This weekend in Dallas, Texas, UMG Gaming hosted their latest Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare LAN event. Their next one will be held in Washington DC at the beginning of September.
In an exciting turn of events, Faze Clan defeated Optic Gaming in the Grand Final. The Faze roster consists of Enable and Zooma joined by Clayster and Attach, the duo from Denial’s CoD Champs team. Each player has had a lot of success on Advanced Warfare and proved that this weekend. On their path to the Grand Final, Faze only dropped 2 maps, both Uplinks. While many people saw Faze placing high before the start of UMG Dallas, not many chose Faze to win it all, especially not in such dominating fashion. In the Grand Final against Optic Gaming, Faze made it look easy, winning a quick 3-0.
Going into Dallas, Optic Gaming was the number 1 team in Call of Duty and has held that position for the past few months. They won the last 4 major events, starting with the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, France. They sit atop the MLG Pro League with an undefeated record, so there was no surprise that everyone had them winning UMG Dallas. However, Optic showed signs of weakness early. In their first match against Dunkin’ No Donuts, they dropped Search and Destroy 6-4. On map 4, Detroit Hardpoint, Optic let DnD hold the lead for a significant portion of the game and allowed the game to come down to the last hill. They did end up winning the series 3-1, but the early hiccup did not go unnoticed.
On Championship Sunday, Optic Gaming was found in the loser’s bracket after being beat by Epsilon. They did, however, play 8 hours straight and made it to the Grand Final by defeating the likes of Team EnvyUs and Denial. Second place isn’t a large drop, but it’s safe to say that Faze is now the dominant force in competitive Call of Duty.
Final Placings:
1. Faze
2. Optic Gaming
3. Denial eSports
4. Epsilon
5. TCM Gaming
6. Team EnvyUs
7/8. vVv Gaming
7/8. Isolation Empire
9/12. Rise Nation
9/12. Team Kaliber
9/12. Rod Squad
9/12. Team Elevate
Enigma 6 did not perform as well as they expected to this weekend, placing 13/16. Teams playing in the Pro League that did not finish in the top 12 include Optic Nation and Team Orbit.
