After a disappointing 0-2 start to their 2023 Call of Duty League campaign, the Seattle Surge finally found themselves in the victory column today with a 3-1 win over the London Royal Ravens, taking a wildly entertaining series over a previously unbeaten London side.
The series started with the complete annihilation of London on the first map, Breenbergh Hotel Hardpoint, by a score of 250-68. Seattle’s Pred, the reigning CDL Rookie of the Year, was all over the map making play after play on his way to an absurd 28-10 statline while dealing nearly 3,000 damage in the Hardpoint. Each member of the Surge was positive in the slaying category and the team went +30 overall.
London reset the series, though, with a thorough 6-4 victory on Mercado Las Almas Search and Destroy. Seattle jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on in the map and had a three-vs-one at play, with only Zer0 still up for the Royal Ravens. Zer0 brought it down to a one-vs-one against Accuracy, who had the bomb down, with just under 30 seconds left. Zer0 rushed through toward the bomb, landing shots onto Accuracy to get the elimination and bomb defuse. That round was the turning point in the map for the Royal Ravens and they knotted the series at one map apiece.
London looked poised to go up 2-1 after jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the series’ third map, Breenbergh Hotel Control. But Seattle, and its superstar SMG player Pred, made massive plays throughout the next two rounds to bring it to a 2-2 tie. With Seattle starting the fifth and final round on the attacking side, the team found themselves at a life disadvantage late in the map. But thanks to massive plays from Sib, who went 31-28 in the map, the team stacked the point to clinch the map and a 2-1 lead.
With the series’ fourth map, Mercado Las Almas Hardpoint, tied at 188 apiece late in the game, Sib made yet another massive play, picking up a three-piece to completely flip the map and series on its head. He found another two Royal Ravens to bring his streak to five, and the breathing room from those kills allowed Seattle to gain a massive lead that they didn’t relinquish in their 250-235 victory.
With this 3-1 victory, Seattle find themselves in the win column for the first time all season after dropping their first two matches to the Los Angeles Guerrillas and Boston Breach, respectively. The Surge will play the Toronto Ultra on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3:30pm CT for a chance to finish the Major One qualifiers with a 0.500 record.
London, on the other hand, fall for the first time all season and will look to rebound when they take on OpTic Texas on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 3:30pm CT. These online qualifier matches are setting the stage for the CDL’s first Major of the 2023 season, which will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina from Dec. 15 to 18.
