Full Wrap #20

With only one week of qualifiers remaining before Major 1, parity has never been higher in the CDL. Consistency amongst teams? Well, that’s a different story.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

Bird Flying High

Whether you reside in Riyadh or Carolina, it doesn’t matter; the birds of the CDL are flying high. The Falcons and Ravens entered this weekend riding the momentum of recent wins, but both were still the underdog with matchups against Gentle Mates and KOI, respectively. Luckily for them, the CDL has been anything but expected so far. What the flock is going on?

The Gentle Mates opened up the series in emphatic fashion, dismantling Falcons in the opening Hardpoint 250-55. Ghosty’s MVP season continued, going 21/9 Map 1 with Neptune (29/13) also pub stomping. It appeared the Falcons had quickly bounced back, taking the first two rounds in SnD, but Gentle Mates answered by taking four straight rounds themselves. In need of another momentum shift, Riyadh rattled off four straight rounds of their own, led by Kismet (9/5) and Pred (9/6), who combined for four first bloods.

Tied up at 1-1 in the Overload, Exnid was able to split the defense to barely sneak in the lead-taking goal. Paris nearly put in the game-tying goal with 1:45 remaining, but the Falcons were able to shut it down, and Exnid made the audible to hold the device in the depths of spawn. The strategy worked wonders, and the Falcons took a 2-1 lead into Map 4. Is this an intended gameplay strategy?

With a potential Neslo already in the cards, Riyadh’s SMG duo had other plans. They combined to go 68/51 (1.33) on the Blackheart Hardpoint, capped off by a 10-streak to end the map by Exnid, as they took the series 3-1. The Blackheart 2v2’s are paying off.

Next up, the Ravens had their opportunity to show that their opening weekend with Exceed was no fluke. Carolina had their toughest test with Exceed yet, matched up against KOI, who looked to alter the script. The fans agreed, with Toronto taking 95% of the match prediction votes on Breaking Point.

JoeDeceives came out hot, dropping 30 (1.67) Map 1 to help roll out the red carpet for Carolina. Ultra kept the foot on the gas in the Search, jumping out to a 4-2 and eventual 5-4 lead, but Craze had the answer. Carolina took the final two rounds, culminating in a Round 11, 4v4 mid-map hit on Den that looked more like a Hardpoint breakoff. Craze popped two kills to open the round, putting an exclamation point on his 16/7, three-first-blood takeover Map 2.

The Round 11 dictated the rest of the series, as Carolina took Maps 3 (3-1) and 4 (250-152) in convincing fashion. Exceed led the way with a 30/19 (1.58), 2-goal Overload and a 26/20 (1.30) Hardpoint to close the series. He finished the series as the only positive Ravens player (1.19), alongside Craze’s team-leading 90 kills. One change is all it takes.

Kenny’s Revenge

Faith in the current Thieves roster was falling, and it was falling fast. Holding a 0-6 map count with a series against OpTic on the way, Kenny was just one 3-0 away from getting halfway to the legendary 0-18 mark from last year. Luckily, a series against OpTic is exactly what Kenny needed.

To start out the series, it looked like LAT had found new life, especially Kenny, who finished 36/27 (1.33). Unfortunately, OpTic had Mercules, who led the rally back with a 37/25 (1.48) performance of his own to take Map 1 250-216. Thieves needed to regain, and that’s exactly what they did. It was complete domination in the Search; Kenny and Scrap combined to go 19/7 and took the map 6-1. Thieves tried to match their Map 2 score in the Overload, taking it 5-1 while outslaying OpTic by 23.

Looking to end the series on a Scar Hardpoint, LAT kept OpTic on the back foot for most of the map. aBeZy had himself a map, finishing 30/22 (1.36) with 2:14 in hill. Scrap laid down his usual lobby-leading damage (4,242), and HyDra topped the lobby in kills (32) with 9 seconds in time to his name to end the series 3-1. Thieves’ Black Ops 6 Hardpoint formula is back in action.

After another week of heavy speculation, Kenny’s 100/78 (1.28) match MVP performance should shift podcast topics for now. Huntsmen, your roster’s safe.

FaZe Stocks Are Volatile

FaZe were flying high off a 3-0 win over a seemingly dominant OpTic team last week and looked to carry their momentum into the penultimate weekend of the Major 1 Qualifiers. While Cloud9 gave Gentle Mates all they could handle last week, they had nothing for FaZe, who more than doubled their score in every single map (250-128, 6-2, 8-1). 04, a heavily criticized pickup in the offseason, had the series of his life. After kicking off the series with a 40/21 (1.90), he carried his performance to a final line of 71/42 (1.69), leading the lobby in kills by 16 and damage by over 1000. C9 was ready to head to Hollywood as they rolled out the red carpet with every player negative in yet another embarrassing display from the 11th-place roster. Hopefully HyDra’s buyout was worth all the L’s.

After dispatching one 1-4 roster, a second was the next opponent for FaZe this weekend. G2 has had a disappointing start to the year. After winning their opening match against C9, they had lost four straight series, the last three coming in 3-2 fashion. The solution this weekend was simple: Win in 4. 

It looked like more of the same for G2 in Map 1, with every player negative and Abuzah running rampant with 31 kills and 127 seconds in the hill. But they managed to turn things around in Map 2, despite 13 kills from Abuzah (including a sniper ace), as Kremp and Skyz both dropped 11/7 for a 6-5 map victory. Map 3 gave us another overtime, and G2 were able to win the pseudo SND round, with Kremp picking up the final two kills. 

Skyz turned back the clock in Map 4, reminding everyone that he is a World Champion (twice if you count last year’s ring). It was a takeover map from the get-go, as he opened with a nasty three-piece and ended 34/24 (1.42) to drive home the upset win, avoiding another potential game 5 collapse.

The Real SupeRstar

Miami was one of the biggest surprises last year, as their all-Spanish roster, led by an elite rookie AR duo, placed top 4 in 4/5 tournaments, including the last three of the season. After losing ReeaL to Toronto in the offseason and rumors of RenKoR trying to leave for FaZe, their season start has been a rocky one, but a matchup with Vancouver can set anyone up for success.

SupeR led the way Map 1 with a 24/14 performance, chipping in 81 seconds on the hill as Miami cruised to a 250-194 victory. He followed up in Map 2 by opening with a 1v3 clutch in Round 1, then another 1v1 clutch against TJ to push Miami to map point. They closed out the victory at 6-3. Despite struggling in Map 3, SupeR again proved he has the clutch factor with yet another 1v3 clutch, this time in overtime, to close out the series 3-0. Vancouver were ready to join C9 at their premiere with another red carpet, with Abe struggling mightily at 40/51 (0.78) with only 5,127 damage. The EWC standout has not had a good start to his rookie season, holding an overall K/D of 0.92 with a 0.87 in HP and 0.86 in SnD. With no Lqgend left to point fingers at, will Vancouver be trigger-happy with a second change?

Miami’s next matchup on the weekend was against a fellow top 4 finisher from last year’s Champs, the Boston Breach. Most of this series felt like a 4v1, as Nastie was the only player on Boston shooting back. SupeR and RenKoR combined to hold the last point of Map 1 and clutch a 250-248 Heretics victory. Nastie hard-carried the Breach in Map 2, going 13-4 while the rest of his team combined for just 14 kills in a 6-4 Boston win. Boston was able to score the first point of the Overload, but Miami answered back with three unanswered, winning the map 3-1. SupeR again led the way with a 26/14 performance, adding in a goal for good measure. Map 4 was a mere formality, as Miami was in control the whole way en route to a 250-176 closeout victory.

TOP PERFORMERS

Nastie: This weekend Nastie looked like a Ferrari in a dilapidated carport: wasted. In Boston’s first matchup against Miami, he was the sole positive player, posting 84/77 and carrying them to their only map victory. He followed up that performance by being the best player in the lobby against Cloud9, dropping the most kills and damage in a 95/71 showing. He ended the weekend 179/148 (1.21 K/D) with a ridiculous 30/13 (2.31 K/D) in Search and Destroys. It seems the clock has struck midnight on the rest of the Breach roster after their Cinderella run at Champs, and Nastie is stuck holding the bag.

Kenny: Probably the least likely candidate for team of the week, Kenny turned back the clock and once again proved he’s the OpTic reaper. Entering the week, LAT would have been happy with a 0.9 or better in three maps from their flex, and he ended with three maps over a 1.33. Kenny was the catalyst for Thieves, leading the way in kills, K/D, and damage across the first two maps. His 11/4 Map 2 to save them from the threat of another 3-0 may go down as what saved him on this LAT roster. As the lone player to reach 100 kills in the series, Kenny also led the way in K/D. The Thieves will win a lot of series if they continue to get this version of Kenny.

Pred: Back for another week, Pred once again reminded the league what he’s capable of. Taking on arguably the best team in the game and leading the lobby in kills (86), K/D (1.23), and damage (10,628) en route to a victory is the type of performance that can put Pred back in top SMG conversations. After getting speed-ran Map 1, Pred took over, ending the final three maps 71/52 (1.37). Something’s brewing for the Falcons.

SupeR: It should be no surprise that SupeR rounds out our top performers, as he was Captain Clutch this weekend. In addition to his two 1v3 clutches, 1v1 clutch, and tandem closeout with RenKoR of Map 1 against Breach, SupeR also ended the weekend with a 131/100 (you can do that K/D math yourself). While he was not the kill or damage leader for his team in either series, his ability to be impactful on the map extends past gaudy, eye-popping numbers.