Spoiler: He’s lost.

Their second matchup of the weekend came against the new-look FaZe Vegas. With the trio going their separate ways this season, only Simp and Drazah remain from last year’s squad. After FaZe owner Kaysan very publicly bashed Neptune’s lack of decorum in securing a roster spot for the year, FaZe decided upon 04 as aBeZy’s replacement instead. Many of the roster-building geniuses on Twitter were quick to brand this a mistake, but FaZe were just as quick to beat the Neptune allegations in this series.

Despite Gentle Mates winning both Hardpoints by a combined 500-279 margin, FaZe managed to pull out the Neslo victory, securing maps 2, 3, and 5. They emphasized Map 5 with a 6-0 on Den as Simp dropped both his nuts and a 1.26 series K/D on Paris’s forehead. Are we in for a Cold War-esque MVP season from Simp?

The Spanish (Un)civil War

Gone is the Toronto Ultra branding, and in its place is the Toronto KOI, dropping their original CDL branding for the name of their parent company. The KOI name now marks a second Spanish organization in the league to rival the Miami Heretics, so it was only fitting that the two teams would face off during the league’s opening weekend. With existing beef already between newest Heretics member Traix and KOI’s content creator Aroma, fireworks were sure to pop off. Hey Traix, maybe stay out of Twitch chat for a while.

Toronto came out of the gate hot, opening a 131-0 lead that finished as a 250-85 whooping in the Scar Hardpoint. The Heretics managed to eek out a 6-5 Search victory, but momentum was quickly cut short after an 8-0 double mercy rule in Overload. Cinturón a culo.

Despite the back-to-back ass kickings in respawns, Heretics managed to lock in for Map 4, securing their first Hardpoint victory of the season, a 250-199 affair on Den. This set up the first Map 5 of the season, a fitting end to a heated series. Miami pulled out to a 3-2 lead before Toronto rattled off consecutive rounds, punctuated by Insight and JoeDeceives clutching a 2v3 in Round 9. The rivalry is only beginning. 

OTHER OFFSEASON CHANGES

Overload Takes Control

For the first time in CDL history, a brand-new game mode is making its debut as the new third mode. Control has been ditched, and in its place is Overload, a mix of Uplink and Blitz. Both teams fight to take a singular EMP to one of two points in their opponent’s base. Once a player moves into the designated site with the EMP, their team scores a point, and the EMP is reset to a new spot in the middle of the map. The bomb carrier is also forced to use their pistol.

Scrap, Snipers and Smokes

Snipers and smoke grenades have been a topic of furious GA discussions over the past few seasons. This season has been no different, with Scrap doing his best to sway the community to GA the sniper. In the end, Scrap was unsuccessful, and snipers are currently allowed, and each team is allowed one smoke. The one stipulation is that once a player dies twice with the sniper, their team is no longer allowed to use it for the rest of the map.