OpTic In Potential Group Of Death
With CDL stage two hotly approaching following the stage one major, in which Atlanta FaZe dominated the Call of Duty competition on their way to the title, we take a look at which group faces the toughest competition to reach the all important winner’s bracket in the next major, and build up the CDL points for the all important end of year champs seeding.
OpTic in the potential group of death
Following the group draw, many fans immediately came to the conclusion that group B was the group of death and when you look at the teams involved it looks hard to argue. The group includes Dallas Empire, OpTic Chicago, Florida Mutineers, Paris Legion, Minnesota ROKKR, and Seattle Surge. Whilst based on the results, it may appear that the groups are even or somewhat stacked in group A’s favour given the fact reigning champions and undefeated Atlanta FaZe are in that group, top to bottom it appears that Group B is the most stacked given the talent on every single roster.
Even bottom seeded Seattle Surge have the likes of Samuel “Octane” Larew and Peirce “Gunless” Hillman on the roster, immediately making them a roster that on their day can cause a shock upset to any team. As well as this, given how close Florida Mutineers got to beating New York Subliners, the eventual third placed team from the major, it is hard to place them in the rankings given their unfortunate loss early on to a hot New York roster.
On the flipside of this, if rumours are to be believed, it appears that a few teams in group A may already be considering roster moves, with London Royal Ravens being the prime suspects for roster moves given their winless stage one performance. Unfortunately for substitute player Christopher “Parasite” Duarte, it appears that he is the odd man out for the Ravens even though statistically it didn’t appear that he was the weak link. According to multiple leaks, the roster are looking to pick up Paul “PaulEhx” Avila formerly of the dominant AM team WestR. As for the other roster moves, it is rumoured that LA Thieves may be looking at picking up possibly the best AM player according to the community in Carlos “Venom” Hernandez. As well as this, in possibly the biggest shock roster change, the Toronto Ultra have made the decision to replace main AR player Anthony “Methodz” Zinni with substitute player Jamie “Insight” Craven, fresh off the back of back to back challengers victories. This makes the Ultra a full EU team and will be interesting to see if Insight can fill in the shoes left behind from Methodz.
Click to enlargeCan New York keep the momentum?
Following their shock run in the first stage major, which culminated in a third place finish, fans are keen to see if the Subliners can keep the ball rolling heading into stage two. However, when looking at the schedule for week one they definitely face possibly the hardest week of all teams, facing off against undefeated Atlanta FaZe and the LA Thieves, which is a stage one group stage rematch. In the first meeting with LA, New York lost a razor close three game series and could’ve legitimately won every single map. After this series, the Subliners went on a tear throughout the rest of stage one and will be looking towards their matchup with the Thieves as proof that they have improved significantly since that point and the rest of stage one wasn’t a fluke for the team.
Whilst they will head into the series against the Thieves as rightful favourites, the biggest test for the team is the match against the Atlanta FaZe. Although beating them might be a tough ask considering it has yet to be done by any other team in the regular season, if they can at least keep the series competitive and push the series to a possible game four or five, and then beat the Thieves it will be a successful week for the Subliners roster.
Click to enlargeCan Minnesota bounce back?
After a disappointing stage one major, in which the ROKKR lost out in their only series in a game five against the Toronto Ultra, the stacked roster will be looking to bounce back from that dismal end to stage one with a win or two in the first week of stage two. In the opening week they face off against Paris Legion and Florida Mutineers, two other teams with points to prove after a bad major performance. Minnesota will head into the Paris series with high expectations of achieving a win given the Legion’s early exit in the major.
In what could be one of the underrated series of the week, the ROKKR take on the Mutineers, another roster with massive potential that unfortunately managed to get reverse swept by the Subliners early in the major, halting their progress very early on. This could be a must win for both rosters if they want to be in the winner’s bracket for the stage two major, with Dallas Empire and OpTic Chicago being the overwhelming favourites for the top two seeds in the group.
Images via OpTic | Activision | New York Subliners
