With a narrow April 22 victory over defending major champions Toronto Ultra, Atlanta FaZe are onto Sunday at the Call of Duty League’s Major Four in Columbus, Ohio.
After winning the OpTic Texas major last month, Toronto’s slow start to major four saw them begin in the loser’s bracket. After taking down Boston Breach and Florida Mutineers to avoid elimination, the Ultra’s hope for a second consecutive championship hung in the balance in their series against FaZe.
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The series’ first map, Hotel Hardpoint, was a back-and-forth affair from the get-go, with each team taking turns holding the lead. For a split second, it appeared Toronto had set themselves up to earn a last-second victory, hopping onto the hill facing a 248-237 deficit. While they did take the hardpoint, Cellium was lurking on the back stairs, keeping the Ultra at bay. Simp and SlasheR picked up four kills in the last seconds to earn the final two seconds needed, taking the first map in thrilling 250-244 fashion.
Up 1-0 in the series, Atlanta looked to take a commanding 2-0 lead heading to their best game mode Search and Destroy on Embassy. Behind a big 10-2 performance from SlasheR, FaZe took their second straight map comfortably 6-3. FaZe has been incredible in SnD so far this season, thanks in part to the veterans on the roster.
They have not, however, been as dominant in respawn game modes as they have been in the past, and that issue continued to rear its ugly head in this series. In Expo Control, Toronto started off hot by grabbing two consecutive rounds to lead 2-0. Despite their newfound momentum, Ultra dropped the next two rounds, sending it to a do-or-die round five.
Fortunately for Toronto, the Ultra was awarded defense for the final round, and they did manage to avoid a reverse sweep and keep their championship hopes alive with a 3-2 win, giving Ultra their first series point. Game four saw a move to Mercado for the series’ second Hardpoint, and while the scorelines weren’t as close as Hotel, it was still a very tight map all the way until the end.
Holding a 229-179 lead late in the map, Toronto just needed 21 seconds of hill time to send the series to a decisive fifth map. While FaZe had managed to cut the Ultra’s lead to just six seconds, Toronto broke into the hill with 14 seconds left to push their lead to 237-223 for the next rotation. Winning the team fights at the next hardpoint was all Toronto needed to clinch the map by a score of 250-223 and send it to El Asilo Search and Destroy in a win-or-go-home game five.
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Toronto jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, riding the momentum from their previous two maps. But FaZe has championship makeup and started to find its groove in easily the team’s best game mode. Up 5-3, Simp and Slasher found themselves in a two-vs-one retake scenario, with Hicksy last alive for Toronto. Hicksy did manage to find SlasheR to bring it to a one-vs-one with Simp, but Simp made the play, landing the kill and defusing the bomb, giving Atlanta the map and the 3-2 series victory.
Atlanta will face the winner of the New York Subliners vs. Minnesota ROKKR matchup in the fourth round of the loser’s bracket on Sunday, April 23 at 2pm CDT.
