Huge Upsets Scattered Throughout CDL Major II’s First Qualifiers

It was a trying first week of the Major II qualifiers for almost every team in the Call of Duty League. From unexpected losses to full-round replays, there was irritation written across the competitors for most of the weekend. It wasn’t all bad, though – Toronto Ultra showed great sportsmanship, Atlanta’s Simp set something of a record, and the LA Thieves may have continued to prove it was a one-trick pony with its championship with on Vanguard in 2022.

This was the first round of competitive Call of Duty in 2023, and what a weekend it was to usher in the new year. At present, the New York Subliners sit at the top of the CDL standings, boasting a very respectable record of 10 – 3 overall and standing firm on 95 CDL points, putting them a small margin ahead of Toronto Ultra, rapidly bringing up the rear in second place. At the other end of the table sits the likes of the Royal Ravens and Boston Breach, teams unable to find traction since the start of the season.

Let’s Watch That Back On The Replay

There were two matches that suffered from the need to roll out a replay this weekend – Toronto / Florida and OpTic / Boston. In the former fixture, Standy (TOR) experienced the all-too-common dev error, bringing to an abrupt end a Hardpoint on Hotel that saw Toronto boast a 100-point lead. Regardless, the team had to accept a full replay of the game, but fortunately, it still worked out in their favour.

It was a similar story in the OpTic vs. Boston fixture, with the third-round Control fixture (also on Hotel) falling afoul of a replay. At the time, OpTic was storming through Boston and Scump had streaks, but despite losing that momentum, the team still managed to scoop up the win. It was Huke’s debut fixture for OpTic Texas, and generally, things went quite well for the ex-LAG player.

Major II Is Shaping Up To Be Special

Elsewhere, Atlanta FaZe pulled off a massive win in memorable form against Seattle Surge. In the round of Control, Simp landed a massive 16-kill streak before being put down, staying alive for more than two minutes and ultimately ending the game with a KD of +2.14. It was a dire weekend for Seattle Surge, a team that had already given up ground to the Vegas Legion the day before.

In what seemed to be an attempt to replicate Seattle’s performance, the LA Thieves, last year’s CDL Championship winners, failed to secure a single CDL point last week. They suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Subliners before falling out and handing over a 3 – 1 win to the Los Angeles Guerrillas. For Major II, LAG has promoted three players up from its Academy team, which is already proving to be a shrewd move for the organisation.

Sadly, there’s a lot of lost ground to make up for for certain organisations, such as the London Royal Ravens. It has been more than a month since the team secured a win, and rolling into Major II, the organisation boasts just 20 CDL points and an overall record of 2 – 6. There’s a need to work hard to avoid a replay of the 2021 season, wherein the Royal Ravens won just eleven matches across the entire year.