CDL Major 1 – Day 3 Recap

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CDL Major 1 – Day 3 Recap

Here’s a recap of the third day of Major 1.


The Call of Duty League’s first Major of the 2023 season kicked off this weekend in Raleigh, and we got off to a hot start yesterday with the bracket beginning. Today, we saw six incredible matches with lots at stake, seeing four teams sent home.

Las Vegas Legion 3-2 Minnesota ROKKR

Minnesota ROKKR have looked great so far in this tournament, however they came up against a rejuvenated Las Vegas Legion that were full of confidence. ROKKR began the series with a dominating map one Hardpoint victory on Embassy, taking a 250-136 win with great performances out of the SMGs of Bance and Afro, putting up a 1.53 and 1.50 K/D respectively. Las Vegas Legion turned this series in their favour following a 6-2 Hotel Search and Destroy win, and a 3-1 Fortress Control both led by Temp. The Control saw Temp dominate, putting up 31 kills and a 1.82 K/D.

Minnesota ROKKR replied with a 250-197 Fortress Hardpoint to tie the series 2-2 and force a game five, seeing Afro top the leaderboard as expected with 31 kills in this map. However, Las Vegas Legion were the team to clutch up in the game 5 round 11 to take the series 3-2. Temp was incredible once again, topping the leaderboard with 11 kills in this final map of the series.

LA Thieves 3-0 Florida Mutineers

The Florida Mutineers have been impressive so far in the Major, and looked competitive. However, this seemed to be just one match too many for the Mutineers squad as they were sent home following a quick and easy 3-0 for the LA Thieves. The Thieves began this series with a 250-233 Embassy Hardpoint. This was a close map, but LA Thieves’ holds were too strong for the Mutineers, and they took a 1-0 series lead.

We remained on Embassy for map two where the LA Thieves extended their series lead to 2-0 following an incredible map from Drazah as he put up 12 kills and a 2.40 K/D. The series was concluded through a 3-1 Hotel Control which LA Thieves have continued to be impressive at during this Major. Kenny ended this final map 24/14, putting up a 1.71 K/D as the LA Thieves sent the Florida Mutineers home.

Atlanta FaZe 3-1 Toronto Ultra

Atlanta FaZe have looked shaky at times throughout this Major, but they somehow always find a way to close out the map and end the series with a victory. This series was no different as they began with a 250-191 Hotel Hardpoint. Scrappy asked for players to ‘shoot back’ yesterday, and he got his wish, ending map one with a 0.74 K/D with 7 more deaths than kills.

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We moved to Embassy for map two in this series, and Atlanta FaZe extended their series lead to 2-0 following a 6-2 Search and Destroy win. aBeZy was incredible here, putting up a massive 13 kills and a 2.17 K/D, while Simp joined him with a 2.33 K/D. Toronto Ultra kept themselves in this series following a 3-2 Hotel Control victory. However, Scrappy yet again found himself bottom of the Toronto Ultra K/D’s, even at a solid 1.00. Atlanta FaZe sent Toronto Ultra to the lower bracket through a 250-161 Hydro Hardpoint, with a great map from Cellium to top off the series seeing him put up a 1.92 K/D.

Seattle Surge 3-1 New York Subliners

The New York Subliners look like a completely different team so far at this Major, with all four members of the team currently sitting in the top 10 overall K/D’s so far at Major 1. Priestahh and Skyz have been the two leading the way, currently trading that #1 spot back and forth. They began this series strong, with a 250-182 Hotel Hardpoint victory. Unsurprisingly, Skyz topped the leaderboard with 26 kills and a 1.37 K/D, while Sib and Pred struggled for Seattle Surge, putting up just 0.68 and 0.55 K/D’s respectively.

Seattle Surge levelled the series 1-1 following a great 6-2 Embassy Search and Destroy. Pred and Sib topped the kills chart of the leaderboard with 10 and 8 respectively, improving on their poor performance in the opening Hardpoint. Seattle Surge extended their lead to 2-1 in this series with an incredible clutch on El Asilo Control to take the map 3-2. Pred dropped 32 kills, while Sib was just behind with 31 as the two came back into this series, and so did the Surge. Seattle Surge closed out the series on a Fortress Hardpoint, something that is exceptionally hard to do given NYSL’s recent performances on that map. Seattle took a 250-213 victory with an incredible performance from Pred with 30 kills and a 1.58 K/D to take the series 3-1.

Toronto Ultra 3-1 LA Thieves

Toronto Ultra started the map one Mercado Hardpoint strong, however just as in their map one against Atlanta FaZe earlier, they let the LA Thieves to gain time back and eventually lost the map. LA Thieves took a 250-237 victory here with a solid all around performance from the team to lead the series 1-0. Toronto Ultra tied the series 1-1 with a 6-4 Hotel Search and Destroy in map two. This map was full of clutches from Toronto Ultra, including a 2v4 and a 1v2 from Scrappy, and a final clutch from Insight to close out the map.

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A perfectly played Hotel Control saw Toronto Ultra take a 3-1 victory to go up 2-1 in the series. Toronto Ultra continue their flawless record on Hotel Control through a superb game from Insight, Scrap and Standy who put up some incredible kills and K/D’s. All three of these players earned streaks throughout the map, but they didn't need them to close out the win, and their slaying power was enough. Scrappy was unbelievable in the final map of this series, dropping the first 40 kill game of the year on Hotel Hardpoint as Toronto Ultra clutched up for a 250-238 victory, and a 3-1 win in the series.

New York Subliners 3-1 Las Vegas Legion

The New York Subliners have been a great Hardpoint team so far in this Major, and they continued this with a 250-206 Mercado Hardpoint victory to kick off the series. It seems as though the NYSL squad are taking it in turns to absolutely dominate the map, with Priestahh this time topping the leaderboard with 28 kills and a 2.00 K/D. Las Vegas Legion however have been a solid Fortress Search and Destroy team so far this Major, and a 1v3 from Clayster in round one saw Vegas go on to win this map two. A 6-4 victory that included 12 massive kills from Clayster saw Las Vegas Legion tie the series moving into the Control.

NYSL completely dominated the map three Hotel Control with a quick 3-0. New York’s attacking rounds were exceptional, with Kismet absolutely running the show dropping 21 kills with a 2.33 K/D as they took a 2-1 lead in this series. NYSL closed out the series with a 250-238 Hotel Hardpoint to advance to play Toronto Ultra tomorrow, and send Las Vegas Legion home.

We spoke with Kismet and Priestahh following the match and got some insight on their preparation for tomorrow's game against Toronto Ultra.