Throughout the weekend, the top teams in Call of Duty came out to Dallas to compete for their share at $40,000. The top 3 seeds finished in the top 3 but not in the most prdictable order. Here is how it went down.
Pool Play
In Pool A, the typical favorites OpTic Gaming came out with looking vulnerable. Though they looked shaky, they beat all four of their opponents in pool play. They came into their final match of pool play - EnVyUs, both teams had identical records at 3-0 with a 9-1 map count. OpTic Gaming would come out hot in this match and take the series 3-0 to win their pool and hold EnVy down to second.
In Pool B, it was FaZe. Nothing but them either. Although they had some close calls, they only dropped one map and advance with a 4-0, 12-1 map count. They would be followed through with the unkown team, ROD Squad.
In Pool C, the first major upset of the weekend occured early with Geared 4 Gaming came from the open bracket to beat Denial. In the end, with a 2-1 record, Denial had to go up against an undefeated iSolation Empire to take the top spot in the group. It was a close series, but Denial took it 3-1 to put themselves back on the map going into the bracket.
In Pool D, eLevate absolutely crushed all opposition. They go 4-0 in their group with an undefeated 12-0 map count. The battle raged on for second in the group. It came down to a three-way tie at 2-2 between Epsilon, TCM, and OpTic Nation. Epsilon would come out as the winner of the tie breaker due to the most map wins between the three teams.
Stepping into the winners bracket, it would be OpTic Gaming - Epsilon, Denial - ROD Squad, FaZe - iSolation Empire, and eLevate - EnVyUs. There were 24 total teams in the bracket between the Winners bracket and the Losers bracket.
Bracket Play
The bracket started with an upset of epic proportions. Epsilon came out hot and absolutely demolished OpTic Gaming with a 3-1 score-line. This loss would send OpTic's championship hopes in jeopardy early putting them in the losers bracket. But another upset happened in the same round with EnVyUs knocking eLevate off their winning streak and putting them in the losers bracket as well. Meanwhile, Denial and FaZe would make quick work of their opponents to advance to the semifinals of the winners bracket.
Championship Sunday
Starting bright and early, OpTic Gaming would begin their run through the losers. They ran through Team Kaliber, and iSolation Empire. Meanwhile, in the winners bracket, there were two separate 3-0 matches. FaZe would do away with EnVyUs and Denial put away Epsilon. These two matches would give OpTic Gaming two rematches. They would go against EnVyUs first and beat them 3-1 in the rematch from pool play. On the other side, Epsilon would defeat TCM in their own pool play rematch with a similar score. With that, OpTic Gaming and Epsilon would meet again. The winner would crack the Top 3 with FaZe and Denial. With a familiar 3-1 score, OpTic Gaming would win a close series against Epsilon.
Meanwhile in the winners bracket final, FaZe would meet up against Denial. An interesting matchup with both teams having four great slayers. In terms of raw talent, it seemed like Denial had the advantage. But once they started playing, it didn't look like that at all. FaZe would dismantle Denial and win the series 3-0 to take a spot in the Grand Finals. Denial would move to the losers bracket.
In the losers bracket final, OpTic Gaming met up against Denial for a spot on the Grand Final. OpTic Gaming would jump to an early 2-0 lead before Denial would take a close Comeback Uplink to make it 2-1. Denial would challenge in game 4 but OpTic Gaming would close it out to return to the Grand finals.
Grand Finals
After running the gauntlet through the morning and afternoon, OpTic Gaming would face off against FaZe. From the very start, OpTic looked tired and out of sync. It showed in their gameplay as FaZe would steamroll in Solar Hardpoint to take a 1-0 lead. In Detroit SND, FaZe came out hot again but didn't look to have as much control. Then it got wild when Enable clutched a rediculous 1v3 to open the game up. FaZe would insue to take a 2-0 lead. Going into Comeback Uplink, FaZe would hit the score limit on the first half of the game. In the second half, they kept pouring it on and would finish the tournament off with a 3-0 victory in the Grand Finals.
For the players, Attach would win his second career championship and his first since CoD Champs, Zoomaa would also win his second championship and his first since UMG Dallas last year. Enable would win his third career championship and his first since the GFinity Spring Masters as a fill in for OpTic Gaming. Clayster would add on to his legacy as one of the best in history with his 10th career championship and his first since CoD Champs.
It was a valiant effort by OpTic Gaming having to come out and play all day to make the top 2. Without a doubt, fatigue was an issue. But knowing their players, they'll start practicing hard to return to proper championship form.
Final Placings
1st: FaZe $20,000
2nd: OpTic Gaming $10,000
3rd: Denial $5,000
4th: Epsilon $3,000
5th: TCM $2,000
6th:EnVyUs
7th-8th:vVv, iSolation Empire
9th-12th: eLevate, ROD Squad, Team Kaliber, Rise Nation
13th-16th: Enigma6, XGN, Mutiny, VexX
17th-20th: OpTic Nation, Geared 4 Gaming, Tactical Turtles, Stunner
21st-24th: Devoid, Relapsed, Rampage.Black, Dunkin No Donuts.