Minnesota And Seattle Shine In Stage 5 Major
After nearly eight months of world-class Call of Duty competition, the regular portion of the Black Ops Cold War season has come to an end, with the conclusion of the Stage 5 Major. The final Major event of the season was the second event of 2021 to be held on LAN, and the first to be held with fans in attendance. The return of fans certainly impacted the performance of certain teams as well as boosting the viewing figures to well over 100,000 on some occasions.
The tournament had everything from shock results to a grand final that featured one of the biggest turnarounds ever seen in the history of the Call of Duty League (CDL), making it one of the most enjoyable events of the season so far, and the perfect foundation for the season-ending Playoffs and Championship Weekend. The event was the final time all 12 teams would have the chance to compete for prize money, giving the four teams that missed out on the Playoffs to end the season on a high.
With that said, which teams were able to excel on the main stage and which teams were unable to inject some much-needed positivity before the off-season?
Seattle Finally Hit Form
Click to enlargeAfter what can only be described as another disappointing season, another event on LAN and the presence of a capacity crowd certainly worked wonders for the Seattle Surge, who headed into the Major with the perfect opportunity to end Black Ops Cold War with a solid result and some prize money. Much to the surprise of everyone, the Surge did turn the tide on its disappointing online performance with a surprise top-six finish.
Starting the tournament in the first round of the loser’s bracket, the stakes could not have been higher for Sam “Octane” Larew and the rest of Seattle, with only one mistake required to send the team crashing out of the tournament without a single penny. The team made relatively light work of a struggling Paris Legion side, scoring a 3-1 victory before quickly sweeping aside the London Royal Ravens to set up a surprise showdown against the Atlanta FaZe, widely considered to be the best Black Ops Cold War team in the entire league. The series between the top and bottom of the league table went down to a fifth and final map, where Seattle managed to overcome the odds to conquer the FaZe.
With the momentum fully in the favour of the Surge, a clash against OpTic Chicago awaited them. Like their encounter with Atlanta, it came down to another deciding map of Search & Destroy but the Green Wall was able to stand strong and send Seattle home. Despite the loss at the hands of OpTic, the victory against Atlanta was a huge step forward in what could have been the final match this iteration of Seattle would play. Will the franchise make any changes heading into the 2022 season? We will have to wait and see.
Minnesota Rock The Opposition
Click to enlargeIn recent weeks, the Minnesota RØKKR was slowly creeping into the conversation of teams that could well cause a shock result against the teams perched at the top of the standings. In my preview of the Stage 5 Major, I had the RØKKR down as my dark horses, and after they dispatched the Atlanta FaZe in convincing fashion, it looked like my prediction would come to fruition. Many considered Minnesota to be capable of causing an upset, and after they scored a 3-1 win over the Dallas Empire in their second match, the upset was well and truly on.
The trio of Dillon “Attach” Price, Preston “Priestahh” Greiner, and Eli “Standy” Bentz proved to be an unstoppable force of coordinated aggression and explosive slaying power, enabling Mike “MajorManiak” Szymaniak to lock down lanes with the Krig 6 assault rifle in hand. The team did just that against the Toronto Ultra in the winner’s final, scoring a dominant 3-0 sweep to book their place in the Grand Final. The Ultra wasn’t out of it yet. They managed to demolish the Green Wall to secure the second place in the final for another showdown against Minnesota.
Having dished out a convincing sweep against the Ultra earlier in the tournament, Minnesota knew what it took to defeat them again. What they didn’t expect was Toronto to win the first four maps, where only five were required to take home the title. What happened next would be the greatest turnaround ever seen in a Call of Duty final. The RØKKR rallied back to win five consecutive maps to pull off a phenomenal comeback that many thought wasn’t possible.
Heading into Championship Weekend and after an incredible result in the Major, it’s hard not to rule out Minnesota as one of the many contenders that could well walk away with the final Black Ops Cold War title.
