Full Wrap #32

With only five matches during the Stage 3 Qualifiers, the importance of online matches has increased, with a single series, or even map, being the difference between starting in Winners’ or Losers’ Bracket.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

Reaching a higher LATitude

Fresh off their Minor victory, the Thieves jumped back into Qualifying play with a quick series against Cloud9. 

As expected, the talented LAT lineup made short work of the slightly less talented C9 roster. Map 1 was a 250-140 Thieves victory. HyDra had the least time in the hill for Thieves with 64 seconds, but still had more than the top hill soaker for C9. 

Map 2 was a continuation of the Thieves SnD dominance from last weekend. Even against the Search Stars on the C9 team, LAT dropped just one round en route to a 2-0 series lead.

LAT closed it out in three, winning 4-3 thanks to a hat trick from Nium despite somehow getting outslayed by 7.

The Thieves finished their weekend with another pushover opponent in Vancouver. The Surge gave a little more fight than Cloud9 but still fell 3-1.

It looked like Vancouver was going to get on the board early as they led the Hardpoint 195-88, but the Thieves stole the map, coming back to win 250-241.

The second map was anything but competitive, as Lunarz was the only member of the Surge to put any kills on the board as the rest of his team conspired to open a bakery with triple donuts.

Vancouver answered back with a resounding 8-1 Overload win, but Scrap slammed the door in Map 4 with a 30/18 performance while also contributing 125 seconds in the hill. Scrap led the Thieves in hill time in all three of their hardpoints this weekend, a rare feat from the aggressive AR. 

The team carried their dominance in Search over from the Minor, winning their two maps by a combined 12-1 score, mirrored by their 12-1 First Blood margin. They also held four opposing players to zero kills, allowing only 13 total kills in as many rounds. 

The Thieves are one of three 3-0 teams in Qualifying, and their cakewalk towards the top seed for Major 3 continues next week with matches against Carolina and Minnesota.

GreenWall Holds

After falling to Thieves in the Minor last week in a Map 5, with a 4-12 SnD round count, OpTic had one thing to focus on entering Qualifiers this week: Search and Destroy.

OpTic was served up one of the freebie series currently in the CDL, taking on Boston to start their weekend. They came out hot, jumping to an early 89-4 lead after two hills, eventually closing out the Den Hardpoint 250-123, with Dashy going 26/12 along with a map leading 109 seconds in the hill.

Breach looked to be fighting back in the SnD, taking a 3-2 lead, before OpTic slammed the door shut, taking four rounds straight to win the map.

Despite the collapse, Boston rallied to win the Overload and followed that up with a strong Hardpoint performance, holding a 227-202 lead entering the tail end of the map. Similar to the SnD, OpTic closed the Hardpoint by securing 48 straight seconds, this time off the back of Shotzzy’s 37/24 performance.

Next up, OpTic had another series against KOI. The match marked the fourth time they had played Toronto in their last ten matches, and this was the closest one yet.

KOI took the opening Sake HP 250-238, but their 1-0 series lead quickly evaporated when OpTic took three straight rounds to close the SnD 6-3. Toronto’s SMG duo was a problem in the swing map, with Joe and CleanX combining to go 74/43 (1.72) to take the Overload and a 2-1 series lead.

The loss woke OpTic up, leading Map 4 from start to finish, winning 250-159, and forcing a Map 5. Another SnD for OpTic, and they didn’t disappoint. The trend continued, and OpTic won four straight rounds, this time to start the map, before closing it out 6-3 to take the series. The Shotzzy jump spots continue.

The final weekend of qualifiers will be a tougher test for OpTic, taking on Gentle Mates and FaZe.

OpTic continues to win, but one question still remains: can they translate it into an event win?

A Gentle Scare

Paris rounds out the three undefeated teams left in Major 3 Qualifying after a reverse sweep of Boston this weekend, their lone series.

The Mates dropped Map 1, 250-219, keeping it close despite Envoy contributing just 14 kills and 36 seconds in the Hardpoint, both the lowest marks of any player in the lobby. If you can’t get kills, at least get time.

Map 2 was Paris’ second time playing a new map in the rotation, Fringe, and also their second loss. Envoy made up for his first map woes with a 9-kill, 1,208-damage performance, but Ghosty and Neptune combined for just 5 kills as it became series point for Boston.

Boston could not close out the series, as Paris would win the next three consecutive maps. They kept Map 3 close, but a Ghosty hat trick was the difference in a 4-3 Overload. They were also competitive early in the second Hardpoint, but after Paris tied the map at 96-96, they pulled away to win by nearly 100. 

In Map 5 Ghosty made up for his abysmal Map 2 performance with 10 kills to close out the series.

Looking ahead, Paris will close out Stage 3 Qualifiers with two difficult matches in OpTic Texas and the Miami Heretics.

The FaZe Merchants

The Heretics have had an extremely up and down Black Ops 7 season, and this weekend was no different.

First up, they had a rematch from last weekend against FaZe, a series with a lot on the line, including a potential giveaway from Drazah if FaZe lost.

FaZe came out shooting, clearly impacted by the increased stakes, taking a 111-22 lead to start. Things then quickly went downhill for the Major 2 Champions. Miami went on a 222-29 run and eventually closed out the map 250-158. The catalyst was MettalZ, who finished 29/18 after starting 3/10.

The Map 1 loss was followed up with a 6-3 SnD win for FaZe, but unfortunately for them the series was shifting back to respawns.

RenKoR and Traix combined to go 66/43 (1.53) in the Overload, with SupeR putting home four goals. It was more belt from Miami in the final HP, with MettalZ, RenKoR, and SupeR all posting above a 1.60 K/D to close the series with a 250-87 win.

The win extended Miami’s record to 7-1 against FaZe since the addition of SupeR. Not bad for “the worlds worst.”

Heretics looked to keep the momentum rolling in their next series against G2, but it might just be a matchup diff when they play FaZe.

Testing G2 on Kremplossus was certainly a choice, and it did not work. Kremp posted a lobby-leading 35 kills, 1.30 K/D, and 4,888 damage. League-wide announcement: veto Colossus vs. G2.

After falling behind 2-5 in the SnD, Miami was looking chalked, but they rallied to push a Round 11. Kremp found First Blood with a pre-nade before deciding to solo chall, evening the numbers up at three a side. G2 got the bomb plant down at A bomb on Scar and the P2 retake proved to be too much, and the Heretics found themselves down 0-2.

There was no bounce back, and G2 completed the sweep with a 3-2 Overload victory. ReeaL, there’s still a chance.

TOP PERFORMERS

JoeDeceives: Only one match on the weekend and an 0-1 record, but we couldn’t keep Joe off the Team of the Week. He broke the series kill record for Black Ops 7 in their 2-3 loss to OpTic, dropping 129 kills and a 1.45 K/D, while leading the series in damage with 14,028. He was untradable in the respawns, posting a 77/56 (1.38) in Hardpoint and a ridiculous 38/20 (1.90) in Overload. Get the man some help, word to Maven.

Ghosty: Ghosty was back in his Stage 1 form in their lone series this weekend. He finished the series 93/66 (1.41), dropping a 1.30+ K/D in four of their five maps. He went 54/37 (1.46) in Hardpoint and 26/20 (1.30) in Overload to go with three goals.

Estreal: Making his first appearance on the Full Wrap TOTW, Estreal earned his spot with a 1.38 in a sweep against Miami. He tied for the most kills in Search with 11 and closed out the series with a 27/19 (1.42) performance in Overload to stun the Miami Onliners Heretics.

RenKoR: Death, taxes, and RenKoR on our TOTW. Despite Miami’s up and down weekend, RenKoR kept his consistently positive performances rolling. The Spanish AR posted 144/116 (1.24) on the weekend, the best mark of any player that played two series. He was Miami’s lone positive player in their 0-3 loss to G2. His best mode was Overload, where he went 59/38 (1.55) in two maps.