OpTic Texas won three straight matches to emerge from the elimination bracket and win the Call of Duty League’s Stage 3 Major in Toronto on Sunday.
OpTic capped its rampage with a 4-0 sweep of the Toronto Ultra in the grand final. The winners claimed $150,000 and 100 CDL points. The Ultra settled for $90,000 and 75 points.
Toronto dealt the Atlanta FaZe the first of their two defeats on Sunday, winning a contentious winners-bracket final 3-2. Then OpTic defeated the FaZe 3-2 in the elimination-bracket final to move to the grand final.
OpTic began their day with a 3-2 win over the New York Subliners in the elimination bracket’s fourth round.
The top eight teams shared the total prize pool of $375,000. Toronto won the Stage 1 Major in January, and Atlanta claimed the Stage 2 Major in March.
In the grand final, the only match of the tournament that was a best-of-seven, Texas began its sweep of the Ultra with a 250-145 win on Sub Base Hardpoint. Next came wins on Invasion Search & Destroy (6-3), Invasion Control (3-1) and Rio Hardpoint (250-118).
Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro of the U.S. led the winners with 104 kills and a kills/deaths mark of plus-1.37. Thomas “Scrap” Ernst, also of the U.S., had 84 kills for the Ultra, who had no K/D marks in plus numbers.
The FaZe twice grabbed the lead over the Ultra in the winners-bracket final. They won 250-204 on Vista Hardpoint, but Toronto then took 6 Star Search & Destroy 6-3. Atlanta countered with a 3-0 victory on Invasion Control, but the Ultra again leveled the match 250-234 on Karachi Hardpoint.
The Ultra ultimately claimed the match with a narrow 6-5 win on Rio Search & Destroy. Scrap posted 83 kills and a plus-1.22 K/D for Toronto, while Zack “Drazah” Jordan of the U.S. finished with 83 kills and a plus-1.17 K/D for the FaZe.
OpTic appeared to be in control early in its elimination-bracket final over Atlanta. They won 250-208 on 6 Star Hardpoint and 6-3 on Highrise Search & Destroy. However, the FaZe rebounded to square the match with wins on Highrise Control (3-2) and Vista Hardpoint (250-185).
On the deciding map, Invasion Search & Destroy, OpTic won 6-3. Shotzzy again paced Texas with 118 kills and a plus-1.23 K/D. Drazah had 109 and a plus-1.06 for Atlanta.
Texas had to rally in its first match of the day against the Subliners. After winning 250-231 on Vista Hardpoint, OpTic fell 6-3 on Highrise Search & Destroy and 3-0 on Invasion Control. Texas roared back to claim Rio Hardpoint 250-100 to square the match, and clinched 6-2 on Invasion Search & Destroy.
Kenneth “Kenny” Williams of the U.S. led the winners with 86 kills and teammate Brandon “Dashy” Otell of Canada had a plus-1.33 K/D, while Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez of France finished with 100 kills and a plus-1.19 K/D.
Stage 3 Major prize money and CDL points
1. $150,000, 100 points — OpTic Texas
2. $90,000, 75 points — Toronto Ultra
3. $60,000, 60 points — Atlanta FaZe
4. $30,000, 45 points — New York Subliners
5-6. $15,000, 30 points – Miami Heretics, Seattle Surge
7-8. $7,500, 15 points — Los Angeles Thieves, Carolina Royal Ravens
9-12. No money, no points — Vegas Legion, Boston Breach, Minnesota Rokkr, Los Angeles Guerrillas
–Field Level Media