What looked like potential mismatches on paper unfolded precisely as expected Friday, as the Vegas Legion and Los Angeles Thieves made quick work of overmatched opponents in qualifying action for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 2 Major.
Vegas downed the Seattle Surge 3-1, winning 250-176 on Karachi Hardpoint to open play. Seattle rebounded on Invasion Search & Destroy to get a narrow 6-5 victory. From there, the Legion closed the Surge out, winning 3-2 on Invasion Control and 250-165 on Rio Hardpoint.
Evan “Purj” Perez paced the victors with a 1.31 kills-to-deaths ratio and finished plus-19 with 80 kills on the day. Cuyler “Huke” Garland led Seattle with 77 kills.
The Thieves also prevailed 3-1, over the crosstown rival Guerrillas, and things proceeded similarly. The Thieves grabbed a win on Invasion Hardpoint 250-185 before the Guerrillas rallied to take Terminal Search & Destroy 6-1. The Thieves rebounded to win 3-1 on Highrise Control before wrapping things up with a 250-105 victory on Sub Base Hardpoint.
Marcus “Afro” Reid and Daniel “Ghosty” Rothe each finished plus-12 with identical 1.20 K/D ratios. Adam “Assault” Garcia was the only member of the Guerrillas to finish with a positive K/D ratio (1.20, plus-11).
The two winning squads each now have 40 points and matching 4-2 records in the race to qualify for the playoffs. The losing sides occupy the bottom two spots in the standings with a single win between them.
Qualifying continues on Saturday with three more Week 5 matches:
–Carolina Royal Ravens vs. Vegas Legion
–Minnesota Rokkr vs. Miami Heretics
–Toronto Ultra 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. Vegas Legion, 40 points, 4-2, plus-4
6. Los Angeles Thieves, 40 points, 4-2, even
7. Carolina Royal Ravens, 20 points, 2-4, minus-3
8. Boston Breach, 20 points, 2-4, minus-7
9. Minnesota Rokkr, 10 points, 1-5, minus-5
10. Miami Heretics, 10 points, 1-5, minus-8
11. Seattle Surge, 10 points, 1-5, minus-9
12. Los Angeles Guerrillas, 0 points, 0-6, minus-14
–Field Level Media