The Atlanta FaZe were pushed to their limit on Sunday, but they still managed to come away with a title at the Call of Duty League’s Stage 1 Major in Madrid.
Atlanta edged the Los Angeles Thieves 4-3 for the tournament crown, escaping a back-and-forth battle that was a rematch of the upper-bracket final.
In the championship match, Los Angeles grabbed an early lead with a 250-237 win on Hacienda Hardpoint. The FaZe responded by taking Red Card Search & Destroy 6-4 and Hacienda Control 3-2 before the Thieves drew even with a 250-229 triumph on Red Card Hardpoint.
Atlanta was within one victory of the title after prevailing 6-1 on Vault Search & Destroy, but Los Angeles forced a decisive seventh game with a 3-1 win on Protocol Control.
The FaZe then squeaked by the Thieves for a 6-5 victory on Skyline Search & Destroy to grab the first-place prize of $150,000 and 100 CDL points.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams began play in the Stage 1 Major on Thursday, with the seeding determined by four weeks of qualifying matches. The top eight teams from qualifying landed in the upper bracket of the double-elimination tournament, while the bottom four were assigned to the lower bracket.
All matches were best-of-five until the grand final, which was best-of-seven.
Before going at it in the grand final, Atlanta downed Los Angeles 3-2 in the upper-bracket final. The Thieves squandered a commanding 2-0 advantage, falling on Hacienda Control (3-2), Hacienda Hardpoint (250-238) and Vault Search & Destroy (6-5) to drop into the lower bracket.
Once there, Los Angeles blanked the Miami Heretics 3-0 in the lower-bracket final to set up the rematch with Atlanta.
Miami had defeated the Carolina Royal Ravens 3-1 in the lower-bracket semifinal earlier Sunday.
Stage 1 Major prize pool:
1. $150,000, 100 Call of Duty League points — Atlanta FaZe
2. $90,000, 75 points — Los Angeles Thieves
3. $60,000, 60 points — Miami Heretics
4. $30,000, 45 points — Carolina Royal Ravens
5-6. $15,000, 30 points — Toronto Ultra, Minnesota Rokkr
7-8. $7,500, 15 points — OpTic Texas, Cloud9 New York
9-12. No money, no points — Los Angeles Guerrillas M8, Vegas Falcons, Vancouver Surge, Boston Breach
–Field Level Media
