The Atlanta FaZe defeated the Dallas Empire to win the 2021 Call of Duty League Stage One Major. Atlanta did not lose a game during Stage One Group Play or during the Major itself.
The Atlanta FaZe dominated Stage One of the 2021 season. (Image via Atlanta FaZe)
Every team in the Call of Duty League competed in the Major for a piece of the $500,000 prize pool. But some teams were quickly eliminated while others fought for a chance at the title. Each team will have four more opportunities at the remaining Majors of the season.
Atlanta Remains Undefeated
The Atlanta FaZe entered the Stage One Major undefeated. They maintained their impressive performance and did not lose a match during the tournament.
Atlanta faced the Los Angeles Guerrillas in its first match of the weekend. Los Angeles pulled-off an impressive 3-0 victory against the LA Thieves in the first round but could not replicate its success against FaZe as we predicted in our Major I preview.
FaZe quickly swept the Guerrillas and sent them to the losers bracket alongside the LA Thieves and the New York Subliners. The Dallas Empire beat OpTic Chicago in round 2 of the winners’ bracket before facing Atlanta.
The reigning champs could not keep up with Atlanta and FaZe secured their second 3-0 series of the weekend. But Dallas did not give up and defeated New York in the final round of the losers bracket. This secured their spot in the Grand Finals and their second chance to defeat Atlanta.
The two teams faced off in a best of nine series that started with Atlanta winning the first three maps. Dallas answered back with an intense 250-104 Garrison Hardpoint victory, but Atlanta easily won the next Search and Destroy match.
Dallas forced the series to game seven, but Atlanta finished them off with a 6-2 Raid Search and Destroy victory.
Atlanta finished Stage One undefeated and won the first Major of the season. The team walked away with $200,000 in prizes and firmly established itself as one of the league’s top teams.
A Surprising Run from New York
The New York Subliners started the weekend off with a 3-0 defeat against Chicago, but the team managed to claw its way through the losers bracket.
OpTic dominated New York and sent the team to the losers bracket to face the Florida Mutineers. Florida has struggled to perform this season, but they are still a powerful team. The Mutineers managed to win the first two maps of the series, but New York kept the score within 10 points in Hardpoint and one round in Search and Destroy.
New York regrouped and won the final three maps to secure a reverse sweep and eliminate the Subliners from the Major.
New York had less trouble in its next match against the Los Angeles Guerrillas and won the series 3-1. The Guerrillas came close to forcing the series to game five but lost by 13 points in Raid Hardpoint.
The Subliners faced OpTic Chicago in the fifth round of the losers bracket. New York did not waste the opportunity for revenge and swept Chicago to eliminate them from the Major.
Chicago and New York faced off in Crossroads Hardpoint and Garrison Search and Destroy, which neither team played before in an official match. New York capitalized on the lack of experience and easily beat Chicago in the first two maps of the series.
Subliners rookie Connor “Diamondcon” Johst pulled off an impressive performance in both maps and helped lead the team to victory. New York sealed the series with a 3-1 Moscow Control win and sent Chicago home.
Despite an impressive run in the losers bracket, New York could not defeat Dallas in round 6 of the losers bracket. Each map of the series was relatively close, but Dallas did enough to secure its spot in the Grand Finals.
New York is still a top-four team and showed its potential of climbing the leaderboards.
CDL Standings
Stage One of the 2021 Call of Duty League season has ended. Here are the current team standings:
- Atlanta Faze – 125 CDL points
- Dallas Empire – 100 CDL points
- Chicago OpTic – 80 CDL Points
- New York Subliners – 80 CDL Points
- Los Angeles Thieves – 70 CDL Points
- Los Angeles Guerrillas – 50 CDL Points
- Minnesota ROKKR – 40 CDL Points
- Florida Mutineers – 30 CDL Points
- Toronto Ultra -30 CDL Points
- Paris Legion – 30 CDL Points
- Seattle Surge – 10 CDL Points
- London Royal Ravens – 0 CDL Points
