Call of Duty League: Los Angeles Home Series Preview
The Los Angeles Home Series is the fourth stop in the Call of Duty League calendar. The third home series tournament will see eight teams do battle at the Shrine Expo Hall for those all-important CDL Points and the chance to be crowned the LA Home Series champion.
In this article, we preview the event, take a look at the talking points heading into the event and predict which team is likely to take home the victory at the end of the weekend.
Florida, New York, Seattle, and LA Guerrillas make changes
LA will be the first time that the New York Subliners, Seattle Surge, and LA Guerrillas will compete with their new rosters. Kris “Spart” Cervantez and Reece “Vivid” Drost have joined the starting line up of the Guerrillas alongside Rasim “Blazt” Ogresevic, Trei “Zer0” Morris has been demoted to the New York bench in favour of Nick “Happy” Suda, Casey “Pandur” Romano will make his debut for the Surge and Maurice “Fero” Henriquez has been drafted into the Mutineers at the last minute in place of Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson.
With a lot of eyes focused on the Atlanta finals rematch between the FaZe and Florida, the addition of Fero adds a brand-new dynamic to the opening match of the event. The battle of LA also becomes a very interesting prospect. Can a fresh Guerrillas take down a struggling OpTic Gaming LA team that did contemplate change prior to the event? What is next for the Green Wall if they fail to score any points in front of their home crowd?
Can Atlanta Go Back-to-Back?
After a dominant performance at their home event, Atlanta consolidated their position at the top of the Call of Duty League table with a convincing victory over the Mutineers in the finals and a reverse sweep of Minnesota in the semis.
With all five Atlanta players seemingly unstoppable on Modern Warfare, there is a very high chance that the FaZe win their second consecutive tournament of the year, becoming the first team in the short history of the CDL to do so.
What Can Minnesota Do?
After going within one map victory of sweeping aside Atlanta, the Minnesota RØKKR showed signs that the team can contend with the likes of the FaZe and the Chicago Huntsmen on Modern Warfare. The pacing of the team is extremely good, with Adam “GodRx” Brown proving to be one of the strongest and most aggressive assault rifle players in the league. Thanks to his impressive performances and his ability to support the sub-machine gunners, Minnesota are certainly a force to be reckoned with and may well be the team that stops Atlanta from taking home the trophy once again.
Click to enlargePredictions
1st: Atlanta FaZe
2nd: Minnesota RØKKR
3rd: Dallas Empire
4th: New York Subliners
It’s hard to look past a second tournament win in a row for a very strong Atlanta team. I think that Minnesota will give them a good run for their money, like the last time they faced off against each other, but I think that the superior levels of aggression of the FaZe put them in a class above the rest at this point in the league.
With the RØKKR claiming the runners-up spot, the battle for third is a much closer contest considering all the team changes that have occurred in the run-up to the event. Overshadowed by all the changes taking place, the Dallas Empire are still tipped as one of the top teams in the game and, with some more practice under their belts, the Empire look set for another top-four finish this season.
As for fourth, it could be between the LA Guerrillas, Seattle Surge, and the Subliners and I think that New York has what it takes to begin its resurgence towards the middle of the table, with a solid showing this weekend. We will find out if Zer0 was really the issue and whether Happy can make an impact alongside some North American veterans.
Images via Activision/Blizzard
