Full Wrap #36

As the season winds down, the gap between teams continues to widen, with 64% of series during Minor 2 ending in a sweep. With Thieves and OpTic seemingly having no competition besides each other, we could have a two-team league the remainder of the year.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

Thieves Peaking

Since the inception of the Minor tournaments, the LA Thieves have been the final boss. As we entered Minor 2 of the season, and with HyDra in top form, they were looking for their third straight victory. 

They opened their weekend against the new look G2, with Envoy in his second series with the team. There was no honeymoon here: 0.6 dropped to 0.8, and outside of a competitive Search, there was nothing here to write home about. LAT 3-0.

The Thieves' second matchup was the semifinal against FaZe. After a 3-2 Neslo victory last week in the same matchup, there was promise of another banger series, and Map 1 delivered. FaZe jumped to an early 114-7 lead before the Thieves seemingly started playing and kept a steady lead until the end of the map. Down 243-172 Nadeshot’s boys turned up, allowing just one more second to tick for FaZe as they came back to a 250-244 victory.

Unfortunately, the rest of the series just couldn’t live up to the hype. After crumbling in the first map, all the wind was taken from FaZe’s sails, and LAT would sweep them 6-0 in the Search before closing out the series in the Overload behind Nium’s 1.46 performance.

The Grand Final was a rematch of Major 3: Thieves vs. OpTic. Thieves seemed to learn from their slow start against FaZe and came out swinging on Scar. Despite Studyy’s declaration that OpTic was happy to see the map as the first Hardpoint, Thieves absolutely dominated in a 250-104 performance as OpTic narrowly avoided joining the 100 Point Club. 

The second map may have been even more lopsided, as Nium did whatever he wanted on the map en route to a 10/2 finish (you can do the math) with three First Bloods. Map 3 was again a bloodbath, with LAT taking a 4-1 victory in the Overload. Maybe a scrim with Huntsmen would have done OpTic well.

OpTic finally fought back in Map 4 with the Thieves on tournament point. A late contest on the old hill left them with just one point needed to close out the map, but a strong hold from the Thieves anchored by an aBeZy three-piece almost forced the comeback before they finally broke in for a 250-248 victory to avoid the sweep. OpTic rolled their momentum into Map 5, dominating in 6-2 fashion to bring the series back to a more manageable 3-2 scoreline.

The Thieves finally closed out OpTic in their premier mode, Overload. A back-and-forth game was finally closed out by some late HyDra heroics as he ran wild in OpTic’s base before capping to win the third straight tournament for the Thieves.

This win also marked nine straight series wins for Thieves, who out of nowhere have closed in on the record of thirteen set by Cold War FaZe and MW3 OpTic. They’ve built the streak off the strength of their Overload, where they’ve also won nine straight, and their Search (11-2 over the last nine series). With Breach, G2, C9, and Surge closing out their qualifiers, the record could easily fall at Major 4.

Just OpTic in Finals

OpTic entered Minor 2 as they have every event this year, as favorites. The Dope Check crew had them running the table through the bracket, and that’s exactly how their tournament started.

In their first series, OpTic took down the upward trending Falcons in a dominant 3-0 (250-136, 6-2, 4-1). Texas ended the series plus 37 in slaying, rolling out the red carpet for Riyadh. Dashy led the way, going 56/41 (1.37) with the most damage in the lobby.

Next up for OpTic was the Paris Gentle Mates and their new roster. Since adding JoeDeceives, Mates had played one series, beating Toronto 3-0 in Joe’s revenge match. 

Paris must have put everything they had into the series against KOI because OpTic pulled out another, even more dominant 3-0 (250-78, 6-3, 6-0). The slaying was only slightly lopsided, with OpTic finishing a staggering plus 66 behind Shotzzy’s 69/40 (1.73).

Another Grand Final for OpTic, again matched up with the Thieves. The story of the season has yet to change for OpTic, looking untouchable until finals and then breaking. An even bigger problem could be how the Thieves are currently looking, as the series marked a third straight loss against LAT for OpTic.

With the three biggest events just around the corner, OpTic will need to figure out a solution to their Grand Final woes quickly if they want to avoid going down as Vanguard FaZe 2.0.

New-Look Mates

If you’ve been living under a CDL rock, Paris made another move this week for another SMG, and a true superstar at that: JoeDeceives. Neptune has been moved to the bench in a very public and nasty breakup. 

Joe would get a grudge match early as KOI was first on the docket. He quickly showed them his worth (outside of a six-figure buyout) in a 3-0 win. This series featured the longest ever CDL Overload, lasting 17:45 before Gentle Mates broke the stalemate. Ghosty also set the kill record with 47 kills in the map as five players broke 40 kills. 

Paris would fall 3-0 to the eventual Runners’ Up in OpTic, but with Heretics nose-diving, FaZe struggling, and KOI selling their team for parts, the only thing that can hold the new-look Mates squad out of the top three for the remainder of the season is Exceed and the GA chat.

FaZing Out

With a first-round bye, FaZe were anticipating a matchup with their boogeyman, the Heretics, in their opening series of the Minor. Luckily for Vegas, Vancouver had other plans, eliminating Miami in their first series since the addition of ReeaL in a close 3-0.

FaZe quickly found out that they traded out one boogeyman for another. With Surge recently making changes, the OMiT duo of Mamba and Craze that sent Atlanta FaZe home top 12 at the Esports World Cup were now together once again. Mamba specifically has had FaZe’s number all season, holding a 4-1 record against them in Black Ops 7.

The boots were out early too; Mamba opened the series with a 41/30 Map 1 to jump out to a 1-0 lead. What looked to be a quick response from FaZe in Map 2 ended in a Round 11 after Surge won four straight rounds. FaZe iced up, with Abuzah finding a First Blood onto Lunarz as Vegas countered Surge’s mid hit.

It was Vancouver’s turn to respond in Map 3, and they did just that. Craze punched in the game-winning goal with 1:07 remaining to take the map 3-2. Now on the ropes, FaZe needed another answer. That answer came in the form of 70 unanswered points. Trailing 180-227, FaZe showed why they’re the superior team and played perfect COD to force Map 5.

A back-and-forth series of close maps ended in the most anticlimactic fashion possible. A 6-1 slamming from FaZe, knocking Surge out of the Minor. 04 was the catalyst, going 9/2 with four First Bloods against his former squad.

After a battle like that against the lowly Surge, the signs were there that FaZe could struggle with the Thieves, and that’s exactly how it went with FaZe getting swept out of Minor 2 by the eventual Champs. Following the loss, Simp tweeted what we were all thinking about LAT; they really do love minors.

FaZe is now 1-3 in their last four matches, with all three of their losses coming to the Thieves.

TOP PERFORMERS

HyDra: Rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. Many have talked about how disappointing HyDra has been this season, but he has finally arrived, doing whatever he wanted against the vaunted OpTic roster. He had a 1.12 event K/D but showed up when the lights were brightest. He led the Grand Final in K/D (1.25), kills (132), HP K/D (1.28), and Overload K/D (1.31). He also paced the event in First Bloods (9). 

Dashy: Known for having the best right stick for a reason, Dashy was shooting during the Minor. He finished the weekend with a 1.12 K/D (#8 overall) and a 1.21 BP Rating (#3 overall). His damage numbers were there as well, ending the event 4th in HP DMG/10. One of his best maps came in SnD against Mates, where he posted a 13/4 line to go along with four First Bloods.

aBeZy: HyDra’s resurgence has been directly tied to the play of his SMG duo in aBeZy. The former Tiny Terror had an excellent Minor with a 1.15 K/D (#3 overall) and a 1.22 BP Rating (#2). aBeZy was especially excellent in SnD, posting a 1.61, good enough for 3rd overall and the best of anyone that played more than two maps. 

Mamba: The only player not on OpTic or LAT to make our Team of the Week; Mamba made his presence felt this weekend. He finished the Minor with the best K/D (1.20) and 9th in BP Rating (1.14), an impressive feat considering OpTic and Thieves players filled the first seven spots. He also showed his playmaking ability, getting five First Bloods (tied 4th overall) while converting on 62.5% of his opening duels.