Full Wrap #34

From 20 matches on Friday to a banger championship Sunday to finish, the CDL needs to have more Pro-Ams in the future. Format aside, it was the usual suspects that qualified for the bracket through group play.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

New Meta Thieves

The Thieves were shaky in their last couple qualifying matches, but the trip to LAN seemed to return them to Minor 1 form. They aced their group stage, dispatching Project 7 Notorious and the Boston Breach while dropping only one map to qualify for bracket play.

Competition jumped a tier for the Thieves in Winners’ Round 1 (WR1) where they ran into the Major 2 Champions, FaZe Vegas. The series started well for the Thieves but quickly turned sour as they choked a 2-1 map count and found themselves in Losers’ Round 1.

The Thieves turned into a buzzsaw in Losers’, dispatching G2 3-1 before 3-0ing a feisty Falcons team that had just taken OpTic to Map 5. Those two wins guaranteed them a Top 4 finish and their second Sunday appearance of the season.

LAT’s Sunday performance picked up right where Saturday left off. In a reversal of their WR1 series, the Thieves would avenge their only loss of the tournament, knocking off FaZe Vegas in 3-1 fashion. This left just one obstacle between them and their first LAN Grand Final of the year: the Toronto KOI.

The match with KOI ended up being absolute domination. Map 1 was Sake, a map where both teams held undefeated records, but the Thieves put on an all-time performance and welcomed Toronto to the 100 Point Club. Toronto seemed to get their footing in Map 2, grabbing a 4-2 lead, but the Thieves snuffed out any hope of tying the series with four straight round wins. The Overload was a mere formality; the Thieves shut out KOI so badly that they had already stopped playing and removed their headsets while the Thieves scored their last goal.

The stage had been set: for the first time since the inception of the LAT “Super Team," they would meet with World Champions OpTic Texas in the Grand Final on LAN. 

The series started with a bangout, Colossus Hardpoint. LAT led 162-101, but OpTic fought back, finishing the map by chaining the last three hills nearly flawlessly thanks to Dashy’s heroics, taking a 1-0 series lead. Not to be outdone in his first Grand Final, Nium played the hero in Map 2 with 12 kills as LAT evened the series at 1 apiece.

The Overload was a clash of styles, with LAT playing a very methodical, trade-heavy game while OpTic elected for a more aggressive strategy with Shotzzy overextending again and again to disrupt the flow of play. In the end basic teamwork won out as Thieves exploited their numbers advantage on offense to chain scores and win 8-3.

Map 4 was another Hardpoint bangout, this time with OpTic taking an 86-point lead midway through the match. It was LAT’s turn to mount a furious comeback; however, it was not as successful as OpTic’s heroics in Map 1, and the series was again tied at 2-2. 

Map 5 was yet another vintage Dashy performance. Bruce pulled out the sniper and went to work, leading the lobby with 13 kills that included a clutch 1v2 to slam the door 6-4 and put OpTic on tournament point. 

The Map 6 Overload was much more back and forth than the first, as the Thieves took both a 2-0 and 4-2 lead before OpTic was able to tie it back. In the end, a Nium streak paved the path for a late Thieves goal, setting up a decisive Map 7.

Map 7 was OpTic’s trump card: Den SnD, where they held an undefeated 8-0 record. However, this dream of a map choice quickly turned to a nightmare. After an early 2-2 tie, the Thieves pulled away to lead 5-2. It looked like OpTic would begin to claw their way back in as Merc and Huke had Scrap in a 2v1 situation, but Scrap was able to sniff out their setup to clutch up and win the Major. 

With this win, Nium was able to pick up his first chip, the third player to do so this year. The Thieves built this win off the back of teamwork, as none of the Thieves ended the event with a top 10 K/D.

After seeing three different Major winners, will the parity continue into Major 4?

Content with Silver

An undefeated stage and once again undefeated on LAN until the Grand Finals. If OpTic didn’t already believe in the undefeated or Champs curse, they should now.

It was business as usual for OpTic in group play, beating OMiT and G2 with a 6-1 map count to secure the first seed heading into bracket play. 

Waiting for them in WR1 was an old Achilles heel, the Miami Heretics. OpTic left no doubts, taking out Miami in a swift 3-0 fashion (250-118, 6-2, 5-3).

Next up was another familiar foe, Pred, and a surprisingly red-hot Falcons team who were carrying a 9-0 map count into the series. Pred dropped a 1.50 K/D Map 1 to set the tone, and the Falcons ran with that momentum, taking a 2-1 series lead. Then his replacement, Huke, got stung by a wasp and took over. His 30/18 (1.67) and 10/6 (1.67) led both Map 4 and 5 in total kills and K/D as OpTic steamrolled their way to another series victory.

Their matchup in the Winners' Finals was with Toronto KOI, a team that OpTic has had their way with since the addition of Mercules, holding a 7-0 record entering the series. The gift that keeps on giving.

The series was back and forth early, trading dominant map wins to start. Overload continued to deliver as a new mode, as KOI put in the game-tying goal with 1:30 left, leading to overtime. In the first half of OT, Shotzzy was able to fly into the goal from the high ground, over Kips’ head, before he could finish the kill, setting a time to beat of 1:33. OpTic remained in the driver's seat, shutting down KOI and taking a 2-1 series lead.

Toronto bounced back, taking a close 250-212 HP to force Map 5. OpTic’s SMG duo proved to be too much in the SnD, as Shotzzy (9/5) and Huke (7/4) called game to reach their 5th straight Grand Final.

OpTic would be taking on a new opponent in the Grand Finals this time around but faced a similar fate. Dashy was doing everything possible to make sure OpTic walked away with a trophy at Major 3, from his 6-kill spree to close Map 1 to his 1v2 quick scope in Round 10 to win Map 5; it felt like he was working his way to yet another event MVP. In the end, Thieves were just too hot, and OpTic went iceless in Grands yet again.

Carrying win-or-bust pressure into every event since their blazing hot finish last season, OpTic may have finally reached their Breaking Point. Luckily for them, they still have one more Major, followed by the biggest two events of the season.

OpTic can certainly right their wrongs for Black Ops 7, but time is quickly running out.

No Grand Final Insight

KOI came into Major 3 with a 4-1 record, dropping their lone series to OpTic in a Map 5. Despite their recent performances, questions around whether or not they could win with Insight still lingered. This time he would have to prove it on North American soil.

Toronto picked up where they left off, dispatching Huntsmen 3-0 and the Heretics, their Spanish rivals, 3-1, taking the first seed in their group.

In WR1, KOI was matched up with G2. Toronto seized complete control of the series early, taking a 2-0 lead after two dominant map wins (250-152 & 6-2). G2 wasn’t going to go down without a fight, rallying back to force a Map 5 thanks to dominant play from Estreal, who finished with a series-leading 107 kills and 1.39 K/D.

The momentum G2 gathered wasn’t enough, as they were the ones left needing a tissue after CleanX took over with a 10/4, two First Blood performance to close the series with a 6-2 SnD win.

The competition stiffened in the next round, with the reigning Champion FaZe squad, who sent KOI packing at Major 2, up next on the schedule. Kips must have remembered that loss because he came out shooting. He led the way in each of the three maps KOI won, going 79/51 (1.55) in Maps 1, 2, and 4. 

After the win over FaZe, KOI ran out of gas. They failed to get a result against the eventual finalists OpTic and Thieves, going 0-2, including getting swept out of the Major by LAT in Losers’ Finals.

A second straight 3rd-place finish isn’t the worst place to be, but Insight’s 34/55 (0.62) series against Thieves could mean it’s finally time for a change at the main AR position in Toronto.

Atlanta isn’t Home

In a bit of an ironic twist, a CDL Major was finally held in Atlanta after FaZe decided to leave the city. They returned to Atlanta as visitors, and you have to wonder if they could have benefited from some home-field advantage.

FaZe quickly dispatched their Challengers opponent ROC but were shocked by Riyadh in their second group play match. This set up a win-and-in situation with Cloud9. You can imagine how that went.

In the Winners’ bracket, FaZe won their first battle with the Thieves before being knocked to Losers’ by the Toronto KOI.

FaZe dropped into a matchup between Major Champions: Paris Gentle Mates were waiting for them.

Paris may have been waiting, but they weren’t ready. FaZe outslayed the Mates by 24 on Map 1 to open the series with a 250-113 victory. Paris managed to claw back into the series in Map 2, winning 6-3 despite seven First Bloods for FaZe. 

The next two maps were competitive, but a 34-23 performance by Simp on Map 3 and a 38-24 showing by 04 were difference makers as FaZe sent the Gentle Mates home with a Top 6 finish.

Unfortunately, their run would end there as the eventual tournament winners, LA Thieves, ended Vegas’ hopes of back-to-back chips.

TOP PERFORMERS

Estreal: Despite just a 2-3 record for G2, Estreal was unbelievable this weekend. He led the event with a 1.21 K/D to go along with a 1.14 BP Rating, good for 6th overall. His best mode was Overload, where he also posted the best K/D with a 1.42, helping G2 to a 4-1 record in the mode. His highlight series was against OMiT, where he went 76/49 (1.55) in just three maps, including a 9/2, two First Blood Map 2 to help G2 qualify for bracket play.

Dashy: Major 3 is a “what could have been” event for Dashy. Often overshadowed by the other players for OpTic, that was not the case this weekend, leading the team in K/D with a 1.12. Dashy was also tied for the best overall BP Rating with Huke and aBeZy and also led the event in HP Time/10 with 99.02. In the Grand Final, Dashy was OpTic’s best player, and his quick scope to close Map 5 will be played for years to come even though OpTic came up on the losing end.

Simp: Simp continued his MVP campaign by being Mr. Consistent at Major 3. His 1.16 overall K/D was good for second best at the tournament, and he was positive in all but one series that FaZe played. He also had the most impact for his team with a roster-leading 1.11 BP Rating. 

Scrap: Recent discourse may make it sound like Scrap fell off, but the Major 3 MVP has done anything but. His 1.09 overall K/D was 13th best at the event dominated by SMG players. Scrap was elite in SnD, with 27 First Bloods (2.45/game), consistently putting his team in man-up situations; the next highest was 14. In the Grand Finals, he led the lobby in damage while putting up the second most kills. He also put the cherry on top: a 1v2 clutch to close out the tournament.