(Photo credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)
OpTic Texas and the Toronto Ultra swept their matches Thursday on the first day of action in the Call of Duty League’s Stage 2 Major.
The other two winners were the New York Subliners and the Atlanta FaZe.
OpTic defeated the Miami Heretics and the Ultra knocked off the Vegas Legion, and those winners will remain in the upper bracket and meet on Saturday.
The Subliners handled the Boston Breach 3-1, and the FaZe had to go the distance, beating the Los Angeles Thieves in five maps. The Subliners and the FaZe will also square off on Saturday.
All 12 CDL teams played seven qualifying matches ahead of the Stage 2 Major, which runs through next Sunday in Miami. Every team advanced to the double-elimination tournament, with the qualifying matches determining seeding. The top eight teams in the qualifying standings got a bye in the first round of the tournament.
The winning team gets $150,000 of the event’s $375,000 prize pool. The winner also gets 100 CDL points.
OpTic began its sweep with a 250-165 win on Invasion Hardpoint. Next came a 6-4 victory on Rio Search Destroy and a 3-1 clincher on Karachi Control.
The Ultra had closer calls but still won all three of their maps: 250-225 on Rio Hardpoint, 6-5 on Invasion Search Destroy and 3-2 on Invasion Control.
The Subliners lost their first map, Skidrow Hardpoint, 250-125 to the Breach. But then New York rallied with wins on Terminal Search Destroy (6-4), Invasion Control (3-0) and Sub Base Hardpoint (250-157).
The FaZe and Thieves alternated wins and losses through the first four maps. The Thieves took Invasion Hardpoint 250-173, but the FaZe eked out a 6-5 victory on Invasion Search Destroy. The Thieves again took the lead with a 3-1 win on Invasion Control, but the FaZe responded with a 250-172 victory on Rio Hardpoint.
Finally, Atlanta prevailed 6-2 on the clincher, Highrise Search Destroy.
There will be five matches on Friday:
(Elimination bracket round 1)
–Miami Heretics vs. Carolina Royal Ravens
–Vegas Legion vs. Seattle Surge
–Boston Breach vs. Minnesota Rokkr
–Los Angeles Thieves vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas
(Elimination bracket round 2)
–Breach-Rokkr winner vs. Thieves-Guerrillas winner
Stage 2 Major prize money and CDL points
1st — $150,000, 100 points, TBD
2nd — $90,000, 75 points, TBD
3rd — $60,000, 60 points, TBD
4th — $30,000, 45 points, TBD
5th-6th — $15,000, 30 points, TBD
7th-8th — $7,500, 15 points, TBD
9th-12th — No money, no points, TBD
–Field Level Media
