In a shocking start to the season that almost nobody could have predicted, the New York Subliners have claimed their first-ever CDL trophy. This weekend, one of the most dramatic CDL Majors to ever take place played out in remarkable fashion, with huge upsets being scattered far and wide across the board. At the end of the weekend-long tournament, once the dust had settled, it was the Subliners that stood victorious, having beaten Seattle Surge in a top-notch Grand Final series.
However, it wasn’t an easy journey by any means. To win the Major, Subliners defeated the Mutineers, got sent down into the Loser’s Bracket by Surge, and then proceeded to beat Legion, Ultra, FaZe, and then finally, Seattle Surge, in a tense best-of-seven final series. It was one of the hardest Call of Duty League Majors to call, and at every turn, something unpredictable seemed to be happening.
Subliners Rising Up While Everybody Else Falls
Image Credit: COD League
It was a rags-to-riches story for the New York Subliners this weekend, as the team stood first and claimed its first CDL trophy ever. There was a similarly impressive performance out of Seattle Surge, with the team defeating LA Thieves (the reigning champions), Subliners themselves, and Atlanta FaZe in the final bracket. Last year, Seattle Surge surprised the entire community by snatching a Major trophy, and like Subliners, it was the first trophy the team had seen in the CDL.
For other organisations, Major I was a miserable affair. For instance, OpTic Texas crashed out of the competition before even making the final bracket. It was Toronto Ultra that pushed OpTic down a peg, before Florida Mutineers handed Texas the final blow, kicking them unscrupulously from the Major. Elsewhere, the London Royal Ravens failed to get close, being removed from the tournament by an impressive LAG Academy.
Before the final bracket arrived, Boston Breach, Los Angeles Guerrillas, and Minnesota Rokkr all fell out of the contest. However, even if a team made it into the final bracket, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. For instance, Atlanta FaZe proved to everyone that it no longer is the dominant, overwhelming squad that it was once. Despite beating Legion and Ultra to push through the bracket, FaZe suffered from back-to-back losses against both Seattle Surge and the New York Subliners.
Now, NYSL sits atop the CDL standings, closely followed by Seattle Surge. At the bottom of the table sits the likes of Boston Breach, Royal Ravens, and the Los Angeles Guerrillas.
An Important Season Ahead
There’s an important season ahead for the Call of Duty League. Firstly, it’s the final season for one of the best COD players in the world, Seth ‘Scump’ Abner. It was just weeks ago that Scump revealed that he would be retiring following this season, and the entire OpTic community expects him to go out on a high. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this breakdown, OpTic Texas sits in ninth place out of twelve in the season standings.
This year, we could also witness the retirement of some more ‘old timer’ players, such as James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks. At thirty years of age, Clayster is the oldest competitor in the League, and before the season kicked off, he had trouble finding a starting role on a team. However, this past weekend, he become the second player ever in Call of Duty to place T6 at a major event in twelve different Call of Duty games.
Will Atlanta FaZe break out of what appears to be a slump and regain? Will OpTic Texas gain any traction and move up the standings? Can the LA Thieves pick up their skills and defend their championship?
What a year of competitive Call of Duty we’ve got ahead.
