The Call of Duty League 2020, following the two-week break since the massive success found in London, found its home in Atlanta last weekend at the CDL Atlanta Homestand. While the crowd may have been somewhat lackluster compared to the previous event, the competition escalated nonetheless – as advantages were pressed on teams who had the opportunity to achieve some LAN practice two weeks ago and those who stayed home, potentially studying their opponents for this event. Many answers were sought this weekend, such as finally establishing who the leading roster is and who truly lies at the bottom. In one way, these questions were answered, as this recap will showcase.
Running from the 22nd to the 23rd February, the $100,000 event hosted eight of the twelve squads, but more importantly, Faze Atlanta and Chicago Huntsmen – the two most dominant teams present in the league who were yet to encounter one another and establish their individual dominance. Heading into the event, many had written this match-up off as the sole way in which the winner of the CDL Atlanta Homestand would be determined. As we’ll find out, this was hardly the case.
In the Group Stage of the CDL Atlanta Homestand, Group A commenced with London taking down Florida 3-1 and Atlanta pummelling Optic Gaming L.A 3-0; bearing in mind that the Greenwall is the only team in the CDL still sitting at a fat 0 in terms of points. Round 2 saw a heated match-up between London and Atlanta, with some excitingly close maps mainly going the way of Atlanta Faze to secure a 3-1 series and a spot in the semifinals. Meanwhile, in the Losers’ Bracket, Optic Gaming L.A was sent home by Florida, landing them a chance to reach the semifinal should they take the series against London.
I’ll repeat the failure of Optic Gaming – trailing as the sole worst team in the league, it’s almost certain that a roster change is incoming; potentially substituting in “JKap” for “Chino”.
On the other side, Group B kicked off with an upset, as the underdogs of Minnesota managed to claim a win over a seriously underperforming Paris Legion, ending the series 3-1. Meanwhile, Chicago barely handled their first win over Toronto, dragging the game to a Game 5 S&D, Round 11, where “Gunless” saved them from early disaster. Regardless of their victory; they looked shaky and everyone could tell as they lost respawns uncharacteristically. This would continue against their following opponent of Minnesota in Round 2: despite taking the series 3-1 marginally, their current performance would not be enough to even challenge Atlanta FaZe.
It was now Day 2 of the CDL Atlanta Homestand and hope for the encounter between the heavyweights remained alive. The two teams would be paired with the survivors of the Losers’ Bracket: Minnesota and Florida, as London and Paris were left behind to finish 5-6th: leading to two epic series going all the way to Game 5.
- Atlanta FaZe vs Minnesota Rokkr (3-2)
This one got the entire competitive Call of Duty community worried; somehow Minnesota managed to achieve a 2-0 start, taking the first Hardpoint and the S&D. The Gateway Center Arena became visibly nervous, as their Home Team was on the ropes but unfazed, ironically enough. They had to reverse sweep, winning three maps in a row flawlessly, in order to reach the grand finals and that’s exactly what took place. Minnesota was absolutely gutted with the loss, as they were so close to eliminating the favorite. Such an achievement only pumped up the Tiny Terrors and their breakout player in “Cellium” as a contender for the MVP prize of the tournament.
- Chicago Huntsmen vs Florida Mutineers (2-3)
Several storylines presented themselves here: the twins of “Arcitys” and “Prestinni” would go against each other for the first time ever and also half of last year’s Gen.G roster was present on both sides to battle it out. On the back of a euphoric victory over London, Mutineer’s started the Hardpoint hot, conceding it only at the end as Chicago clutched up and secured the 250-241 map. Breathing between maps, the Huntsmen would carry the momentum forward to win the upcoming S&D 6-4. You can see where this is going – 2-0 up, they only needed one more map to secure the dream match-up. Florida had other plans in mind, forcing the series their way by stringing together the remaining three maps; another reverse sweep. It was here that the peak viewership of 111,000 was achieved.
Indeed, two semifinals, two reverse sweeps, and the grand final now had Florida Mutineers matching up against FaZe Atlanta. Heavily favoring the home team, FaZe Atlanta knew they had won as soon as they stepped up on that mainstage, gladly sweeping Florida out of the way and claiming 50 juicy points and $50,000.
Atlanta FaZe are the undisputed best team in the Call of Duty League as of right now, and Optic Gaming is the worst – we’ll see how this changes as the League progresses.
