| CDL London Day 2 Recap | |
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Day 2 of CDL London is in the books. We now know our four Semi-Finalists that will be playing tomorrow for the Championship. The entire day was filled with amazing matches, crazy upsets, and some disappointing performances. Let's take a look at everything that went down on Day 2 of CDL London.
Dallas Empire vs. New York Subliners: There was a chance for some record making for New York entering game one, as the Subliners were on a 12 map win streak, tied with Atlanta FaZe, for the longest map win streak of the season. Dallas, however, had something to say about that. The first map was a Gun Runner Hardpoint, and while Dallas started the map off on the less desirable side, a key flip of spawn in the beginning of the game, thanks to Huke’s ability to get in the back of P2, was able to give Dallas the hot start they needed. New York battled back to make it a tied game going into the third rotation of hills, but Dallas was able to close out the map and take Game 1, 250-219, ending New York’s 12 map win streak The second map of the series was a Arklov Peak Search and Destroy, and while New York had a hot start, jumping out to a 2-0 lead, a 1v3 clutch from Shottzy in the third round was able to give Dallas the momentum to take the map and win 6-4. Then came the Domination on Gun Runner and this was a tight game that went back and forth. Dallas was able to jump out to hot start, but New York kept coming back and kept the game competitive and scrappy. But it wasn’t enough for New York as Crimsix lead the way for a Dallas victory, going 26/15 to help Dallas win 155-130, and close out the series 3-0. The win secured Dallas a spot in the Semi-Finals tomorrow, while New York dropped to losers’ bracket, and would have to play the winner of Paris Legion vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas.
The second map took us to Piccadilly, and Florida was able to play this map extremely well. Wuskin is known for his sniping on this map in particular, and Florida was able to neutralize his sniper with well-timed and well placed smokes across the map. Skyz and Fero lead the way for Florida, going 10/5 and 9/4, respectively. Florida took the map, winning 6-3. Domination has been Florida’s been game mode this season, and with London being down 2-0 in the series, no one would have blamed you if you expected Florida to close out the series on a St. Petrograd Domination. Florida started off hot, but right when it seemed Florida might pull away, London was able to hold a 2 flag cap, and hold it to narrowly win the game, 163-157. Dylan really came up clutch to close out this game, ending the game on a 10 kill streak to finish out the map at 21/19. For map four, the series moved to a Gun Runner Hardpoint, and this was a fantastic back and forth game. We’ve seen Florida play fantastic Hardpoint recently, and while the game was close, it felt like Florida just couldn’t get key holds and breaks when they needed to, and this resulted in a 250-207 win for London. This was a balanced team effort from London, with Zero leading the way with a 35/21 performance, to go along with 1:26 of hill time, the most on his team in both categories. On the cusp of a reverse sweep against what many believe to be the best team in the game, this was London’s moment. All the season long, they’ve struggled to beat the top teams in the game, and they needed this win badly. The series shifted to Arklov Peak for a map 5 Search and Destroy, a map London loves playing on. And boy they did show it, Skrapz was able to put the team on his back, going 12/6, along with the rest of the team picking up timely kills and playing an all-around fantastic SND and London was finally able to get their win over a top team, defeating the Mutineers 6-4. This was Florida’s first loss since adding Owakening to the team. The win for London now places them into a tie with the Minnesota Rokkr for the 6th seed in the CDL Points Standings, and allows them to keep pace with New York for the 5th seed. London moved on to the Semi-Finals, while Florida dropped to the Losers’ bracket and would await the winner of Seattle Surge vs. OpTic Gaming Los Angeles.
Next up was the Search and Destroy, the bread and butter for the Guerillas. This has been the Guerillas best game mode all season, and you can usually count on them to win at least one SND every time. However, the Legion dominated this map, with Louqa putting on a show with his sniper skills, ending the map with an 8/3 K/D. Paris ended up winning the map 6-0, and tied the series at 1-1. The next map was St. Petrograd Domination, and the Legion were able to carry their momentum from the Search and Destroy to the Domination. This was an absolute clinic by the Legion, as they dominated from start to finish to win this map 197-124. Louqa continued his stellar play, going 24/15 to help his team secure the win. The Legion now held a 2-1 series advantage, with the series now moving to a St. Petrograd Hardpoint. The last two maps might have been blowouts, but LAG came to play on this one battling the Legion and putting themselves just 7 points away from a map victory. However, the Legion were able to make the clutch plays, and they were able to steal the map victory from the Guerillas, winning 250-243, led by KiSMET’s stellar 24/16 K/D, to go along with 2:11 of hill time. The Paris Legion won the series 3-1, and would then move on to play the New York Subliners for a spot in the Semi-Finals. The loss by the Guerrillas ended their regular season, locking them into the 12th seed for the Playoffs, meaning they will start the Postseason in the Losers’ Bracket.
Map 2 featured a St. Petrograd Search and Destroy, and if it wasn’t for a truly ridiculous 1v4 by Octane, this would have been a 6-0. Kuavo (8/4), TJHaly (9/3) and Slasher (7/3) led the way for the team to take a dominant map 2, as OGLA won comfortably, 6-1. Now down 0-2, Seattle was on the verge of being swept out of the tournament, but they showed signs of life and fight, and battled for a 173-149 Domination win on Hackney Yard, with Octane (27/17) leading the way. The series would stay on Hackney Yard for a map 4 Hardpoint. Seattle was looking to push the series to a game 5, but OGLA decided this would be as far as Seattle would go. They kept the Surge from making the game competitive, and closed out the series with a 250-140 win. Slasher once again came up big for the team, putting up an impressive 27/18 K/D, to go along with 1:15 in hill time. The loss eliminates the Seattle Surge from this tournament, while OGLA would advance to a rematch with the Florida Mutineers for a spot in the Semi-Finals.
New York Subliners vs. Paris Legion: If you thought London’s upset over the Mutineers was shocking, I’m not sure what you would call this match. Most people had the Subliners winning this 3-0, but Paris was more than prepared for this game. Map 1 started off with a Rammaza Hardpoint, a map Paris got destroyed on yesterday by the Dallas Empire, and the strongest map for New York. At times it seemed New York would pull away, but every time the score threatened to get out of hand, someone from the Legion would get a key kill or break to keep the score line close. New York seemed poised to win the map when the Hardpoint moved to P5, but a key flank from KiSMET (34/28), coupled with a key double from Shockz, allowed Paris to break into the hill and pull ahead. New York was able to push it to two more hills, but Paris was able to get the win, 250-242, to take a 1-0 series lead. The Search and Destroy took us to St. Petrograd, and if there was one thing to take away from this map, it was Paris’ ability to study their opponents before this match. Paris knew exactly what New York wanted to do on this map, and the Legion were ready for it. Zed (7/5) was able to flank New York multiple times to give his team the man advantage, and Paris won the map 6-2. The third map was Gun Runner Domination, and this was an interesting choice. If there’s anything to know about the Paris Legion, it’s that this team loves to play on Gun Runner Domination. It’s therefore a little confusing as to why New York wouldn’t ban this map. Regardless, Paris was able to control this game from the start. While New York were able to put up a fight and made the game close at times, they were never able to take the map control away from the Legion, and Paris went on to win 170-137, completing the 3-0 sweep. This is a huge momentum boost for Paris, as they’ll be back in the Semi-Finals for the first time since February, and will be in a key position to capture even more points to help their position in the CDL Points Standings. For New York, this is disappointing ending to their season. This was their last tournament of the season, and to be upset and knocked out of this tournament, after winning their own Home Stand last week, could be detrimental to the momentum that this team thrives on.
The Search and Destroy took us to Gun Runner again, but this time Florida was ready. Owakening (9/5), Skyz (10/5) and Fero (9/4) each took turns taking over the map at different times, and Florida was able to win the map, 6-3. It wasn’t so much that OGLA played poorly on this map, but Florida just seemed to be able to do what they wanted, and OpTic just weren’t able to match their speed and gameplay. We finally got a new map in this series, as the map 3 Domination moved to Hackney Yard and wow was this game close. Optic was able to get off to a great start, leading 98-58 at the half. But Florida refused to give up, as they came roaring back in this game, starting off the second half with a triple cap. They were able to take the lead with about 1 minute left, but then OpTic started getting the key kills, as both teams kept switching control of flags. After a very questionable spawn from Owakening on the C Flag with 45 seconds left, Florida was able to close out the map, winning 157-154. Map 4 took us to Azhir Cave for another Hardpoint, with Florida looking to close out the series in 4 games. The match started off fairly close, with Drazah making plays in the back of Cave East to disrupt the spawns and be a nuisance for Florida. However, the three AR setup of Owakening (32/18), Skyz (31/21) and Fero (30/18) proved to be too much for OGLA, as they fell to Florida 250-129 and were eliminated from the tournament. Florida now moves on to play the Dallas Empire in the Semi-Finals. OpTic Gaming will now prepare for their last even of the year, next weekend at the Toronto Home Series.
Published on 18. Jul 2024
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