Day two of the CDL Major featured quick series and some major upsets.
The battle for LA
In the first matchup, the LA Thieves met the LA Guerillas what would be the fastest series of the day. The Thieves all season long had managed to barely edge out games and series wins against teams that allowed them to make incredibly punishable mistakes. Similar to the Thieves’ series against Dallas Empire, however, the Guerrillas took advantage of nearly every misstep the Thieves made.
In Game one, the LA Thieves played almost the entire game on the backfoot as Guerillas caught them on every Hardpoint rotation. Despite a short-lived resurgence by the Thieves led by TJHaly at the end of the game, the Guerrillas were able to snuff out their opponent’s hope. In game two Guerrillas prevented the Thieves from equalizing the series on SND, constantly switching their strategy and keeping their opponent guessing.
The Guerrillas whole squad shined, but Apathy was certainly the MVP of the series. Performing across all three games, the Guerrillas made it clear they were not a team to sleep on by upsetting their LA counterparts.
Subliners crash and burn
The next game of the day similarly ended in a quick 3 – 0, but in favor of Chicago OpTic. In game one, OpTic played Hardpoint on Checkmate almost perfectly in the early game. They zoned out NYSL on virtually every objective as they turned a 15 point lead into a 100+ point lead quickly. Envoy particularly played this map well as he fragged off the point by watching long angles and secured his team priority over future Hardpoints. The Subliners managed to get an extended point streak at the tail end of the game stopping OpTic on the verge of winning at 248 points. Their margin for error proved too thin however as OpTic retook the point and started off the series with a win.
SND on Moscow heralded one of OpTic’s best performances on the game mode thus far. OpTic’s trading definitely improved as Dashy made the most of his lives and provided some invaluable trades that facilitated their 6 – 1 win. Chicago OpTic closed out the series in game three on Control with a 3 – 1 win. Overall, Chicago OpTic showed dominance across all three modes. While Mack and Clayster did their best to keep the game close, the other two member of NYSL truly had almost zero game impact in the Subliner’s elimination series.
Florida continue their loser’s bracket run
Putting up an incredible performance yesterday, Florida’s series against Paris started out quite the opposite. Owakening went double negative at 11/22 on the same map and mode he excelled at yesterday, adversely Paris’ rookie, Fire, absolutely popped off finishing 28/15. Fire continued his outstanding showing into their second game on SND, getting Legion an early 4 – 1 lead with some incredible long-ranged kills. Skyz and Slacked were able to rekindle their clutch factor however as their proactive gameplay tied the series at 1 – 1.
Florida once again carried this momentum with them into game 3 as the neck-and-neck Control game on Checkmate ultimately swung in their favor, this time Neptune providing the difference-maker. Legion’s dependence on Fire became obvious in their final game as they lead in the early part of game 4 when Fire accumulated 27 kills and 1:43 total objective time. Skyz one-upped the Legion however as finished with a 2:33 Hardpoint time and sustained the final push that brought the Mutineers back into the game prevented the series from going to game five.
The war in the north
The final match of the day between Toronto Ultra and Minnesota Rokkr was by far the most competitive game. Every game was incredibly tight as the two teams matched each other blow for blow. Whereas Toronto pulled off a narrow game one victory, Minnesota fought back with two consecutive wins on SND and Control. MAJORMANIAK and Priestahh had career performances that allowed Minnesota to stage this initial comeback but ultimately their valiant effort fell short.
The game five decider on SND in Miami was where Minnesota lost the series. Despite holding the second-highest winrate on SND behind Atlanta FaZe, Minnesota lost out on early rounds. Cammy was Toronto’s MVP as he clutched out the series for Toronto, putting up a 9/2 K/D and extending Toronto’s run in the lower bracket.
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