Here are the winners after Day 1 CDL Champs! There were quite a few exciting series and a great start to the tournament.
The 2022 Call of Duty World Championship started off with a bang this week, as the first set of matches have concluded in Los Angeles. CDL Champs day 1 was electric to start the weekend with Atlanta FaZe, Seattle Surge, OpTic Texas and Los Angeles Thieves picking up wins. Here's what happened on CDL Champs Day 1.
CDL Champs day 1 lives up to the hype
Thursday gave Call of Duty fans some of the best matches of the season so far. CDL Champs day 1 featured three game 5s, two of which went the absolute distance to a round 11.
The inaugural match of the weekend featured the Seattle Surge and London Royal Ravens. Pred kicked the series off with a massive performance in game 1. His electric play on Tuscan led his team to a marginal victory over London. LRR were able to bounce back however, with back to back dominant wins. All of the momentum was with the Royal Ravens and the series seemed just about over. Thanks to a gutsy performance from Sib in the final two maps, Seattle were able to clutch up and secure the series win.
After a break on the stream, the Boston Breach and hometown LA Thieves were next on the docket. The series went back and forth the whole way through leading to a game 5. An incredible 14/7 performance from the veteran Kenny paved the way to a round 11 and eventually a series win for the Thieves.
Fan favorite OpTic Texas would also go to a game 5 round 11 in a match against the Toronto Ultra. OpTic were dominant in the first two maps and looked poised to finish the job quickly. Toronto maintained their mid-series reputation by winning two tightly contested maps to tie things up. A first blood in round 11 for Toronto didn’t matter as OpTic were able to avoid the reverse sweep.
It took a miracle run at Major IV for the New York Subliners to qualify for Champs. Because of that, they would have to play the league-leading Atlanta FaZe. NYSL jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the series. However, FaZe brought it all the way back to yet another game 5. It was a quick one, with FaZe completing the reverse sweep in a 6-2 win.
It certainly was an exciting start for the fans in attendance. If day 2 is even remotely similar, this could lead to one of the best Champs weekends in CDL history.
LA Thieves hitting final form at the right time
The Los Angeles Thieves shocked the league with their unexpected win at Major IV in New York. LAT hit their stride at that event and never looked back. That kind of performance was something fans have been waiting for for nearly two years. Rolling into CDL Champs Day 1, the morale and confidence had to be at an all time high.
They entered their match against Boston as slight favorites to win the series. LAT didn’t get the start they wanted, but Search and Destroy saved them in the series. The Thieves have been a very solid SnD team all year long and showed exactly why. They took one respawn and relied on their search en route to a round 11 victory. Octane was also able to put together one of the best series he has had in years. Being the most important player on that team, LA need that for the rest of the weekend if they want a chance at that trophy.
Los Angeles will enter a Friday night date with OpTic Texas as the underdogs. With how LA has been playing as of late, there should be no doubt whatsoever that they can take this series.
Atlanta FaZe shows why they can still be the best
It's no mistake that Atlanta finished the regular season as the points leader. They never finished outside of the top 3 all season long and are eying a Champs repeat.
Reasonable doubt clouded over them near the end of the year. Three straight second-place finishes at the major events raised some questions if they have that clutch factor in them. Their match against NYSL on day 1 may have changed that narrative just a bit moving forward. FaZe started off very slow in the hardpoint and were dominated in map two as well. Perhaps something was said amongst the team during the intermission, because FaZe exploded on Tuscan Control. ATL rolled on through map 4 with a huge win and won a very clean Berlin Snd to reverse sweep New York.
FaZe's performance in those final three maps was just a sample of what they have accomplished all season long. They relied heavily on team play rather than individual performances and that lead to a massive win. If Atlanta can take that momentum and ride it the rest of the way, they may be well on their way to a repeat.
CDL Champs day 2 action continues tomorrow beginning at 3:00p.m. EST.
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