Call of Duty League World Championship Playoffs Recaps
The inaugural Call of Duty World Championships is here! Whether you love or hate Modern Warfare, the best showcase of Call of Duty talent is unfolding, and the stakes have never been higher. With a prize pool of $4.6 million, the twelve CDL teams are battling it out for the biggest prize in COD history.
Spanning across five days (August 19-23), all twelve teams will be competing in the World Championship Playoffs, which will determine the seeding for the final four who will compete in the Championship Weekend on August 29-30.
- For information on the format, bracket, schedule, stream and prize money, you can visit our Call of Duty League World Championships Coverage Hub
All the action can be found here, as we talk you through everything that has happened and break down the games one-by-one in our daily recaps.
Click to enlargeDay Five - August 23
ELIMINATION ROUND THREE (B) - LONDON ROYAL RAVENS (3) VS NEW YORK SUBLINERS (2)
The final day of the CDL Playoffs kicked off with a bang, as the red hot London Royal Ravens faced off against the New York Subliners. London has seemed to have found another gear for the Playoffs, as the whole team is playing phenomenally and taking down almost every team in their path. That continued against New York, defeating them in a game five thriller. The maps were close, but the Subliners couldn't find ways to win even though they dominated the slaying department. London has found a way to earn a spot in COD Champs.
ELIMINATION ROUND THREE (A) - OPTIC GAMING LOS ANGELES (3) VS FLORDIA MUTINEERS (0)
In what would have been an easy prediction a couple of months ago, no one knew who to pick in this series. OpTic Gaming has been on a tear since CDL Toronto, but Florida has arguably the most talent. While no one knew what to expect, it's safe to say that nobody expected a sweep, which is what occurred. OpTic Gaming looks like a title contender, as the Mutineers stood no chance and end their storybook season on a sweep. OpTic still has one more match to make it to COD Champs, however.
ELIMINATION ROUND FOUR (B) - LONDON ROYAL RAVENS (3) VS TORONTO ULTRA (1)
Two teams who have had up and down years met for a chance to move on to COD Champs. London has shown tremendous improvement at the Playoffs while the Ultra have been slowly getting better since early July. However, only one could move on to next weekend, and that team is the Royal Ravens. The maps weren't too close, but London was undoubtedly the better squad for the majority of the series. Of course, it helps when you have Seany going 34-14 on the final Hardpoint to secure the team's fate. The Royal Ravens are in the loser's bracket semifinals with a chance to improve even more this next week.
ELIMINATION ROUND FOUR (A) - OPTIC GAMING LOS ANGELES (2) VS CHICAGO HUNTSMEN (3)
The chance to advance to COD Champs comes down to these teams, because of course it does. The rivalry between OpTic and Chicago is rooted in history, and it seems extremely fitting that the final match of Playoffs came down to them. This loser's bracket series was one of the best ever seen in Call of Duty esports. No team ever won two maps in a row, and every single map was extremely close. The game 1 Hardpoint was one of the best maps all year, but it doesn't compare to the game 5 S&D. Every round was drenched in drama, and it was back and forth all map long. However, it was the experience of the Huntsmen that won the map. Scump went huge in the map and in round 11, securing double-digit kills and staying alive in the best spot possible. Envoy was the one to clutch the 1v1 vs TJHaly in round 11, though, securing the Huntsmen's spot in COD Champs.
Day Four - August 22
ELIMINATION ROUND TWO (A) - OPTIC GAMING LOS ANGELES (3) VS MINNESOTA ROKKR (0)
The third day of the CDL Playoffs kicked off with an unceremonious exit for the Minnesota Rokkr. OpTic Gaming continued its hot streak through the loser's bracket by sweeping the Rokkr 3-0. While the series wasn't too exciting, the banter afterwards was. Kenny of OpTic Gaming brought up an old tweet from Minnesota's Exceed that got the community fully backing OG for the rest of the event.
ELIMINATION ROUND TWO (B) - LONDON ROYAL RAVENS (3) VS PARIS LEGION (1)
Next up in the loser's bracket was London vs Paris. Like many thought, this match wasn't anything to write home about, as the Royal Ravens thoroughly dominated Paris by a score of 3-1. London seems to be a fair contender to go much farther than many originally thought while the Legion's season ends in disappointing fashion to their EU rival.
WINNERS ROUND THREE (A) - CHICAGO HUNTSMEN (2) VS ATLANTA FAZE (3)
Finally, the match that everyone had been waiting for was here. Chicago vs Atlanta was the dream matchup that the community wanted to see and it came to fruition. Some of the most talented players in the CDL were facing off for the opportunity to immediately advance to COD Champs and earn at least $600,000. The series was back and forth the entire time, with no team winning two maps in a row. The Huntsmen won an S&D and a Hardpoint while FaZe did the same. However, like in most cases, the team that won the Domination won the series, which was FaZe. Atlanta and Chicago both looked strong, but in the end, Atlanta was a little too much for the Huntsmen to handle.
WINNERS ROUND THREE (B) - DALLAS EMPIRE (3) VS TORONTO ULTRA (2)
While this match didn't carry as much weight as the one before it, many still expected a great series. Well, Toronto and Dallas delivered, giving us another map five. The last S&D wasn't as close as some wanted it to be, but many didn't even expect the Ultra to be in this position to start with. Dallas clearly had the upper hand all series and the final S&D was Dallas' bread and butter. The Empire have made it to COD Champs along with FaZe while the Ultra drops down to the losers bracket where they'll be a hard team to face.
Day Three- August 21
WINNERS ROUND TWO (A) - CHICAGO HUNTSMEN (3) VS NEW YORK SUBLINERS (2)
Finally, a day that didn't start off with players being booted left and right. The Chicago Huntsmen played their first match of the tournament while the New York Subliners played their second in as many days. This was a highly-anticipated matchup, as New York bested Chicago 3-0 the last time they played. However, after some brief controversy with the matches being played off-stream, the Huntsmen were able to take the series 3-2.
The controversy arose before the match started, as the CDL was updating the map scores before the official stream. This means the games are being played off-stream to combat the booting issue players have been having. So many already knew that NY won map one and Chicago won map 2. However, after that, it was anyone's guess. The two teams duked it out map after map with neither really blowing the other out of the water. In map number five though, Seth "Scump" Abner showed why he's still the King of Call of Duty, going off in the S&D to secure the Huntsmen's win. NY falls to the loser's bracket while Chicago moves on to play FaZe.
WINNERS ROUND TWO (B) - FLORIDA MUTINEERS (1) VS TORONTO ULTRA (3)
In the second match of the day, we had our first real upset of the tournament. The Toronto Ultra continued their hot streak from the last Home Series event of the year by defeating the Floria Mutineers 3-1. The matches were also very close, with the last Hardpoint being decided by a single point, but in the end, Toronto advances to the next round. Tobias "CleanX" Jønsson had a huge series, carrying the Ultra at times, and looks to be one of the better players at the CDL Playoffs. If he can continue this torrid pace, it'll be challenging to take on Toronto. Florida now shockingly falls to the loser's bracket after a dominant regular season while the Ultra moves on to face the Dallas Empire.
Day Two - August 20
WINNERS ROUND ONE (A) - LONDON ROYAL RAVENS (1) VS TORONTO ULTRA (3)
Day number two of the Call of Duty League Playoffs began with a bang. Similar to how yesterday played out, controversy brewed as connection issues plagued yet another match. During the fourth map of the London vs Toronto match, Trei "Zer0" Morris lagged out and, like Kenny yesterday, couldn't rejoin. However, London was already down 2-1 in the series, and this blow just put the nail in their coffin. The Ultra did play well, however. It's just unfortunate to see matches be affected by circumstances beyond the player's control. As we advance, the Ultra have a real chance to make some noise in the winner's bracket while the Royal Ravens will need to complete a miracle loser's bracket run.
WINNERS ROUND ONE (B) - NEW YORK SUBLINERS (3) VS MINNESOTA ROKKR (1)
Luckily in this match, no one lagged out. The New York Subliners came in as heavy favourites seeing as they've been on a hot streak lately. The Rokkr, on the other hand, have been as cold as ice but did make a roster change to attempt to rectify that. It didn't seem to work, though, as the Subliners dusted the Rokkr 3-1. Minnesota did have a chance to send the match to a game five, however. They were 2 points away from securing the map four Hardpoint win but Dillon "Attach" Price and the Subliners stormed back and won the series 3-1.
DAY ONE - AUGUST 19
ELIMINATION ROUND ONE (A) - PARIS LEGION (3) VS (0) SEATTLE SURGE
The Call of Duty League Playoffs started with quite an intriguing matchup. The Seattle Surge and Paris Legion were considered huge underdogs heading into the event, but have shown some fire at recent events. For the Seattle Surge, this was a true test if they could rally behind some of the unfortunate occurrences they've faced this year. The Paris Legion, on the other hand, wanted to show that their recent success wasn't a fluke.
Well, after a quick 3-0, it seems that the Legion came out with more fire and more to prove. While the matches were close, the Surge couldn't string anything together. This was despite Sam "Octane" Larew going off in all three matches like he's done for most of the year. Though it's sad we won't see Octane compete on Modern Warfare again, and the Paris Legion should be an interesting matchup going forward.
ELIMINATION ROUND ONE (B) - OPTIC GAMING LOS ANGELES (3) VS (2) LOS ANGELES GUERRILLAS
Next up, the last match of day one, the Battle of L.A. took place. OpTic Gaming hyped up the match quite a bit before it took place, and seemed to match that intensity during the series. However, all anyone remembers from the match is Kenny "Kuavo" Williams lagging out during both of the Hardpoints. According to the new rules though, neither one of the matches qualified for a restart since the combined point totals at the time exceeded 150. The community was livid about this, and the CDL once again came under fire for its ancient online rules.
Still, OpTic Gaming was able to regain and take the series 3-2. From most perspectives, this should've at least been a 3-1, so OpTic looks to be in a good position moving forward. That is if Kenny doesn't lag out in any more series.
The Call of Duty League returns for World Championship Finals - Championship Weekend on August 29.
Stay tuned at GGRecon as we break down the Call of Duty League World Championships game by game.
Image via Call of Duty League
