The Las Vegas Legion ended their three-match losing streak with a massive 3-1 victory over OpTic Texas in their final Call of Duty League qualifying match.
After a stage that saw Las Vegas struggle mightily in the respawn game modes while excelling at Search and Destroy, the Legion flipped that trend on its head, taking all three of the respawns in their victory while dropping the lone SnD. The Vegas victory is their second of the qualifiers and their first since knocking off the Seattle Surge.
In the series’ first map, Mercado Hardpoint, it was the duo of TJHaLy and Clayster leading the way for the Legion. The two combined for 57 total kills and posted 1.38 and 1.40 K/Ds in the hotly contested 250-228 victory over an OpTic team who had been playing extremely well in respawns since the roster change after Scump’s retirement.
Texas rebounded with a big victory on the series’ second map, Mercado Search and Destroy, to bring the series back to an even 1-1 count. ILLeY and Dashy led the way with 1.40 and 1.50 K/Ds in the victory over one of the best SnD teams in the entire league.
The Hotel Control was the turning point in the series for both teams, as Temp made one of the biggest plays in the Legion’s history. After Las Vegas found a way to win an offensive round, OpTic were looking to do the same to even the round count. Up 14-13 in lives, all four Texas players stacked the B point and appeared to be well on their way to tying the map up.
But Temp had a cruise missile in his back pocket and used it at the perfect time. He connected on the point just before a trophy system was laid down, taking down all four OpTic players and more importantly, getting them off the point. With 45 seconds left, Vegas shut down OpTic the rest of the way and clinched the round to go up 2-0. While Texas did fight to bring the map to a fifth round, the Legion did manage to clutch up and take the map to go up 2-1 in the series.
Vegas remained hot in the Hydro Hardpoint, jumping out to a more than 100 point lead in the early stages of the map. While OpTic did fight back and appear to have a chance late in the map, the Legion proved to be too much to overcome in the 250-173 victory, clinching the series by a count of 3-1.
The loss for OpTic is not only the first time they have lost in the CDL’s second qualifying stage, but it marks the first time that the Legion have ever taken down OpTic in the CDL since their inception. The victory gives Las Vegas the momentum they need as their attention turns to next month’s major in Boston.
OpTic still have one more qualifying match in the second stage, and it’s a huge match-up with the Atlanta FaZe on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 5pm CT.
