Full Wrap #23

The CDL was back for Stage 2 Qualifiers this weekend, and we got to see some new rosters in action, as well as some teams that should have a new roster sooner rather than later.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

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M8s Still Streaking

Fresh off their Major 1 victory, the Gentle Mates picked up right where they left off. Despite dropping their first map of the split against the Riyadh Falcons, Paris quickly turned up to win the series 3-1, punctuating the series' win by welcoming their opponent to the 100-point club (250-93). 

Ghosty continued his dark horse MVP campaign with a 1.28 series K/D, while Neptune dropped a 1.16, including a 13/4 SnD performance where he also chipped in three First Bloods. 

M8s second series of the weekend came against a Heretics team that was also 1-0 to start the Major 2 Qualifiers. Miami eked out a 6-4 win in the Search to end Paris’ 6-map win streak in the mode but still fell to the Major 1 champs 3-1. 

The MVP for Paris was Sib, who led the team with a 1.09 K/D and the entire lobby in kills (101) and damage (12,523). Meanwhile, RenKoR was the only Miami player positive, with an impressive 1.25 in the mismatch.

Mercules, Mercules, Mercules

OpTic went to Major 1 and looked completely different than their online counterpart, but they decided to buck that trend and locked in for this week of Qualifiers. Well, at least Mercules did.

To open the weekend, OpTic comfortably took a 3-0 victory over Boston. It was the Mercules and Shotzzy show in the first two maps, combining to go 69/46 (1.50) in the Hardpoint and 18/6 in the Search, en route to a 2-0 lead (250-180, 6-3). In the Overload, Dashy stood out as he recorded the highest number of kills (29), damage by over 500 (3,626), and achieved the best K/D (1.45), helping OpTic secure a 3-2 map victory to conclude the series.

Next up was a series against a hot G2 team, coming off a T4 placing at Major 1, and they remained hot. Minnesota jumped out to a quick 2-0 series lead, narrowly avoiding a Full Sail in the SnD, with OpTic taking 4 straight rounds before they closed it out 6-4.

Luckily for OpTic, Huke woke the team up in Map 3, going 36/22 (1.64) to keep the series alive. G2 had their chances in each map to avoid the reverse sweep, including a 214-213 lead heading into the third set of rotations in the Scar Hardpoint and a 5-3 lead in the Raid SnD. G2 once again didn’t show any ice and failed to capitalize on either opportunity, pushing their Map 5 record to 0-5. It’s just G2 in game 5.

Nium to the Rescue

Many fans were baffled by LAT’s pickup of Kenny this offseason, as his woes last season on OpTic (and Rokkr) were well documented. After his horrendous showing at Major 1 and a disappointing Top 6 finish, the Thieves decided not to dawdle on making a team change. They dropped the two-time World Champion in favor of Nium, who was already signed on their bench. 

Nium was able to ease into his CDL career with an easy matchup against Vancouver. Despite the 3-1 victory, the rook did not play particularly well, posting a less-than-stellar 0.89 in his debut. 

What did change, however, was the play of his two MVP teammates. HyDra posted a 1.34, his second-highest K/D of the year, while Scrap put up an equally absurd 1.37, his best mark of the season. The duo combined for 203/150 (1.36) in a return to form. Insert Shaq and Kobe gif here.

The team’s momentum carried over into a 3-0 sweep of the ultimate onliners, the Carolina Royal Ravens. The Ravens had not dropped an online match since December 12, but the Thieves made short work of them 250-201, 6-4, 6-4. It was a team effort for LA, as every player went positive, and all of them ended between 53 and 55 kills. 

On the Carolina end, Exceed also returned to form: Burger King form. His 0.58 against the Thieves left him with just a 0.79 K/D on the weekend, the worst mark of any player in the league. Is Nium the enabler the Thieves so desperately needed?

Heretics on the Rise

Despite their loss against Paris, it was still a successful weekend for Miami, who continue to improve with each series. Don’t be surprised if they return to form and contend for Sunday's the rest of the season.

Matched up with FaZe and M8s to open their Stage 2, the Heretics easily could have been fighting from behind the rest of the split, but they came out shooting against FaZe. Taking the Map 1 250-132, going an impressive +32 as a team in the process. Miami followed that up with a Round 11 SnD victory before closing the series out 4-3 in the Overload. 

SupeR led the way for Miami, finishing with a ridiculous 72/43 (1.67), good for the most kills and least deaths in the series. It wasn’t a one-man show either; Traixx continued his impressive rookie campaign with a 65/49 (1.33) performance. ReeaL who?

KOI Pondering the Future

After crashing out of Major 1 with a Top 12 finish, KOI had lost their last five consecutive matches coming into this weekend. Toronto announced that CleanX would be switching roles with ReeaL and moving back to his preferred role as an SMG.

Whether the role swap remained is up in the air, but regardless of role, CleanX came out different, immediately ripping off a ten-kill streak as KOI started strong, opening a 120-13 Hardpoint lead in their first map against Carolina. 

Unfortunately, the wheels immediately fell off for the Little Engine that Couldn’t: Toronto scored just 82 points for the rest of the map as Carolina stormed back to win 250-202. The rest of the series was a story that is becoming familiar to KOI fans as Carolina swept them 3-0. Return of the Caroliners.

In their second series of the weekend, KOI somehow mustered even less of an effort. This time it was FaZe delivering them a 3-0 beatdown. Even more concerning was the play of JoeDeceives; the star SMG dropped a 0.81 and 0.78 K/D in his two matches this weekend after having negative K/Ds only twice in his previous nine series this season. Checked would be an understatement.

With Kips, a Challengers player for the Huntsmen, rumored to be signed to KOI’s bench, could we witness another team change? The ghost of Merc continues to haunt Toronto.

Far From Cloud9

“Who’s that?” would be a valid question for anybody that hasn’t kept up with the Cloud9 roster situation. New York squad wiped following their 1-7, Top 12 start to the season, driven by a cost-savings strategy. Think Moneyball, but without the trying to win part.

Cloud9 now features three ex-Stallions in Okis, Encourage, and Hide, with Nejra rounding out the roster. An extremely young and unproven team, at the Challengers Open, Okis' Top 16 placing was the best, with the other three placing Top 24. To top it off, when the roster was originally formed, they would have been the #15 seed in NA Challengers. The Subliners died for this?

Matched up with G2 in their first series together, expectations were so low that despite the 3-0 loss, watch parties were calling it a respectable performance. Losing the respawns 250-215 and 3-2, they at least put up a fight, but that might be all they can do.

Estreal continued his excellent play, using Cloud9 as a stat-padding series, going 70/53 (1.32).

TOP PERFORMERS

Scrap: The defending MVP was a menace this weekend, dropping 157/120 (1.31), the best K/D of any player. He slammed the door in series ending maps, combining in both for a 1.54. His standout performance was against Vancouver, where he dropped 104 kills in just four maps, 70 of them coming in the two Hardpoints.

Mercules: Not much of a surprise with this selection, Mercules was doing Mercules things this weekend, leading OpTic to a 2-0 start to Stage 2. His 162/131 (1.24) was good for most kills and least deaths for OpTic while also leading both series in damage and scoring three of their six goals in Overload.

Mercules continued his prowess in SnD, going 24/16 (1.50) across three maps, topping his league-leading Stage 1 average of 1.48. A season MVP could be in his future.

Ghosty: Another player having an MVP-caliber season, Ghosty kept his play up, leading the way for M8s with a 165/143 (1.15) weekend in two wins. His objective-minded playstyle was on full display as well, averaging 87 seconds in hill across four Hardpoints.

The highlight of Ghosty’s weekend was his 91/71 (1.28) performance against the Falcons, leading the way with the most kills and least deaths. Queue the edit.

HyDra: Much of the talk about HyDra this season has been centered on his slow start. The MW2 MVP quieted that this weekend with a 153/121 (1.26) statline, the third-best K/D of the weekend. Similarly to Scrap, his best performance came against Vancouver with 99 kills in four maps. 

In a departure from his usual kill-centered playstyle, the French Phenom also chipped in on the objective, leading his team with five Overload scores in two maps.