The Los Angeles Thieves and Atlanta FaZe cruised to 3-0 sweeps on Saturday to set up a battle in the upper-bracket final of the Call of Duty League’s Stage 1 Major in Madrid.
Los Angeles took Skyline Hardpoint 250-236, Red Card Search & Destroy 6-4 and Protocol Control 3-2 to crush the Miami Heretics. Atlanta was also challenged on each map, but it still managed to get by the Toronto Ultra thanks to victories on Vault Hardpoint (237-236), Protocol Search & Destroy (6-3) and Hacienda Control (3-1).
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 are best-of-five until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-seven.
The lower-bracket quarterfinals were also contested on Saturday, with the Carolina Royal Ravens edging Toronto 3-2 and Miami beating the Minnesota Rokkr by the same score.
Carolina quickly went up 2-0 before dropping Vault Control 3-2 and Hacienda Hardpoint 250-209. However, the Royal Ravens snuffed the Ultra’s rally by way of a 6-4 win on Protocol Search & Destroy.
The Heretics got going with a 250-187 victory on Skyline Hardpoint before alternating losses and wins over the next three maps. When it came down to the decisive fifth map, Red Card Search & Destroy, Miami edged Minnesota 6-5.
The Rokkr ousted Cloud9 New York 3-1 in Round 2 of the lower bracket ahead of their meeting with the Heretics.
The Stage 1 Major is set to conclude Sunday with four matches:
— Los Angeles Thieves vs. Atlanta FaZe (upper-bracket final)
–Carolina Royals Ravens vs. Miami Heretics (lower-bracket semifinal)
–Loser of upper-bracket final vs. winner of lower-bracket semifinal (lower-bracket final)
–Winner of upper-bracket final vs. winner of lower-bracket final (grand final)
Stage 1 Major prize pool:
1. $150,000, 100 Call of Duty League points
2. $90,000, 75 points
3. $60,000, 60 points
4. $30,000, 45 points
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
