CDL Stage One Major - FaZe Claim The Title
In what was an action-packed tournament from start to finish with multiple shock results and a few teams dominating the competition, the final major of stage one was a must-see event for Call Of Duty fans and these were the biggest storylines.
FaZe claim the title
Following a 5-0 group stage performance, Atlanta FaZe came into the stage one major as the number one seed from Group B and in many people’s eyes, the clear favourites in the tournament, FaZe did not let down the fans dominating the competition on their road to the title. Starting off by dominating an LA Guerrillas team that had previously surprised fans by upsetting the LA Thieves in round one of the winner’s bracket, FaZe made sure that their upset run would be cut short by dismantling the Guerrillas with a 3-0 sweep. Whilst the hardpoint didn’t look the most convincing, after that, the series began to just side more and more heavily in FaZe favour, with all Guerrillas players being held to negative K/Ds over the series.
However, after Empire managed to claw through their series against OpTic Chicago in the second round of the winner’s bracket, many fans were expecting a barnstorming affair in the winner’s bracket final. When it came to game time, though, the series was anything other than close, with FaZe absolutely taking the Empire apart, winning the series 3-0. The tiny terrors of Chris “Simp” Lehr and Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris were too much to handle for the Empire roster, with Simp achieving a 1.53 K/D over the series, with his partner in crime also achieving a 1.33 K/D over the series including a mind-blowing 14-4 performance on Miami Search and Destroy almost single-handedly winning them the match.
In the final, it was a repeat of the winner’s bracket final, with FaZe once again defeating Dallas Empire in the finals, this time 5-2 in a best of nine series. Once again, it was Simp who took over the series, this time joined by McArthur “Cellium” Jovel in his domination, with the pair both getting a staggering 96 kills each in the series. Due to his outrageously high levelled performance, mainly in the playoffs, Simp was also named stage one MVP to top off the victory for FaZe.
Click to enlargeNew York shock the world
After the retirement of Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto and the lack of visa for up and coming star Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez, many people saw New York Subliners as a potential bottom tier team. However, after a solid run throughout the stage one regular season, New York found themselves in the winner’s bracket up against OpTic in the first round. Unfortunately, the Subliners got off to a slow start and found themselves in the loser’s bracket early on.
Although, after reverse sweeping Florida Mutineers in loser’s round three, it appeared that the Subliners had finally gotten their groove in the tournament and could now be set to make a deep run in the major. Following the comeback against the Mutineers, New York found themselves up against the LA Guerrillas. They managed to get through the series 3-1, with Makenzie “Mack” Kelley leading the team in the series with an impressive 1.28 K/D and 83 kills, 11 higher than anyone else on his team.
Following this series, many people thought it would be the end of the road for Subliners as they faced OpTic for the top three, a team that had previously beaten them 3-0 in the major. Although, the team led by veteran James “Clayster” Eubanks had other ideas and shocked the world by getting revenge over the OpTic roster and winning the series 3-0. Surprisingly for many, the best player in the series wasn’t any of the veteran players; it was rookie star Conor “Diamondcon” Johst, who finished the series with a 1.31 K/D. Whilst this would be the end of the road for the Subliners, eventually losing out 3-0 to the Dallas Empire in the loser’s bracket final but with the team nearly falling at the first hurdle twice, reaching the top three in the first major is an achievement that can’t be overlooked for the Subliners.
Click to enlargeBiggest underachievers
Following some upset wins in the regular season and taking FaZe to a close game five, many people believed that Paris Legion could potentially be a dark horse to make it far in the major; however, given the team lost to the Florida Mutineers 3-1 in their first and only series in the event, maybe fans were wrong to hype up Paris, and they are a low-level team that fans thought they were, to begin with.
Another team that lost their only series of the tournament was the Minnesota ROKKR. Following some impressive wins in the regular season, fans had faith that the ROKKR could make a deep loser’s bracket run, and after seeing they were playing Toronto Ultra in their first series of the major, fans expected they would win the matchup with relative ease. In a shock result, the Ultra beat the ROKKR 3-2, ending the ROKKR’s run shorter than many expected.
Click to enlargeImages via Activision | FaZe
