CDL Show Matches – Who’s Top Of The Class?
After a thrilling weekend of matches, fans were left excited for what is to come from the CDL in the upcoming season. However, which teams made the grade and which teams left the fans wanting more?
Time to get out the 2B pencils, as we prepare to mark the CDL teams' performances, with a steep grading curve.
Dallas Empire - A
Still the star pupil of the CDL, last year's world champion Dallas Empire once again showed why they will be a force to be reckoned with for the upcoming season after a dominant 3-0 series win over New York Subliners. Reigning MVP Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro dominated the series averaging a 1.32 K/D.
Unfortunately for other teams, it appears that the other rookie from last season Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal may have made a leap forward, clutching multiple situations and achieving a 1.31 K/D over the series. It would appear Empire are still the team to beat this season.
New York Subliners - C-
Whilst they did lose the series in a convincing fashion 3-0 to the Dallas Empire, the Subliners definitely deserve to be cut some slack given the circumstances for the team surrounding the match, with Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto announcing his retirement not long before the season started.
However, there were a few signs of hope for the Subliners, with rookie Conor “Diamondcon” Johst showing some signs of promise in an otherwise poor performance.
Click to enlargeLos Angeles Guerrillas - B
After coming into the season with many people believing them to be the worst team in the league, the Guerrillas surprised many, managing to win their series 3-2 against the Seattle Surge. Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov provided the slaying power that the team desperately needed and along with young talent Reece “Vivid” Drost made a surprisingly good duo. Not quite top marks for LA, but they're nowhere near donning the dunce's cap.
Seattle Surge - C
After a disappointing season last year, it looked like the newly revamped Surge roster would be an improvement over the last roster. However, once again it appears that Samuel “Octane” Larew is the star student in the slacking group. There were some bright spots for the team though, looking promising on some maps, although with a team stacked with star power like the Surge, losing to a roster similar to the Guerrillas shouldn’t be expected.
Click to enlargeAtlanta FaZe - C
Coming into the season as arguably a top-two team in the game, many people predicted an easy win for the team over the newly built Mutineers roster. Whilst they obviously showed their skills in patches, with Chris “Simp” Lehr proving why he is still a top-three player in the game picking up more insane two pieces at will, losing the series 3-2 is definitely a disappointment for the teacher’s pet.
Florida Mutineers - A
After recently announcing that Travis “Neptune” McCloud would be stepping into the starting roster in place of Colt “Havok” McLendon not long before the show match, a lot of people assumed the Mutineers would need more time to hit the books before being able to compete with the powerhouse teams such as FaZe. Although in a shock upset, the Mutineers managed to come away with a 3-2 series win against all odds and looked great in the process.
London Royal Ravens - C
Whilst they did lose the series 3-2 to a presumably weak Paris Legion roster, the fact that Trei “Zer0” Morris was forced to play from England on an American host which for anyone familiar with ping will know is borderline impossible. Despite this, the roster didn’t look half bad for most of the series, and given the circumstances, it is hard to mark them down too harshly for the show match.
Paris Legion - B
Being the last team to be fully announced, fans had low expectations for the roster so early into the season, given the lack of practice for the team. Although, even though they were against a lacklustre Royal Ravens team, it appears that Ulysses “AquA” Silva could’ve returned to his former best, achieving a weekend high 1.38 K/D across the series. Rookie star Luis “Fire” Rivera also proved why he deserves to be in the league, with a 1.20 K/D of his own.
Toronto Ultra - C
Sticking with players that were on the roster last season, if any teams were expected to show signs of pre-existing chemistry, it was the Ultra. For the most part, it appeared that was the case, winning both hardpoints in the series in good fashion. In particular, Ben “Bance” Bance performed above expectations, putting the team on his back in the respawns. Although, losing both Search and Destroys to a new roster could be slightly concerning going forward.
Click to enlargeMinnesota ROKKR - B
On paper, ROKKR are a team that could definitely win an event given the right situation, so many people expected big things from the roster heading into the Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War season. It appears so far so good for the new roster, winning 3-2 over the Ultra.
Most surprisingly, the team managed to win both Search and Destroys against the Ultra. With the game mode being the one that teams usually find the hardest to learn, for them to have good teamwork in that game mode is definitely worthy of a B grade.
OpTic Chicago - A+
Without a doubt the most impressive performance of the weekend. OpTic utterly destroyed the LA Thieves, in what many considered to be a close match up. However, when it came to showtime, only one team showed up to play, and it was definitely OpTic. Cleaning up the series 3-0 with the highly anticipated return of Brandon “Dashy” Otell to play alongside T2P didn’t disappoint, with the superstar achieving a 1.36 K/D over the series. OpTic passed the test with flying colours.
Click to enlargeLA Thieves - F
The biggest disappointment of the weekend by far was the LA Thieves. Whilst they were expected to lose in the eyes of many, the fashion in which they did is what caused them to fail the first test of the season. Losing 3-0 with no real signs of life is definitely not the arrival that fans were expecting from the newly returning organisation. Heading into the regular season, the Thieves will need to improve their performances massively if they want to achieve a passing grade, and avoid detention.
Images via Activision | MLG