Call Of Duty League 2022 Major IV/Week 3/Day 1 takeaways — London rocks Faze, Seattle no longer surging

Well, we had some banger matches today. Upsets and near upsets abounded, and one team claimed their first time ever victory over another. Unfortunately we had to watch another team falter yet again, and you really don’t want to see the crash that’s probably going to happen after Major IV. Speaking of Major IV, this is the final week before we head to New York for the last regular season event, so drink in these online match takeaways while you can! 

Atlanta Faze vs London Royal Ravens

Actual: 3-1 London Royal Ravens

• And we’re back to Faze looking lost on the map… somewhat. Both of the Hardpoints were a tragedy, with Atlanta seemingly dragging the maps back from the brink only to get broken. That was the story all day, good rotations but busted setups which led to a difference of 13 points combined in both losses. That was really apparent in aBeZy being the only one on the point with the other two on Outer Ring, which cost them when he lost a single gunfight. Faze was one of the best in Hardpoint, and I don’t think they’ve dropped far, but they have to step on the gas again.
• Cellium keeps rocking at least, and he’s the biggest reason they were in most of these maps. He dropped a 1.38 KD, along with +24 kills and over 10K damage. Simp was right behind him with an equally good performance, a 1.14 KD and +11 kills. These two have to keep up the pace and hopefully find the ice to close out maps.
• Before there’s any panic, remember that this squad was coming off a low versus LAG, and London is riding a big high. Atlanta certainly should be better at bouncing back, but every break seemed to go the Royal Ravens way. Hard to put every bit of blame on Faze, even if they deserve at least some of it. This was a hard fought one where they just couldn’t close things out in the final seconds.

• I literally predicted this team, but I didn’t expect them to be this good. This is the first time since the CDL’s inception that London has beaten Atlanta, and while it was certainly closer than they would have liked, they managed to get the breaks they needed… quite literally. They were always step for step with Faze in the Hardpoints, and even when Faze managed to rotate (which isn’t hard to do versus London), they always broke in. London is back to being THAT team again, the one we saw at the beginning of the year.
• Afro may not have had a bunch of kills overall in this one, but boy was he impactful. The slide in to clutch up on P1 was a thing of beauty, catching aBeZy with his pants down. Then he put on a master class of a performance in Search and Destroy, 16/5 and nearly unkillable. His worldstar of aBeZy in bottom Grandma’s left you wondering if the game glitched it was so unlikely. That was the second highest score this year in Search and Destroy, and it felt like it.
• With all they’ve accomplished it’d be easy to crown them the top team at Major IV, but let’s hold our horses for a moment. While the Ravens have been literally flawless in Hardpoint and S&D, to the tune of 12-0, they are 0-4 in Control. In the mode that can completely turn a competitive series, especially since this group hasn’t been able to put it all together on LAN, it’s something to keep our eyes on.

Florida Mutineers vs Paris Legion

Actual: 3-2 Florida Mutineers

• This is a match where both teams arguably deserved to lose, and Florida should have. It was somewhat of an embarrassment, getting thrashed on the opening Tuscan Hardpoint by the worst team in the league. But after going down 0-3 in the S&D they somewhat woke up, winning 6 straight rounds for the W. That being said, you shouldn’t be outslayed by 34 kills and win, but they eeked it out via the two S&D wins.
• The only positive this team can take away from today is that they earned 10 CDL points to keep ahead of the Subliners. That’s really it. The fact that they were dominated in the opening Hardpoint and the Control is not a good look, and there’s a good chance this team won’t be able to compete versus the big boys come Major IV. Hate to tell you that Florida fans, because I like them too, but I don’t see them having what it takes to clutch up and grab that eighth spot.
• I’m assuming the coach needs to go after the year is up, because 2Real keeps proving the critics right. There are multiple moments you can watch where he makes a wrong play and it’s somewhat infuriating as someone who assesses these matches. Case in point, there was a moment on the Desert Siege where he flew out into the open, and was caught out almost immediately. That round went to Paris, and if not for the stellar play of his teammates that one could have been lost. I’ll give Majormaniak props for his play, although he’s a horrible fit for this roster, but 2Real hasn’t been good.

• This is heart wrenching for this team. You could kind of see the checked out looks on their faces at the end, a “well, we lost again” one. What’s horrific in this is even though literally everything went right, the Legion just can’t seem to win a flipping map. Even worse is there is potential here, but being thrown together has left them unable to form teamwork, which seems to be costing them in S&D.
• oJohnny was incredible in the opening Hardpoint. His 36/22 doesn’t even tell the entire story either. He went on an incredible 10 spree that gave Paris most of the P5 time, and gave him a glide bomb. What’s more, his score wasn’t even that phenomenal at the time, he just caught fire and took it to Florida.
• As good as oJohnny was, Jimbo had a fantastic match. He was punching pound for pound with Owakening, and you could argue took him out of the match. He was also the only Paris player positive in S&D, by a slim margin. Jimbo has had some really terrible performances this year, and his 100/80 almost made up for a few of them.

Seattle Surge vs Minnesota Rokkr

Actual: 3-2 Minnesota Rokkr

• Pred and Sib were doing their thing, and this squad still took home the L. It’s incredible really, but it’s a reminder of how important Search and Destroy continues to be in this league. You can outslay the other team all you want (and they did by 30 kills), but you can’t just do that. Timely plays are needed to close things out, and Seattle couldn’t make those happen.
• Weird that Seattle is struggling so much on Bocage. In what should be one of this team’s best maps, the mixiness got to them. For every blow we saw the Surge hand out, Minnesota had one to fight back with, in a 250-241 reminiscent of so many matches Minnesota has been in, and unfortunately for Seattle those still went the other squad’s way.
• Sib was a madman in the Control. He went 45/22 for a 2.05 KD and +23 kills, along with nearly 5k damage in the mode. Given this one was a 3-2 win, it was all on him to clutch this one up, because his teammates were -7 combined otherwise. Mack had a really rough day, and it bled into the Control as well with his -8 kills.

• Well, well, well, Minnesota is still keeping their eyes on the prize. They’ve lost several matches they really should have won, but icing up when they needed it most gave them 10 CDL points to keep up with Florida and leave them only 15 behind LAG. If they can get the win over Paris this weekend, they can go into the Major in winner’s bracket and have a good shot at making up the points they need for that eighth seed for Champs.
• Nobody was really the star of the show today, but Havok made some great plays to remind us why he is arguably the most important piece to Minnesota’s lineup. It wasn’t just the great stats on Bocage either, with 46/34 for the 1.35 KD leading the way for Rokkr. It was the smart play at gate to distract Pred from the final hill, and the kill on him that at least kept a contest from happening along with providing the split second needed for the score to reach 250.
• Now, if there was a trophy for bad performances, it seems like Standy got the worst of Seattle’s wrath. He’s usually really steady for this squad, but today proved very different, possibly because Pred was roaming the map. He was only 74/115, -41 kills, and a .64 KD. His play on the Berlin Hardpoint was especially atrocious, 9/22 for a .41 KD. I’m sure this is a one of, but it’s not a stat line you expect from the young gun.

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