The Call of Duty League’s Stage One Major kicked off with its first of five consecutive days of bracket play today and two of the league’s 12 teams have already been eliminated.
After two lower bracket matches, the Toronto Ultra and Florida Mutineers are moving on, while the London Royal Ravens and Seattle Surge are finished until Stage Two kicks off in roughly two weeks.
The first day of the Major featured the bottom four teams from Stage One group play, including the winless London Royal Ravens, who replaced a starter on its roster just hours before today’s match.
Related: Results for 2021 Call of Duty League Stage One Major
In the day’s first match, the Toronto Ultra survived against the Royal Ravens with a 3-2 series victory. Toronto made quick work of London with a 250-142 win on Garrison Hardpoint before the Ravens bounced back with a surprising 6-3 triumph on Garrison Search and Destroy.
The Ultra’s Methodz, Cammy, CleanX, and Bance showed off impressive shots to keep the U.K. team at bay throughout Control on Raid, but London once again refused to quit by eking out a 250-202 victory on Moscow Hardpoint.
Moscow Search and Destroy was the final destination for the series. Toronto outlasted the onslaught from the upstart Royal Ravens squad, holding on for a 6-4 win to close it out.
London might have been unable to overcome a second wave of roster turnover against the solid Toronto squad, but with just one night of practice (and “15 minutes” of practice in Search and Destroy, according to London coach Shane) for this particular foursome, the Ravens showed incredible resolve. The team even won their first Search and Destroy map of the season, now sitting at a 1-8 record in the mode.
The second match of the day featured the Florida Mutineers, an early top pick in the CDL season who disappointed during group play with a 1-4 record. But today, they showed that they’re not quite done just yet.
Related: Here are the 2021 Call of Duty League standings
The Mutineers and Seattle Surge kicked off their match with a close contest on Crossroads Hardpoint, but Florida held on for a 250-235 win. Seattle answered with a 6-5 victory on Checkmate Search and Destroy, evening the series at one game apiece, led by Loony’s 13 kills.
Florida clapped back in Control on Garrison with a dominant win, when Owakening popped off with several highlight-reel plays and a 20-7 kill-death ratio. The series shifted to Hardpoint on Raid and Skyz supplied a highlight reel of his own, rattling off 12 consecutive kills to begin the game. He finished at 32-13 to lead the Mutineers to a 250-157 win and 3-1 series victory.
At day’s end, London and Seattle both ended up with a top-12 placing at the Major, meaning they didn’t earn any cash from the $500,000 prize pool.
Both winning teams move on to play matches tomorrow in bracket play, which will feature four games. Florida will take on the Paris Legion at 5pm CT, while Toronto will face off against the Minnesota RØKKR at 6:30pm CT.
In other marquee matchups on day two, the Los Angeles Thieves will take on their crosstown rival, the Los Angeles Guerrillas, at 2pm CT. OpTic Chicago will play the New York Subliners at 3:30pm CT.
