The opening weekend of the Call of Duty League was full of top-tier matches, spicy trash-talk and insane plays from the game’s biggest stars. New rivalries were born and old ones were rekindled. There were a lot of surprises throughout the weekend as well as many preconceived notions of certain teams proven wrong. Here are the biggest surprises of the Minnesota Launch Weekend.
Dallas’ Early Struggles
The Dallas Fuel showed up flat during the weekend despite a lot of people touting them as possibly the strongest team in the league. They lost 3-1 to the Chicago Hunstmen in a heated match to kick off the beginning of the Call of Duty League. Their next match against Atlanta went even worse and lost 3-0. Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro struggled in his professional debut despite a lot of hype surrounding his ability. The Empire had the toughest schedule during the opening weekend but their performance left a lot to be desired. If the young guns can bounce back moving forward, the Empire will be just fine. For now, though, Dallas is in a tricky spot.
Royal Ravens Destroy New York
The London Royal Ravens came out swinging during the opening match against the New York Subliners. New York never stood a chance as London swept them 3-0, showing everyone that it’s hard to predict where teams stand before the matches actually begin. Dylan Henderson and Bradley “wuskin” Marshall were the stand outs for London as they made their mark on the newest iteration of professional Call of Duty. London ended up dropping their second match, but the fire they came out with against the Subliners put everyone on notice.
Paris Legion Go Undefeated
In what is probably the most pleasant surprise of the weekend, the Paris Legion defied all expectations on their way to a 2-0 record. Many had Paris at the bottom of the rankings, but they showed, much like London, power rankings don’t really matter much in the bigger picture. After a close 3-2 victory over OpTic Gaming Los Angeles, Paris did quick work of Royal Ravens 3-0. Matthew “KiSMET” Tinsley is an animal on the battlefield and can trash-talk with the best of them.
Guerrillas’ Forfeit A Map
The Los Angeles Guerrillas came out swinging against the opening weekend hosts - Minnesota RØKKR. After two maps they had a commanding 2-0 lead and looked to have all the momentum to finish the match out strong. Things came crashing down, though as it was discovered that a player for the Guerrillas used a restricted perk causing LA to have to forfeit map two. They lost all their momentum after that and Minnesota took the next two maps to win their first home match 3-1. The incident brought up a debate about the lack of clarity to the rule-set for the league heading into the opening weekend. Fortunately, it didn’t put a damper of the Guerrillas
If these first weekend of matches are anything to go by, the inaugural season of the Call of Duty League is going to provide some exciting matches going forward. Teams showed what they are made of and players began to shine. For fans of professional Call of Duty, Minnesota’s Launch Weekend was a success and a nice preview for what’s to come.
