Call Of Duty League Stage 1/Week 2/Day 1 takeaways — The Iceman cometh

We’ve gotten so many things today! Community updates, promises to do better, more Modern Warfare and Warzone sequel details, the unveiling of next week’s ranked play drop, and finally, some great Call Of Duty matches. I can’t say anything was an upset today, but we definitely learned a few things about these eight teams. Let’s take a look at today’s games below.

Boston Breach vs Paris Legion

• As we mentioned in the preview, Methodz and TJHaLy were the players to watch for this team. In today’s bout versus Paris, they definitely showed up to the tune of +12 kills a piece. TJ in particular was slaying out, with the highest kills in Control on the season with 44 on Gavutu.
• Speaking of Gavutu, as much as TJ went ham Capsidal played awful. He was 14/33 with a .42 KD, and -19 kills. TJs positive was great, but the negative from big Cap brought the L.
• Closing it out in 3-1 fashion has to feel good for Boston. People thought they’d be a bottom 4 team this year, then scrims made them seem better than expected. The close 2-3 loss versus the Subliners at the Kickoff had people thinking they’d be competitive, but the 3-2 win versus a reeling LAG had us at least wondering if they were for real. When you beat who you should beat and do it in convincing fashion, you up your stock.

• Its a tough loss, but this one stings because you figured they’d be more competitive versus what we knew about Boston. Dropping this one settles this team in the “12th ranked team” category, and until they can start clutching up and closing out they’ll stay there.
• John was making big plays versus Faze, but he wasn’t nearly as effective today. He was -17 for a .80 KD. The movement was still there, and he made some decent plays, but he seemed to get caught in those moments he was escaping in previous matches.
• Paris at best has been scrappy so far this year, taking teams further than they expect. But they’re just not good enough to beat anybody. They have some talented players, but they don’t have anyone with ascending talent. Boston may not always see the results they want from Nero and Capsidal, but there’s potential there. You already know what you’re getting from this Paris squad.

Minnesota Rokkr vs Seattle Surge

• Straight up match of the day. Minnesota has been somewhat of an enigma, and I can’t tell you why people are so down on them. Maybe it’s similar to Paris, we know a lot of what to expect from them, but the talent this team has is tremendous. They took a top two or three team to a game five round 11 that they should have clutched. The Rokkr are the real deal.
• People have also forgotten what a rookie revelation Standy is, and he seems to have taken that personally in this match. He was +20 with over 100 kills, the best in the lobby. His kill streak on Control with the beatdown as he burst through the church door was an amazing highlight I expect to see on the weekly top 5.
• Where Standy is succeeding, Priestahh is failing. He was -21 kills and just didn’t look right in the match, finishing the game with a poor read of the map that resulted in majormaniak stuck in a 1v1 versus the Iceman.

• Speaking of the Iceman, how about Accuracy? Two straight Game 5 Round 11s and he clutches both of them. Admittedly he was probably part of why the match went that long with the only negative KD on his squad, but when it mattered, he showed up.
• Seattle has seemingly captured Toronto’s teamwork formula this year. They don’t seem to get rattled, and very seldom do we see them in the wrong position. Sure, it’s a long season, but nailing that down is going to benefit them once we get to Champs.
• Sib’s snipes are nasty. That’s all.

Toronto Ultra vs Los Angeles Guerillas

• Well that went about how we expected. Toronto cruised to a 3-0, and they looked really good doing it. The worst thing you could point at is Bance getting killed 42 times on Bocage. You could always chalk that up to Bocage, but ya don’t need to die that much Benny boy.
• The Control got really mixy, and Cammy used a streak very questionably to try and clutch it up. Insight actually said in the interview Cammy was feeling himself and wanted to make something happen, and he nearly pulled it out. Maybe it was just them being up so much on LAG, but yeah, that’s not going to fly in a close match. I’m he was trolling in the end though.
• Honestly, that last one was pulling at straws. They always felt in control versus LAG, even when it got close. On to Florida.

Would it be anyone else but Sir @CammyMVP of the Ego Chall? ⚔️????️

Toronto Ultra Play of the Game Presented by @ScufGaming ????#StrengthInTheNorth | #TeamSCUF pic.twitter.com/3ta4J4jnPr

— Toronto Ultra (@TorontoUltra) February 12, 2022

• At least it was a competitive 0-3 loss? Los Angeles knew this one would be tough and had to know they most likely weren’t emerging with a win. Sure, they took the Hardpoint down to a six second differential, the Search and Destroy to a 10th round, and the Control to a fifth one, but you’d feel a little better if they pulled out a map to make it a 3-1.
• Gunless was the only guy in the positive with a +13 and 1.19 KD. That’s not always the best thing though, as it felt more like he was cleaning up what was already hairy situations.
• Huke finally got a nuke in S&D, going 15/6. Maybe if Slasher and Asim don’t disappoint combining to go 3/15 it’s a win. Besides that, I don’t like Huke’s glide bomb usage, especially considering they ended up losing the round.

New York Subliners vs Los Angeles Thieves

• They don’t look much better without Neptune, so you have to wonder if he was really the problem. Royalty’s debut was marred in the 1-3 loss, but not necessarily by the L. The poor guy went 63/86 overall, with a .73 KD. I get the feeling the ping wasn’t helping, given Royalty is out of the country (actually playing at Ultra’s facility), but I don’t know that things are going to get much better.
• On the plus side, they did show up in the Search and Destroy and clutched the round 11, and were at least competitive in the Hardpoints.
• It looked really ugly in Control on Gavutu though, and poor Hydra was getting smoked, finishing -11 on the map.

The Ls just keep coming – feels like we're looking at @JHBTeam's DMs.

GGs @LAThieves.#NYSL | #CDL2022 pic.twitter.com/m6aYaORNv9

— NYSL (@Subliners) February 12, 2022

• For the Thieves, this was a nice get right game after a tough showing versus Atlanta. Despite a sloppy looking Tuscan they have some momentum to take into their next match versus the Florida Mutineers tomorrow.
• The get right thing thankfully extended to Kenny, quite literally turned things 180 from the last match. Versus Faze he went -25 kills, versus New York, +24.
• If the Thieves can keep playing this kind of Call of Duty they’ll be a handful, but they need to do it versus the top teams. So far they’ve beaten Paris, a shaky Optic team, and struggling New York. They did take Toronto to five maps, but they lost their composure after the Tuscan Hardpoint. The best teams feed on those moments, and if the Thieves want to be there, they must as well.

Stay tuned to Gaming Trend for our takeaways as the season continues, 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.

See below for our list of partners and affiliates: