Call of Duty League Power Rankings Before Major 2

Can Toronto repeat as champions or will OpTic, Faze, or Subliners take the crown?

#12 Seattle Surge – The Seattle Surge won a total of 6 maps in 7 total matches with a total record of 1-6. It doesn’t get much worse than that, ever since their change of Illey to Breszy, their respawn woes have gotten even worse, and their SnD while still their best mode has not been as good as it was in the first stage. Illey was by far their best player, in all modes and his replacement has arguably been the worst at least statistically in every game mode. That is not a good recipe for success. In terms of modes they could be the worst Hardpoint team in the league right now with LAT’s recent success and they are by far the worst Control team in the league with a record of 3-15. There’s a good chance this team shows up to the major, takes an SnD map, and goes home by getting dominated in respawns in losers.

#11 Los Angeles Guerrillas – LAG wasn’t much better than Seattle for most of the qualifiers as they were 0-6 and hardly won a good amount of maps, that was until they got a shock win over the Atlanta Faze in their last match before the major. Now some of that can surely be made to Faze testing maps but the win is extremely impressive nonetheless. Regardless of that moment, expectations are low for a team that is double negative in Hardpoint wins, a below-average SnD team, and the second-worst Control team in the league. If they don’t want to show up and immediately go home, they’re going to need someone other than Estreal to find success or it’s a quick trip for them.

#10 Carolina Royal Ravens – The Royal Ravens had some solid moments during the qualifiers, taking New York to a map 5 and winning a pair of games, still, it’s not enough for them to be any higher on the rankings as they still came up short more times than not and finished on a 1-6 map. The two biggest issues come down to the slaying of the ARs and their SnD performance. In this stage, both Felo and Clayster are in the bottom two of KD at 0.85 and 0.83 respectively. For SnD, they currently hold the worst record in that mode at 5-16. There is hope that Clayster will turn up on LAN like he has done plenty of times in the past, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them at the very least make it to the second round of losers if they get matched up with the Heretics. Also, they need to stop playing Invasion Hardpoint; 0-7.

#9 Minnesota Rokkr – Imagine if this team could win a map 5, they would easily be in winners at very least a top 6 seed. They lost a total of four map 5’s, all very winnable. The collapse against OpTic is particularly disappointing as they were so close to finishing that series for a 3-0 sweep over one of the best teams and they just fell apart in that control and lost all ice after that match. Talent-wise, this team can compete with any of the mid and low-pack teams. Hardpoint is the mode that is surprising that they aren’t good at considering their SMG slaying prowess, perhaps this team should consider giving Karachi more reps and maps like Sub Base that are super AR heavy less reps for some more success. Let Lynz run wild and be a problem, he is superbly talented.  

#8 Miami Heretics – Miami showed up to Major 1 with a lot of excitement around that team as they had defeated OpTic swiftly and then got double slammed at the Major and finished with a top 12 placing. They started off this stage with that lack of momentum still intact going 0-5 in games and 0-2 in map 5’s. Then suddenly their last two games were much more reminiscent of the first stage as they finished a 6-1 map run. The interesting thing about this team is they are borderline average at every game mode give or take a few maps. Hardpoint is slightly positive at 13-11 and their record is essentially even on every map with a clear favorite in Invasion. Control is at 8-8 and SnD is at 8-11. The biggest issue overall is just slaying, the highest KD this split goes to Lucky at just a 1.00. There is some potential, but they could also easily face the same fate as the last major and finish tied for last again.

#7 Boston Breach – Boston decided to make a change following a disappointing first event so they swapped out Capsidal for Asim. Looking for some more discipline in their gameplay. So far it’s been moderately successful with ups and downs going 3-4 and just barely coming up short against OpTic in a map 5. Their respawn has been solid, improved from the last stage but their SnD still is not near good enough to be taken as serious threats as this point with a record of 6-15. It’s somewhat surprising considering the members of the roster, that teams with Slasher have constantly been good in that mode, setting records twice for wins in a row, first with Asim and LAG in Vanguard. Then beat that record last year in MW2 with Faze. That style of spread and play for picks just has not translated to MW3 and playing a bit tighter and for trades has been more successful for teams this season, they also desperately need to expand their SnD map pool. They have to find wins on either Rio or Highrise and should probably start vetoing Invasion.

#6 Los Angeles Thieves – Pretty big turnaround so far from Major 1 to Major 2. From a very weak stage 1, they have gone 4-3 this split with those three losses coming against top four teams. They swapped out two players, bringing in Kremp and Nastie and they’ve been better as a result. Slaying was their biggest problem and it still is a pretty big problem to be fair despite that they have started to win a couple of Hardpoints here and there despite the slaying issues. SnD has certainly become their best game mode, being the best of the non-top teams this split in that mode. They have also had some ice in map 5’s clutching up on a pair of occasions during the last split. It’s worth mentioning how important and great Ghosty has been to this team, he has been such a leader for them and performing by the best on the team; he’s their cornerstone.

#5 Vegas Legion – This ranking might be the easiest one to place out of every team by a mile. Not on the level of the top four teams but have been by far the most successful and consistent team this split outside of that. Purj has improved greatly, his KD has gone up a bit, even if it still isn’t the best, what’s more to like is the amount of map-winning plays he makes. He’s constantly making the right and clutch play. Nero has been flying around the map and slaying at an above-average level. Gio has been a real difference-maker since coming in for Standy and is just under a 1.10 KD. Then there is Attach who has been incredible this split with a KD of 1.23, unstoppable in most of these series, he’s legit been a top player in stage 2. While it’s unlikely they, will beat Toronto in their winners' round 1 matchup, they could make a nice losers run to get some more CDL points.

#4 New York Subliners – The Subliners being at 4th in the rankings might be unfair considering how good they are but the top four is just so good, it’s tough to place these teams. Their team KD this split is insane with everyone over a 1.10 for this stage. The sub duo has been frying, and been in championship form. For the first stage, their respawn was fine but nowhere near the standard of their caliber team. With the map changes it seems their map pool is improving as they were bad at Terminal HP and just defeated OpTic on Rio. Control has been extremely average for the Subliners as they can’t seem to figure out Karachi and hold a 2-5 in the map-mode combo. These concerns are why they sit at four as opposed to higher in the rankings. If there is a saving grace, however, it’s easily SnD. The best SnD team in the league and it’s not close at this point. They’re 17-5 in the mode and it’s what led them to a win over Faze. If they’re going to win this event, they have to rely on this game mode while trying to steal some respawns when they can.

#3 OpTic Texas – A perfect 7-0 split for OpTic, it doesn’t get much better than that on paper. The only slight concerns came against Boston and especially Rokkr and they could’ve easily lost those series. That and their Hardpoint have been below-average by their standards but still better than most. What is surprising is they’re only 3-3 in Rio Hardpoint which you’d figure they’d be more dominant in that combo. Their SnD for the season hasn’t been great as they have a losing record but still, they’ve iced up against great teams like Toronto and the Subliners. Control has been great for them, second best in the league at this point in that mode. In terms of a specific performer, Shotzzy has to be recognized for how consistent he was in the second split. He consistently would get kills, get lost, get into a spot no one is checking, get freebies, and repeat. No one in the league does that at the level of Shotzzy and he’ll have to replicate similar performances to get to the finals. They are good enough to win this event without a doubt but they have to stay disciplined every single game to do so.

#2 Atlanta Faze – Atlanta Faze has been dominant as usual, even with the weird loss to LAG as they were testing map picks before the event. This split also included the dominant 3-0 against the last Major champions in Ultra. They’ve looked great in Hardpoint this split and overall for the season if you remove Sub Base which needs to become a legit auto veto as they cannot win that map for whatever reason. Taking that map out they’re 17-6 in Hardpoint which would be the second-best win percentage out of any team. The new map Rio is perfect for their playstyle and most teams will likely veto it against Faze opening up Karachi or Invasion both of which they’re great at. SnD has been great as well but surprisingly might’ve been their weakest mode at least for this split. They had some dominant moments but also lost a pair of them to New York and LAG. They are, however, without a doubt the best Control team in the league with a ridiculous record of 16-3, that’s an 84%-win rate. That is comparable to Faze in Cold War when they were dominant and Control was their best mode. A lot of their statistics are pretty similar to that year which is scary for the rest of the league and if they come away with this event win, some teams might get flashbacks to that year. Specific player-wise, everyone has been playing great, Cellium and Simp are still #1 and #2 in overall season KD. Drazah continues to rise, especially in Control and Abezy has stepped up from the last split and has been taking over maps, especially in SnD. Watch out for Faze.

#1 Toronto Ultra – Toronto did not have the best split, at least by their standards. They got 3-0’d by Faze in strong fashion and got slammed by OpTic in SnD and Control in that 3-2 loss. Still, it doesn’t seem right to put them any lower than #1 considering their dominance last event and the fact that they tested so many maps this split and can easily start turning up once they start playing all their best maps on LAN. Still the best Hardpoint team in the game, dropping just a pair the whole split and matchup with everyone strong with maybe the exception of Faze, and even then it’ll likely be a split or advantage to Ultra. They’re a good control team but it seems like they’ll most likely be playing Invasion a lot as they don’t like High Rise and are fantastic at Karachi and will be vetoed by most teams. They’re okay at Invasion so it could be an issue against teams like OpTic and Faze. Their biggest concern is their SnD map pool, especially after the update after major 1. Skidrow was their best SnD map and that’s not gone, with that, they’re not great at High Rise, Rio, and Terminal with a combined record of 1-5 in those combos. Slaying-wise they’ve taken a step back overall but by no means a concern, especially with MVP candidate Scrap still putting up insane numbers as he does. While it’s not as clear-cut as it was at the last event, Ultra is still good enough to win the event and just might do so.