The Toronto Ultra Home Series kicked of Stage II of the 2021 Call of Duty League season, and the top teams continued to dominate their opponents. But some teams like the London Royal Ravens and Seattle Surge showed signs of life and improvement. There is still plenty of time before the next Major tournament, but some teams have a lot of work to do.
The Toronto Ultra Home Series marked the beginning of CDL Stage II. Image via Toronto Ultra.
The top three remain supreme
The Atlanta FaZe won the first major of the 2021 season and continued to dominate in the first week of stage II. The team started with a 1-3 victory over the New York Subliners, which is currently in fourth place in the league.
The Subliners kept the Garrison Hardpoint match within 50 points. The team also won express Search and Destroy to round 11, but Atlanta finished the series off by winning the following two maps.
FaZe played the Toronto Ultra in its second and final match of the weekend, but it was a much less entertaining series. Toronto could not win a map and only secured three rounds in Moscow Search and Destroy. Toronto recently replaced Anthony “Methodz” Zinni with Jamie “Insight” Craven on its starting roster, which did little to help the team during the home series.
OpTic Chicago only played one match during the home series against the Paris Legion. Paris ultimately fell flat, and OpTic added another victory to its season. The Dallas Empire also only played one match during the Toronto Home Series against the Seattle Surge. It was much closer than expected as Seattle forced the series to map five.
Dallas started the series by winning the first two maps. Fans assumed Dallas would quickly Sweep Seattle as they are currently second to last in the league. But Seattle won the next two maps and faced off with Dallas on Express Search and Destroy to decide the series.
The Search and Destroy match went to round 11, and Seattle almost pulled off a massive upset against the 2020 champions. Dallas won the map and series, but Seattle showed promise with its performance.
Redemption and relapse
Seattle also defeated the Florida Mutinners 3-1, displaying a clear improvement since Stage I alongside the intense five-game series against Dallas. Seattle was not the only team to show signs of progress during the Toronto Home Series. The London Royal Ravens won its first match against the Los Angeles Guerrillas in a 3-0 shutout. The team recently added Paul “PaulEhx” Avila to its starting lineup, which might have been the change needed for success.
On the opposite end were the Minnesota ROKKR and Toronto Ultra, who couldn’t win a single series all weekend. Minnesota faced Paris and the Florida Mutineers and failed to win a single map in either series.
Minnesota almost won Miami Search and Destroy against Paris and Express Search and Destroy against Florida, but the team could not finish the job.
Minnesota has three regular-season wins, including a surprising victory against Dallas. The team could not find its groove this weekend, but there is still time for improvement in Stage II.
New York redeemed itself for its early loss against FaZe with a reverse sweep against the Los Angeles Thieves. The Subliners stayed alive with a close 3-2 Raid Control victory and maintained its momentum for the rest of the series.
CDL Standings
Here are the current Call of Duty League team standings:
Atlanta Faze – 145 CDL Points
Dallas Empire – 110 CDL Points
OpTic Chicago – 90 CDL Points
New York Subliners – 90 CDL Points
Los Angeles Thieves – 80 CDL Points
Los Angeles Guerrillas – 50 CDL Points
Florida Mutineers – 40 CDL Points
Paris Legion – 40 CDL Points
Minnesota ROKKR – 40 CDL Points
Toronto Ultra – 30 CDL Points
Seattle Surge – 20 CDL Points
London Royal Ravens – 10 CDL Points
