The Seattle Surge are advancing to the Grand Finals of the Call of Duty League’s first major tournament of the 2023 season, sending the Atlanta FaZe to the elimination bracket with a 3-2 victory today.
The teams traded maps back and forth in the early goings, starting with Seattle’s victory on Embassy Hardpoint by a count of 250-204. Mack and Pred led the way for Seattle in the slaying category, posting a 1.38 and 1.61 K/D, respectively. Despite the loss, Atlanta were able to bounce back in a big way in map two. On the Embassy Search and Destroy, FaZe were quick to get back on track with an impressive 6-2 victory, knotting the series at one map apiece.
But as the series shifted to Control for its third map, Mack and Pred were yet again out in front for Seattle, leading the team in slaying. The duo combined for 58 kills in the 3-1 victory and the team looked poised to advance to the Grand Finals at the season’s first major championship with a victory on the next map, Fortress Hardpoint.
Seattle jumped out to an early lead and it appeared they would roll in the map to take the series, with the squad at one point holding a 178-45 lead over Atlanta. But, as battle tested as the FaZe team is, Atlanta was not out of it yet. The 2021 world champions went on a massive run to close the map and complete the comeback, winning by a count of 250-234.
With the win, Atlanta pushed the series to a map five, this time taking the Search and Destroy to El Asilo.
Despite the letdown in map four from Seattle, the team never wavered. In an absolute battle of an SnD, Seattle found themselves up 5-4, needing just one more map to put the collapse in the previous map behind them for good and cement their place in the Grand Finals. This series was all about the SMG players for the Surge, with Pred and Mack leading the slaying charge, posting 1.19 and 1.24 K/Ds. Going up against Atlanta’s Tiny Terrors duo of Simp and aBeZy is no easy task, but Seattle’s subs were up for the challenge in this series.
Atlanta will now await the winner of the Toronto Ultra vs. New York Subliners match, with the winner of the elimination finals earning a spot to take on Seattle. Toronto and New York will battle right now on the official CDL Twitch channel.
