Full Wrap #9

FaZe failed to be the first team since the OpTic dynasty to win four consecutive LAN events, Vancouver still cannot clear the (Grand) final hurdle, and LAT finally lived up to the hype. Your Major 3 recap is here.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEKEND

Super Team Diff

When this LA Thieves roster formed, they were immediately dubbed a “Super Team”. Expectations were clear: take everything. Throughout the season they have not quite lived up to the hype. Until now. 

Thieves entered the weekend on a mission. They had secured the top overall seed for a second consecutive Major, dropping only one series during qualification. They wouldn’t lose again. The Thieves breezed through the first two rounds of Winners’ Bracket, both 3-0 wins versus their punching bag Carolina and the hosts Miami. Their first speed bump came in Winners’ Final, where Vancouver Surge had come to play. Finding themselves down 0-2, HyDra turned back the clock to 2022, going 63/44 (1.43) over the last three maps as the Thieves reverse swept Vancouver and sent them to the Losers’ Bracket. Stealing victory from the jaws of defeat.

Vancouver bounced right back to meet the Thieves in the Grand Final, but this time failed to slow down the Thieves at all. A match spent waiting backstage did nothing to cool off HyDra as he continued putting belt-to-ass with a 107/72 (1.49) performance, aided by Scrap’s 97/77 (1.26) in a 4-0 sweep as Thieves secured their first Major win of the season. 

The Thieves' weekend in a word? Domination. They achieved an astounding 13-2 map count as HyDra (1.27) and Scrap (1.22) led the event in K/D, with Scrap adding an event MVP to his trophy case. This also marked a milestone for Ghosty, his first CDL chip after entering the weekend 0-4 in Grand Finals appearances. Silver Surfer no more.

0-4 for 04 Part Two

Vancouver opened their Major as the three seed, but unfortunately Atlanta was the sixth seed; a first round super rubber match would break the 2-2 season record between the two. Vancouver dropped the opening Hardpoint, but reeled off three consecutive map wins to dispatch the Major 1 and 2 winners. Next up was the red-hot Boston Breach, fresh off a victory over OpTic. Surge displayed their Hardpoint prowess en route to a second 3-1 victory. After falling to Thieves in Winners’ Final, Vancouver must have found themselves with déjà vu as they clashed with Toronto for a spot in the Grand Final, just like Major 2. The double vision continued as they won 3-1 (just like Major 2), punctuating the series by welcoming Ultra to the 100-point club on Skyline.   

With their repeat as Runners Up, Vancouver showed their Major 2 run was no fluke. However, their performance did nothing to dispel any questions about their Grand Final ice, as they also repeated their 0-4 loss from Major 2. If they want to win one of the final two events, they’re going to have to overcome this mental block, as well as their block against Thieves. Vancouver is 0-6 on the season against Thieves with a horrendous 5-20 map count. Another potential issue? Their 1-4 Control record this event (and their 3-13 Control round count). Maybe 04 needs to change his tag to 40.

E-Merc-gency Substitute

Major 3 started out anything but smooth for Ultra. Bean's visa issues led to him missing the event. That was the last thing Ultra wanted to have happen after an online split where they beat FaZe, Thieves, and a strong-looking Heretics squad. Ultra kicked off their Thursday with last-minute fill-in Mercules. A 0.98 wasn’t a bad debut match for Merc, but falling to Heretics and getting the double bird from SupeR after Ultra had beat them online with Beans was far from a confidence booster. Luckily, LAGM8’s would provide all the confidence boosting Merc would need, posting a 1.4 in a speedrun 3-0. Did the rook find his footing?

The questions around how Ultra and Merc would perform were quickly answered. Back-to-back 3-1 wins over Rokkr and Breach had Merc as the main talking point of the CDL entering Sunday with a rematch against Miami looming. Ultra were able to get their revenge over Heretics, getting a fourth straight positive series for Mercules and 198 combined kills from the SMG duo, including a 10/3 Map 5 from Joe. One win away from the Grand Finals, Beans was sweating.

Ultra’s hopes of beating Surge slowly started to fade after their Map 1 loss in what was a candidate for map of the year. Trailing 153-98 after the second P3, Ultra were able to bring it back with a strong P4 hold. The map went back and forth, coming down to the wire on a fourth P1 where a few last-moment contests resulted in a 249-249 score as P2 popped. Surge were able to win the footrace, the map, and ultimately the series, sending Ultra home T3 again. Big decisions will need to be made by the Ultra camp on the future of their roster after matching their placement from Major 2 and Merc finishing with a 1.08 event K/D. Is the future now, or do Ultra believe Beans will help bring a championship to Toronto?

Smoking That League Pack

When the Heretics made the change to bring in SupeR many thought of it as the last chance for their all Spanish roster with the other options already exhausted. If it failed, Miami would be forced to mix in some NA talent. It didn’t fail.

Heretics kicked off the event with a rematch against Ultra, the only team that had beaten them during the Stage 3 Qualifiers. MettalZ wanted revenge and he got it. The win setup another rematch, this time against Thieves; the only team that Miami had lost to on LAN this year. The script didn’t change and Miami’s 0-3 LAN record vs Thieves moved to 0-4. Waiting for the Heretics in the Losers’ Bracket was FaZe. ReeaL and SupeR put on a masterclass in Hardpoint Maps 1 and 4 going a combined 110/75 in two blowout wins. After throwing away a 5-2 lead in Map 2, Miami showed their ice Map 5 taking it 6-4 in what was the upset of the weekend.

Heretics were unable to beat Ultra for a second time and the double birds were coming back at them this time as they exited Major 3 with a fourth place finish. This rivalry is just starting to heat up.

Terrors Looking Fazed

A fourth straight championship for FaZe quickly became an uphill battle. Surge proved to be too much, and FaZe made their first Friday appearance of the season. They started out their first Losers’ run of the season with 3-0’s over Cloud9 and OpTic to make it to Saturday. Coming off a 6-0 Friday and only needing a single series victory to make Sunday, another FaZe Grand Finals appearance was on the horizon. This was especially true after FaZe earned a 2-1 series lead off the back of aBeZy popping takeover and going 13/6 with five first bloods in Map 2, followed up with a 22/9 Map 3. Heretics quickly shut him down, holding aBeZy to 18/32 and taking the next two maps. Home event cheese, or is SupeR the FaZe boogeyman?

The loss to Heretics highlighted FaZe’s two biggest problems from Stage 3: their Hardpoint and the inconsistency from their SMG duo. FaZe finished 7-9 in Hardpoint during Stage 3 and an even worse 1-8 when Simp and aBeZy both went negative. On the bright side, FaZe were undefeated in Hardpoint when the Terrors were both positive; unfortunately, that only happened four times. Getting these two back in flow will be the key to regaining their spot at the top. Will Major 2 be the peak for FaZe again?

One Spot Remains

While the Champs race looked to have five teams competing for three spots after Major 2, this split separated contenders from pretenders. With Miami and Boston earning 85 and 70 CDL points respectively, they have all but mathematically punched their tickets to Champs. This leaves three teams competing for just one slot: OpTic (145 points), Minnesota (115 points), and Cloud9 (105 points). A first Sunday appearance could clinch for any of these teams. 

Tenth place C9 desperately needed a good split during Major 3, but failed to get it. After going 1-4 in Qualifiers, they drew Atlanta FaZe in Losers’ Round 1. Not ideal. In all, they earned only 10 CDL points during the split. To make matters worse, their upcoming Qualifier matches are a murderers’ row. While they will try to get the ball rolling against last place Falcons, the other four teams they will face are Toronto, Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles. No, not LAGM8. It’s hard to find a silver lining for this team. 

The last team on the outside looking in is Minnesota. While they were only able to gain 10 points in Qualifiers, their win over Carolina in Losers’ Round 1 secured them an additional 15 points and leapfrogged them over C9. While their upcoming Qualifier matches have them slated against third and fourth place Toronto and Vancouver, they also get to play LAGM8, Vegas, and a Carolina team they just beat. Realistically they will likely need to win two more Qualifier matches than OpTic and outplace them. 

With a 30 point cushion, OpTic sit uncomfortably close to falling out of Champs qualification. The good news is, they share four opponents with Rokkr: Vancouver, Carolina, LAGM8, and Toronto. The bad news is while Minnesota gets to play Vegas, OpTic draw the much more competent Boston Breach. If they are able to win two of their next five matches and secure a top 8 placing, it is also likely they will secure the final Champs spot. Maybe OpTic missing Champs isn’t laughable after all.