The Miami Heretics finally got out of the gutter with a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Royal Ravens on Sunday in qualifying action for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 2 Major.
Miami won 250-194 on Rio Hardpoint and 6-2 on Invasion Search & Destroy before falling 3-0 on Highrise Control. The Heretics then sealed the victory by taking Sub Base Hardpoint 250-133, improving to 1-5 on the final day of Week 4.
Adrian “MettalZ” Serrano and Javier “Vikul” Milagro led the Miami squad with 72 kills apiece. Thomas “TJHaLy” Haly finished with a match-high 75 kills and a plus-1.14 kill-death differential for Carolina.
All 12 CDL teams will play seven qualifying matches ahead of the Stage 2 Major, scheduled for March 21-24 in Miami. Every team will advance to the double-elimination tournament, with the qualifying matches determining seeding. The top eight teams in the qualifying standings will get a bye in the first round of the tournament.
Each qualifier win is worth 10 points. The prize pool for the tournament (money and CDL points) has yet to be announced.
In other action Sunday, the Los Angeles Thieves topped the Vegas Legion 3-1, while OpTic Texas edged the Toronto Ultra 3-2.
Vegas opened with a 250-204 victory on Invasion Hardpoint, but it was all Los Angeles from there. The Thieves prevailed 6-3 on Invasion Search & Destroy, 3-2 on Highrise Control and 250-173 on Rio Hardpoint to prevent any chance of a Legion comeback.
Meanwhile, OpTic stayed undefeated after taking two of the first three maps against Toronto. But the Ultra stuck around, winning 250-155 on Skidrow Hardpoint to tie things at 2 before Texas won comfortably — 6-1 — on Terminal Search & Destroy.
Qualifying continues on Friday with two matches to open Week 5:
–Seattle Surge vs. Vegas Legion
–Los Angeles Guerrillas vs. Los Angeles Thieves
Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major qualifying standings (points, match win-loss record, map win-loss differential):
1. New York Subliners, 60 points, 6-0, plus-14
2. OpTic Texas, 60 points, 6-0, plus-10
3. Atlanta FaZe, 50 points, 5-1, plus-13
4. Toronto Ultra, 40 points, 4-2, plus-5
5. Los Angeles Thieves, 30 points, 3-2, minus-2
6. Vegas Legion, 30 points, 3-2, plus-2
7. Boston Breach, 20 points, 2-4, minus-7
8. Carolina Royal Ravens, 20 points, 2-4, minus-3
9. Seattle Surge, 10 points, 1-4, minus-7
10. Minnesota Rokkr, 10 points, 1-5, minus-5
11. Miami Heretics, 10 points, 1-5, minus-8
12. Los Angeles Guerrillas, 0 points, 0-5, minus-12
–Field Level Media