Full Wrap #37

From sweeps last weekend to Map 5s this weekend. Seven of the ten series went the distance, the perfect recipe for upsets.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

Hitting a Green Wall

It might not be time to hit the panic button yet, but it’s getting close for the once dominant OpTic. We thought Grand Finals were the only problem, but now it’s spread to online matches, and the end-of-season woes for the Green Wall seem eerily similar to previous seasons.

In their first series of the weekend, OpTic was matched up with G2, and it looked to be business as usual for Texas, who took the opening Hardpoint 250-162. A quick bounce back from G2 knotted the series at 1-1 before OpTic had an answer of their own, taking a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately for OpTic, Map 4 was Kremplossus. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Kremp leading the way but instead former OpTic player Envoy, who posted a 45/32 statline to force a Map 5.

After dropping the first round, G2 strung together four straight, including a 1v3 from Skyz to take a 4-1 lead. Trailing 5-2, OpTic won back-to-back rounds to cut into the lead, but Kremp was able to clutch up with shots through a smoke to deny the defuse before putting an exclamation point on the series with a knife kill onto Shotzzy.

Kremp being the one to close the series for his first ever win against OpTic was poetic justice. Nobody beats Kremp 15 straight times.

Looking to get back into the win column, OpTic had the Ravens next on their schedule, and it was a similar start, taking the Hardpoint 250-147. Search continued to be an issue, and despite a late rally, Carolina iced up in Round 11. That momentum carried over, and Carolina rode a 4-1 lead to the finish, taking the Overload 4-3.

Needing a map win to extend the series, OpTic had the answer, and another Map 5 was in the cards. Slow starts were the story of the weekend for OpTic in Search. Carolina jumped out to another 5-2 lead, but once again OpTic pushed it to a Round 11.

Exceed was the story of the final round, using a sniper to draw First Blood onto Shotzzy, as well as a kill onto Mercules just seconds later. OpTic brought it back to a 2v2, thanks to a team kill from Standy, and with the bomb planted, it looked like the Ravens had choked. Luckily for Carolina, Standy made the play and righted his wrongs, finding a round-ending two-piece to take the series.

In the end, Mercules 13/9 wasn’t enough, as fellow former Stallion Lurqxx posted a 15/6 performance of his own.

OpTic has now lost three straight series for the first time in over a year and for the first time in Mercules career.

Thieves Taking Everything

The Los Angeles Thieves entered the weekend on a nine-series win streak and were looking to extend it to eleven. Their first test was the Boston Breach.

Despite their lowly spot in the standings and… interesting roster construction, Boston was undefeated during the Stage 4 Qualifiers with a 2-0 record. The Thieves quickly showed there were levels to being undefeated, though, jumping out to a 2-0 series lead. 

To Boston’s credit, they showed signs of life, nabbing maps 3 and 4 from the defending Major Champs. Still, a combined 18 kills from LAT’s sub duo ended the series without an upset.

LAT continued rolling right into a match with G2 Minnesota, their second matchup in as many weeks. Unlike last week, however, Minnesota would fight back, taking a 2-1 lead after Map 3, where Nium posted just 13 kills. 

Still, the Thieves were just too much to handle, coming back to win a second straight Map 5 despite a 0.79 series performance from their rookie. Thieves will advance into next weekend on 11 straight wins, looking to tie the CDL record with two freebies against Cloud9 and Surge.

FaZing a Roadblock

Inconsistency has been the story for FaZe recently, as they were 1-4 in their last five matches entering the weekend in what easily could have been a disastrous 0-3 start to Stage 4 for Vegas.

In their first series, FaZe was matched up with the new-look Gentle Mates for the first time since the addition of JoeDeceives. The presence of Joe was felt early, posting a 41-bomb Map 1, helping Paris pull away late. Or so they thought. 

Despite trailing 247-196, FaZe rallied, squeaking out a 250-249 win during P1 of Colossus.

From photo finish to complete dominance. Gentle Mates answered back with a 6-0 victory in the Search behind the 10/2 map from Sib. The series shifted back to a nail-biter with Mates punching home a game-tying second goal with just 20 seconds remaining in the Overload. FaZe followed that up with a score of their own during extra time to steal another map, thanks to a 7-spree from Simp.

Paris wouldn’t go away, though, taking Map 4 in comfortable fashion. In Map 5 FaZe fell behind 0-2 early, which extended their round loss streak to 14 straight rounds. Yes, you read that right, 14 straight. 

After falling behind 4-1, FaZe dug deep and made the necessary mid-round adjustments, taking four straight rounds of their own before icing up in Round 11. An Abuzah wall-bang First Blood followed by a series-clinching two-piece from 04 gave FaZe one of the closest series wins in CDL history.

The high of stealing a series quickly faded as FaZe’s boogeyman, the Miami Heretics, was their next opponent. A RenKoR takeover was too much for Vegas to handle. The star AR player for Miami dropped a 1.59 Hardpoint K/D while accruing the most hill time in the lobby for two map wins in the mode. It wasn’t just his HP play either, as the Spaniard led the way, going 12/5 in the SnD. 

The series marked the sixth straight loss for FaZe against the Heretics. Ggs FaZe won 3-1.

FaZe are at risk of missing Winners’ Bracket, currently sitting at 1-2 in the Stage 4 Qualifiers and with series against the 3-0 Falcons and spoiler-playing Ravens remaining.

Falcons are Online

The Riyadh Falcons were a surprisingly tough out at Major 4, only picking up losses to the two Grand Finalists. Their star-studded (and expensive) roster finally seemed to gel, and now in Qualifiers they looked to become one of only two undefeated rosters remaining.

Things started strong with a 250-200 Hardpoint win against Carolina, but the Ravens flipped the script with two dominant wins, a 6-2 Search and a 5-2 Overload. Unfortunately, they crumbled down the stretch.

Riyadh finished off the series with a 250-112 Hardpoint and a 6-3 Search, dominating slaying from top to bottom. The only Raven who managed to break a 0.9 K/D was Lurqxx, while the Challengers' reapers around him showed why they can never stick in the league. 

The Falcons have dropped only four maps in their three series so far, leaving them as the current #1 seed for Major 4. Next weekend will be a tough test for them, facing an ever-enigmatic G2 roster and Major 2 Champions FaZe Vegas.

Three Teams Officially Eliminated

To nobody’s surprise, Breach, Surge, and Cloud9 have officially been eliminated from the Champs race.

To everybody’s surprise, Breach is currently the third seed for Stage 4, but their early-season struggles are far too much to overcome this late in the season.

Carolina is likely to be the fourth and final team to miss Champs, as they currently trail Miami by 60 CDL points, the exact amount you earn for a Top 3 placing at Majors.

TOP PERFORMERS

Lurqxx: On a team of burgers, Lurqxx is the king. His teammates this weekend combined for a Cloud9-worthy 0.83 K/D, but that didn’t stop Lurqxx from performing. The rookie posted a 1.21, including a 1.29 performance against OpTic to carry his teammates kicking and screaming to a win against OpTic.

Cellium: Only one series for Cellium this weekend, but he’s the reason the Falcons moved to 3-0 and sit atop the Stage 4 standings. Cellium was dominant in Hardpoint against Carolina, going 58/38 (1.53) while soaking over three minutes of time during the two maps. When it came down to a Map 5, it was Cellium with the ice, leading the way with a 9/5 performance to close out the series. Cell is known for his K/D, but when he also leads his team in the kills department, that’s when it can get scary for the opposition.

JoeDeceives: JoeDeceives appears on this list a lot, but this weekend he outdid himself. He posted a 1.30 over two series but was an absolute standout in Search. In three maps he combined for 34/15 (2.23 K/D) and broke the CDL Search kill record in the process, posting 18 kills against Vancouver in just 9 rounds.

Afro: Making another appearance on our Team of the Week already, Afro once again led the way for Boston, who went 1-1 this weekend with their lone loss coming to the streaking Thieves. Afro finished the weekend with a 1.20 K/D (194/162), including a 1.23 (127/103) in HP, where Breach posted a 3-1 record across their two matches. His 22/13, two-goal performance to avoid the sweep against LAT would have been massive if Boston had actually fought back in SnD.