This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Home turf proved to be an advantage Thursday as the Call of Duty League’s Championship Weekend kicked off in Allen, Texas.
Playing in the final of four games on Thursday, OpTic Texas swept the LA Guerrillas 3-0 to advance to the second round of the winners’ bracket. Up next will be Los Angeles’ other team — the LA Thieves — in the first of two Round 2 winners’ bracket matches.
Championship Weekend is the culmination of the CDL season, with the championship match being played Sunday. With teams collecting championship points based on their finish in each of the four regular-season majors, the top eight point-getters qualified for the championship tournament.
The championship is a double-elimination format, with all matches leading up to the final best of five. The championship watch will be best of nine. The total prize pool is believed to be $2.5 million with the winner taking home $1.2 million.
In Thursday’s finale, OpTic took Rio Hardpoint 250-208 to open the match, then beat the Guerrillas 6-4 on Highrise Search & Destroy and 3-1 on Karachi Control to dispatch of the Guerrillas.
The Thieves advanced to face OpTic by taking three of four maps from the Toronto Ultra. The Thieves opened with a 250-184 win but the Ultra responded with a 6-0 drubbing on Rio Search & Destroy. The Thieves then took Invasion Control 3-1 to regain the lead before closing it out 250-236 on Rio Hardpoint.
In the other half of the bracket, the Atlanta FaZe also won 3-1, taking down the Miami Heretics. Atlanta won 250-222 on Vista Hardpoint and the Heretics answered with a 6-4 win on Invasion Search & Destroy. Like the Thieves, the FaZe took the next two maps to end the match, winning 3-2 on Invasion Control and 250-240 on Karachi Hardpoint.
And in the day’s tightest match, the New York Subliners and Seattle Surge alternated wins in what ultimately finished as a 3-2 win for the Subliners. New York won 250-243 on Karachi Hardpoint before the Surge won 6-5 on 6 Star Search & Destroy. The Subliners answered with their own narrow win, 3-2 on Invasion Control, but again Seattle responded to even the match, this time taking Vista Hardpoint 250-219. In the do-or-die finale, the Subliners won 6-3 on Karachi Search & Destroy.
Friday will see four more matches played and the event’s first two eliminations.
Friday’s winners’ bracket matches:
–Atlanta FaZe vs. New York Subliners
–LA Thieves vs. OpTic Texas
Friday’s elimination matches:
–Miami Heretics vs. Seattle Surge
–Toronto Ultra vs. LA Guerrillas
–Field Level Media
