The Call of Duty League’s third Major has kicked off in astounding fashion, and the first week of the qualifying stage has officially wrapped up. It was a monumental few days, with some massive upsets being handed out across the board. For some, it was a weekend that served as nothing more than a walk in the park, but for others, it was a gruelling, testing period that set a morbid tone for the weeks ahead.
This season, we’ve had two Majors, and two champions – and there are expectations that the mix will continue as we move into Major III. It could be stressed that there are no real ‘power squads’ this year, and every team towards the top half of the Call of Duty League standings seems capable of winning a championship. It’s a different story at the other end of the table, of course…
Consistency is Key
Since the 2023 season of the CDL kicked off, the New York Subliners have stood firm as one of the most dominating teams on the board. Following a win at Major I, the team has continued to deliver positive results, and this week was no different. As one of the only teams to win both fixtures, Subliners effectively dispatched both Rokkr and the Florida Mutineers this week. It was a crushing blow for the latter team, as even following changes to the roster, Florida was unable to secure a single map out of two matches.
Elsewhere, Boston Breach remained a powerful force, even after suffering the loss of Methodz, who retired on stage at Major II. In his place now sits Beans, the superstar player from the United Kingdom with plenty to prove. Fortunately, Beans’ debut fixtures went off without a hitch, and he and his squad beat both Toronto Ultra and Royal Ravens with relative ease.
And while we’re on the topic of Legion, the all-new side for 2023 proved it cannot be counted out of the contest this weekend. In a daring display, the Legion faced down the LA Thieves, last year’s world champions, and secured a massive win.
It’s Time to Change
Standy was benched this weekend (Image Credit: Toronto Ultra)
There has been a lot of movement between teams in recent weeks, with some roster changes having a bigger impact than others. For instance, Standy was recently benched from Ultra in favour of Hicksy, iLLey was released from OpTic Texas in favour of Challengers icon, Ghosty, and both Capisdal and FeLo joined the Florida Mutineers.
As the season pushes on and some fans become desperate for their teams to deliver, there’s always the desire to suggest changes that should happen. For instance, many Atlanta FaZe fans are still not happy with the signing of Slasher and the dropping of Arcitys. Even this far into the season, it still seems that Arcitys was robbed of any real opportunities this season, especially now that he’s flying the Los Angeles Guerrillas banner and sitting in tenth place overall.
Looking to next week, there are some interesting fixtures to keep an eye on, especially if you’re at all interested in Call of Duty betting:
- Atlanta FaZe vs. London Royal Ravens (Feb. 24th) – the top of the table vs. the bottom of the table
- Toronto Ultra vs. OpTic Texas (Feb. 24th) – two of the hottest teams in the League right now, both with rookie talent bolstering the ranks
- Seattle Surge vs. LA Thieves (Feb. 25th) – Surge had a curse broken this week, but will that momentum carry over into this tough match-up?
- New York Subliners vs. Toronto Ultra (Feb. 25th) – There are just 15 points separating these two teams – will a switch-up happen this week?
There’s still plenty left to play for in the 2023 CDL season.
