Stage 2 Week 3 Recap
COD League Recap: The final week of Stage 2 matches has come and gone. With everything that has gone on behind the scenes, with roster changes and certain guns and weapon attachments getting put on the banned list for competitive Call of Duty, we are finally seeing new teams finding ways to win.
There were some big things that happened this week, some placements got solidified with big wins and we saw Faze lose their first match.
Atlanta Faze
Coming into this weekend Atlanta had been perfect. They were 4-0 in league matches for Stage 2, and did not lose a series in Stage 1. Faze was scheduled to play Los Angeles Guerillas, who had not won a single match in stage 2, so it was pretty much written off that Faze would walk away with this one.
The Guerrillas had other plans and did the unthinkable. They were able to beat Atlanta Faze 3-2 and get their first win of Stage 2. Did this loss really matter for Faze? Absolutely not.
They had already secured first in their group and first overall for the upcoming major. As long as Faze is able to shake this one off, they should be fine this upcoming weekend.
Florida Mutineers
After a big week 2, defeating Optic Chicago, Florida came into the third week of matches with a 2-1 record and the possibility of finding themselves in a winners bracket spot in the major. Unfortunately the Mutineers did the exact opposite.
In their first match against Empire, they were beat quickly by a score of 0-3. Not many thought they would be able to compete with Empire, getting beat 0-3 was tough for the confidence.
In their second match, they had a bottom of the division Paris Legion team to finish up their week 3-2 with a fighting chance to get into the winners side.
However, the Mutineers were quickly taken down by a score of 1-3 and found themselves as the last place team.
Optic Chicago vs Dallas Empire
The best match of the week came Sunday evening when Optic took on Empire. Two of the top teams in the league, with seeding implications on the line, did not disappoint. If Empire were to win, they would have found themselves as the top seed in group B and Optic would have been the three seed. If Optic were to win, Minnesota would take the top seed, Optic would be in second, and Empire would find themselves in third.
Dallas came out and won a close hardpoint 250-246. There were several lead changes and ultimately came down to a clutch set of kills on the final hill. Optic was able to take win the Search and Destroy relatively easily by a score of 6-2. The Control was very close with 3 of the rounds coming down to kills instead of zone captures.
Empire was able to close out the fifth round and win the Control 3-2. The fourth and fifth maps Optic played almost to perfection. They were able to win the hardpoint 250-108 and then the Search and Destroy 6-1. This is exactly what Optic needed heading into the Major weekend after a rough week of matches.
Other Notable Matches
Toronto Ultra was able to go 1-1 this weekend losing a series to New York but winning their series against Paris Legion. This was enough to get the Ultra into the winners bracket for the upcoming major.
Seattle also choked a 2-1 start and went 0-2 this weekend. They went from a potential two or three seed, to the fourth seed and starting in the losers bracket. The Los Angeles Thieves lost another match and finished stage 2 with a record of 1-4 making them the last seed overall.
We are set up for a different looking major this week. New teams have made the winners bracket, teams are seeded a little differently, and there is a lot more potential for a losers bracket team to make a deep run. Check back in this week as I go over the matches in the Major and make my prediction for how I see the weekend going.
