Call of Duty League Major 1 Qualifiers Weekend 2 Recap
The second weekend of the Call of Duty Major 1 qualifiers was just as exciting and full of entertainment as the first. A few teams are off to a surprisingly hot start, and others are still looking to hit their stride. Even some top-ranked teams are still trying to put it all together with the new Modern Warfare 2 maps and get back to their Vanguard form.
Let's look at the past weekend's events as we near the group play stages of Major I in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Minnesota RØkkr Are The Real Deal
The RØkkr find themselves atop the Call of Duty League standings, and as we eluded to last week, they are for real. After losing a close Hardpoint round at Breenbergh Hotel 250-246, RØkkr came back and made a statement, dominating the next three rounds on the backs of Attach and Afro. They may have been riding high after their sweep last weekend, as they came out flat to start the second weekend. Once they got themselves going, they never looked back and showed the league that they belonged in the ranks with the top teams. While they disappointed in their final match on Sunday, there's no reason to think that RØkkr can't compete with the best teams in the CDL.
Don't Sleep On Toronto Ultra
The Ultra sit right behind RØkkr at the top of the standings after beating Atlanta FaZe on Friday and dominating Seattle Surge on Sunday. The rounds that FaZe won were tightly contested and could have gone in Ultra's favor. But the ones that Ultra won, they were in complete control and FaZe never stood a chance. It wouldn't have been a surprise to see Ultra win the match 3-0, but they will settle for a 3-2 win against one of the elite teams in the CDL. It's evident that Surge is struggling, and Ultra is the much better team, but Surge shouldn't be taken lightly, and that's exactly what Ultra did, putting Surge out of the match early. Ultra will be a team contending for the Championship all year.
Seattle Surge Is Down But Not Out
Speaking of Surge, while they are struggling early this season, they've shown a ton of promise and have several highlights that they can build on. Sitting at 11th in the current standings, with just 1-3 in their match record, if they can find a way to play more as a team, they have the roster to make a run deep into the playoffs. Pred, who was last season's Rookie of the Year, has been playing well with Sib, who seems to make highlight plays in every round. While things are looking dark in Seattle, this is a team that we should see turn it around soon.
Subliners HyDra Headlines For New York
After being outmatched in the first weekend of the 2023 CDL, the Subliners have found an SMG to carry them. Hydra was a beast and a thorn in the side of Arcitys and the rest of the Los Angeles Guerrillas on Friday. Ending the night with a 1.26 overall K/D, Hydra and the Subliners went on to destroy the Guerrillas, getting the clean sweep 3-0. Hydra continued his dominant weekend on Saturday, carrying the team to a 3-2 match victory against Boston Breach. He had a 1.22 overall K/D on the evenings with a whopping 8280 damage. If this indicates how his season will be, Hydra will be tough to handle for many of these teams.
Are The Thieves Pretenders?
Call of Duty League Los Angeles Thieves vs. Florida Mutineers match recap for the 2022 Modern Warfare 2 (MW2).
After winning the CDL Championship last year, the expectations were high for the Thieves to be the first team to win back-to-back titles. Much like last season, the start of this year could have been better for them. They currently sit 5th in the standings, with just nine games won and eight games lost. While where they currently are in the standings isn't inadequate, the expectations were for them to sit comfortably on top. That's not happening, and things haven't come easy to them. They lost 3-1 to one of the more inferior teams in the CDL in the Florida Mutineers but bounced back against OpTic Texas Sunday, beating them 3-1. Are the Thieves pretenders? That questions should be answered soon. But they have a lot of work to do to get back to their championship form.
