LA Thieves and OpTic start off red hot, while other fall in first week of Stage 5. For LA Thieves, it could be the start of a rise through the ranks.
In the final stage of the season, teams have one last opportunity to prepare for the big show. The Call of Duty World Championships are on the horizon. Teams are eager to start off strong in CDL Stage 5 week 1, especially with a LAN event on the horizon next month.
OpTic start surprisingly strong in CDL Stage 5 Week 1
Chicago OpTic entered this stage in 5th place in the overall standings. Expectations have remained dim, based on their performance so far this year. But Chicago needed to start off this stage on a good note. Trying to build some much needed momentum, that’s exactly what they did.
OpTic began the stage with a favorable matchup against 10th placed Paris Legion. With the exception of a close round 11 win in game two, OG essentially crushed their counterparts in a 3-0 series sweep.
That gave them a good platform to build off of for their second match against the New York Subliners. The Subliners were coming off a crushing game 5 loss to LAT just a few days prior. Chicago came out with a big win in game one. Despite an hour delay in the match, they were able to continue on to win the next two maps for the sweep.
While OpTic’s Search & Destroy remains a huge question mark, these are two huge wins. They need to win the matches against lower seeded teams. And any win against a top four squad is a bonus and will only help their seeding that much more. They now sit tied with the LA Thieves and Atlanta FaZe atop of group A.
Royal Ravens, Legion and Surge struggles continue
The bottom three of the CDL has generally stayed the same all year long. Overall, it has been a disaster of a year for the likes of the Paris Legion, London Royal Ravens and Seattle Surge. The three teams all have just 21 match wins combined (7 each), which is less than 4 other teams in the league.
London has by far been the toughest to play against out of the other two. Constantly punching series to the distance, and just being really pesky against good teams. Paris has gone through its fair share of roster changes, but has continued to struggle mightily.
Seattle entered the year with much higher expectations than previous. With the high-end talents of Gunless and Octane, and the leadership in Loony and Prestinni, Surge were destined for good fortune. However, a couple roster changes later, they find themselves second last in the league.
These teams have had some glimmers of hope at certain points. But the failure to build off of big wins has costed them a massive amount of points. London, Paris and Seattle went a combined 0-5, with just two map wins in CDL Stage 5 Week 1. They currently sit at the bottom of the CDL.
LA Thieves have potentially found their breakthrough
It has been a rostermania rollercoaster for the likes of the LA Thieves. They made yet another roster move by adding world champion John, prior to Stage 5. Hoping to finally find some stability in their roster, a strong start might’ve just accomplished that.
They would square off against the steady rolling Subliners. John certainly did not disappoint in his return to professional Call of Duty. He led his team to a huge game 5, round 11 victory against a very solid team.
LA moved right along in their second series of the week. The Thieves were able to play yet another solid series against the Royal Ravens. They would lose game two SnD, but win the following two maps to close out the series 3-1.
Their CDL Stage 5 Week 1 matchups were by far the best they have looked this year. It is only a small sample size, but the potential of this new roster is exciting for fans. Being able to handily defeat a struggling team AND a top 4 team are very important wins at his point in the season. A win against Paris, and a hard fought effort against Atlanta will be huge in week 2.
OpTic now has a chance to stay within reach of first seed in group A. Atlanta FaZe will be their biggest test of the stage in week 2. It will be interesting to see if Paris, London and Seattle can bounce back, but 5 tough match may result in more zero’s being added to the board. LA Thieves came out hot this stage, but they will need to keep it going with two matches this week.
CDL Stage 5 continues this Thursday, July 14th. Be sure to check out the top 5 best Call of Duty teams of all-time!