CDL 2023 Major 1 Qualifiers – Week 2; Day 3 Recap

Here’s everything that went down in the final day of the second week of the 2023 CDL season.

The Call of Duty League continued with four more matches as we concluded the second week of the 2023 Call of Duty League season. We’ve seen some blowout matches alongside multiple upsets so far in week two. Here’s a recap of every match from the third and final day of week two in the 2023 Call of Duty League Season.

Las Vegas Legion 3-1 Minnesota ROKKR

Las Vegas Legion come into this match with an 0-3 record in Major 1 Qualifiers so far. On the other side, Minnesota ROKKR are 3-0 and have looked great in every match so far. However, it was the Las Vegas Legion who took the 1-0 lead in the series through a 250-222 victory. This is something that was not expected, however with Minnesota ROKKR switching up their maps for this series, an upset could definitely happen. Another stat to put behind this is that Minnesota ROKKR have not won a single map one in any of their three series so far, a statistic reminiscent of Toronto Ultra in the Cold War season, a roster that included two current ROKKR players in Bance and Cammy.

The Las Vegas Legion continued to look better than ever in this final match of Major 1 Qualifiers as they took a 2-0 series lead following a 6-3 El Asilo Search and Destroy victory. TJHaly led the squad with 9 kills and a 1.50 K/D as he made use of his Dead Silence on multiple occasions to flank behind and take down members of Minnesota ROKKR. Given Las Vegas Legion’s poor 0-4 record in Control so far this year, it is no surprise that Minnesota ROKKR came out with the map three victory. However, this was Minnesota ROKKR’s first time playing Fortress, and it showed as we went all the way to round five. 

Minnesota ROKKR looked in a prime position to force a game five in this series, however Las Vegas Legion clutched up when it was needed to take the map four 250-248 and take the series 3-1. This is Las Vegas Legion’s first victory of the season, and sees Minnesota ROKKR end the Qualifiers 3-1.

Toronto Ultra 3-1 Seattle Surge

Toronto Ultra are coming off the back of a 3-2 victory over Atlanta FaZe, and they started this series strong. Ultra had both SMG players completely dominating, with Standy and CleanX putting up 33 and 30 kills respectively. Throughout the map, Toronto’s breaks were excellent, and they found themselves at around a 40-50 point lead throughout most of the map. However, we saw a complete breakdown as half of Toronto went for the scrap time, and left the other two to hold the rotation. Both sets of players lost their gunfights, seeing Seattle win the scrap time and the rotation, and therefore the map.

Seattle Surge may have clutched up in the first map of this series, but there was no chance of them clutching up in this one. Toronto Ultra dominated the Search and Destroy on Fortress with Scrappy and Insight topping the leader board with 10 and 9 kills respectively. This saw both players earn streaks throughout the map as Toronto Ultra came out with a 6-3 victory and a tied series. Toronto Ultra went on to take a 2-1 lead in the series through a 3-2 Hotel Control victory, however this can almost be put down to Insight single-handedly. While everyone else in the lobby had a minimum of 28 deaths, Insight had just 16 deaths alongside 31 kills seeing him put up a 1.94 K/D as he dominated Hotel. 

The series was closed out in four as Toronto Ultra took a 250-232 Hotel Hardpoint victory. Standy was exceptional in this map, however it's not only his massive number of kills that he needs credit for, it's his routes and knowledge for the game that makes him a big issue for any team.

LA Thieves 3-1 OpTic Texas

OpTic Texas have begun the 2023 Call of Duty League season looking great, however there have been some mistakes in Hardpoint we’ve seen over and over again. This map might have been their best so far, a 250-204 Hotel victory saw OpTic start with a massive 70-80 point lead. LA Thieves came back strong, pulling off to an 80 point lead of their own before OpTic’s teamwork prevailed, seeing them take back over and close out the map to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The LA Thieves tied the series 1-1 with a 6-5 round 11 victory on Fortress Search and Destroy in map two. However, this should’ve been OpTic’s map. OpTic Texas had eight first bloods in the 11 rounds, and found themselves 5-3 up at one point in the match. OpTic were unable to capitalize on the first bloods or the round advantage, and are now tied up in the series 1-1. The map three Hotel Control came down to the final round, and it was the LA Thieves who clutched up to win the only offensive round of the map seeing them take a 2-1 lead in the series. This was a defensive heavy map as usual, however the Thieves managed to clear out bedroom and push through to B for the final capture of the map.

The Thieves ended the series in the fourth map with a 250-116 victory on Embassy Hardpoint. Their rotations were incredible, and OpTic didn't look on the pace whatsoever as LA Thieves bounced back from yesterday's loss, and took the series 3-1.

Los Angeles Guerrillas 3-1 Boston Breach

Boston Breach came out and completely dominated the Los Angeles Guerrillas in the map one Hotel Hardpoint. This map ended 250-69 with Boston Breach outslaying by around 20 kills. The Guerrillas looked incredibly far off the pace, with Boston completely running the show having every single player on their team go on a five spree at some point in the game. 

The Los Angeles Guerrillas replied with an equally dominant map in a 6-1 El Asilo Search and Destroy victory. Vivid unfortunately joined the agency with 0 kills, 0 assists and 7 deaths in this map, but it was Neptune and Huke who were on fire in this map making unbelievable plays and leveling the series 1-1. The map three Control saw four back to back offensive round wins until the Los Angeles Guerrillas clutched up with the final defensive round win to take the map. In this map it was the AR of Arctiys who dominated to pull LAG through the map three and to a 2-1 lead in the series.

Given the result of the first Hardpoint, it was expected to see Boston Breach come away with the map four victory to force a game five. However, the Los Angeles Guerrillas clutched up and took a 250-229 victory to take a 3-1 victory in the series. Boston Breach were within touching distance of the win, however they completely choked on the final two hills allowing LAG to get through while not rotating themselves, resulting in a heartbreaking loss.