The Call Of Duty League Kickoff Classic 2022 Day 3 takeaways — Kings of the Kickoff

There you have it folks, Toronto Ultra are your Call Of Duty League Kickoff Classic champions! This was a heck of a day of Call Of Duty, and all four teams deserved to be here. With that said, let’s go over all the action from today!

Seattle Surge vs New York Subliners

• I’m not going to say it again, I’m not going to say it again. Let me say it this way, get the right kills and play the objective and you’ll pull of the win. Just like yesterday, New York was all negative in kills, and Seattle was +10. The Subliners still won the Hardpoint, and by 17 points. Make the right plays at the right times, and they matter more than a positive KD.
• This loss has to sting. New York has the right formula, two veterans and two sophomores bursting with talent. But a group who many wouldn’t pick ahead of them are walking away from this one to the finals. There’s not a ton you can point to, but the first thing I would question is how you keep getting outslayed. Yeah, it’s not the most important thing, but it will catch up to you, and it seems like it did here.

• How the crap is no one dealing with Pred? He is an absolute meance in Control, tearing Atlanta Faze apart on Gavutu and doing it again versus New York. He was 19/13, but that doesn’t show at all his impact on the map. We just talked about right plays, and he’s making them in Control.
• Speaking of Control, Surge are 9-0 in the mode during this tournament. I can’t wait to see if they make it 12-0, and even if they don’t, this is obviously a really strong area for them. If this continues into the regular season, they’ll be competing for a Major win immediately.
• Also important for Seattle, even their map loses have been mixy. Those being… two Hardpoints. If they felt like they had anything to prove, they already have.

Los Angeles Thieves vs Toronto Ultra

• A new stat in the scoreboard, non-traded kills, really showed why the Thieves beat Ultra so handily on Bocage. Besides Octane, most of the team was barely positive, but if you look at NTK, LAT was +19 over Toronto. Non-traded kills means you get away after you slay, and if you’re creating numbers you’ll get the wins.
• Drazah was the king of non-traded kills in the Tuscan Control, with 27 of his 38 kills in that category. He had some questionable use of his earned streaks, but he’s definitely why they took home their first Control win of the year.
• So close but yet so far seems to be the theme of this game for LAT. If only Envoy was still on the point during the exciting 248-250 Tuscan Hardpoint loss. You can’t ask for a more thrilling finish, but the thought will be what could have been given the fantastic setup that Toronto broke through. Then Kenny getting killed after almost defusing the bomb? Heartbreak man.

• Watching Bance in the back of people’s spawn infuriates you. Not because he’s not incredible at it, but because you feel like someone should be stopping him already. I don’t know how he sneaks through or how he stays alive way past when he should, but his great reads make them so annoying in Control.
• Toronto managed to bounce back on Berlin Search and Destroy, with a 6-3 scoreline. The swing round was definitely a 2-4 clutch in the eighth by Cammy and Insight. I don’t know what happened, but the Thieves went hunting for kills and the Ultra duo made them pay. It was an undisciplined play that cost LAT the momentum and Ultra never looked back from there.
• The round we’ll be talking about, Insight clutching a 1v2. The first kill was already a great play, but killing Kenny with milliseconds was incredible. Not to be forgotten, CleanX went 12/5, including a fantastic ace.

Toronto Ultra vs Seattle Surge

• Cammy is disgusting with a sniper. Twice we watched Pred get literally in his face, and twice Cammy got him with a near no scope at close range. This weekend has proved it, snipers NEED to be in the game for the season.
• Toronto is certainly resilient. Seattle took them all the way on Tuscan Control, but it didn’t rattle the Ultra. They kept playing their game, with constant perfectly timed flanks to wipe out Seattle’s pushes. It’s not just one player either, even Insight was getting in on the action. Again, you don’t see almost anyone playing together as well as this squad.
• In the end, this Ultra squad us just too good. They obliterated Surge in the Berlin Hardpoint, 250-71. You can’t play it any more perfect than Toronto did, with two players nearly double positive. It’s even worse than it sounds, they outslayed them by 40 kills.

• If you were at all curious if Seattle could hang with the big dogs, they’ve showed it this weekend. That Bocage Hardpoint was ridiculous, with Sib and Pred both dropping 40+ bombs. It looked like Toronto’s map to lose for two thirds of it, but when you have those boys getting 60 non-traded kills between them, it’s hard to get on the hill.
• Yes, their streak of Control might have been broken, but don’t think Seattle just rolled over. A very close fought Tuscan ended with a 3-2 Toronto win, but we were probably one successful Surge push away from a different story. You can’t be upset to take Ultra all the way to the brink, especially in your first tournament as a team.
• That last Hardpoint started Seattle on the back foot, and even worse Toronto’s slaying seemed to take all the energy out of them. They didn’t even look competitive, and Mack finished 7/24. Hopefully this young squad can watch the tape, figure out what they did wrong, and adjust what they need to. There’s too much potential here for this to be the last time we see them in a finals match.

Stay tuned to Gaming Trend for our takeaways as the event takes place, and we’ll do our best to bring you content here and on our YouTube channel! You can follow the league both live and after hours on the official Call Of Duty League YouTube channel right here. If you want to jump into the game, check out CallOfDuty.com, and if you want to know more about it first, check out our review right here.

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