Call of Duty: CWL Championship Day 3 Recap
| Tags: Call of Duty
| Author Matt Pryor
Day Three of the CWL Championship has wrapped up, and it had some expected wins alongside some serious upsets.
The CWL Championship is in full force for the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 season. Refer to our recaps of days one and two to get caught up on what you may have missed in pool play. Day three provided a small sample of the Knockout Stage. A consortium of teams from different backgrounds managed to make it this far. We have seen amateur teams such as Team Singularity and Sicario Gaming advance out of pool play. Professional teams like eUnited, OpTic Gaming and 100 Thieves did what they needed to in order to reach this level of the competition. The playing field continues to even out and we are seeing exactly why these are the best teams in the world.
CWL Day Three Winners Round 1
The first round in the winner's bracket provided some unique matchups. Chief among them was 100 Thieves vs Luminosity Gaming. LG began the tournament with a shocking 3-0 loss to amateurs, Team Singularity, but FormaL and his squad seem to have found their footing. Tournament favorites 100 Thieves had little to offer LG in terms of a challenge. 100T only managed to take the game two Search and Destroy whilst losing to LG in both Hardpoints and Control. After a shaky start, Luminosity Gaming is in a great position to make a run at the CWL Championship.
Team Envy squared off against Units in a match most fans and analysts expected to be close. This proved to be true as for the fourth time in this tournament, Team Envy would play out a game five Search and Destroy. Unfortunately for Envy, their streak of game five wins came to an end. It was a clutch Grav Slam by Joee of Units that clinched the final game of a closely contested series. Envy was now in the losers bracket after being up 2-1 in their series against the European squad. This would ultimately be the closest match in all of the winner’s bracket.
A Clear Win From OpTic
The remaining results of the winner's bracket would be fairly decisive. OpTic dropped only the game two Search and Destroy en route to a 3-1 series win over Team Heretics. Team WaR lost handily to highly rated eUnited, who are looking as strong as ever heading into day four of the competition. Sicario Gaming pulled an unexpected upset over Team Singularity in round one of the winner’s bracket with a 3-1 series win. Tommey seems to find a way at the CWL Championship as Sicario Gaming is the only amateur team still alive in the winner's bracket.
Pool G qualifiers Evil Geniuses handled Splyce with ease, ultimately winning their series 3-1. The same can be said for Team Reciprocity who shocked the world with a 3-1 series win over FaZe Clan. The Euros maintained composure throughout the series and sent FaZe to fend for themselves in the losers bracket. Last, but not least, was Enigma6 who are quietly going along as one of the better teams at the CWL Championship. They faced Elevate Gaming in round one of the winners and barely broke a sweat, winning by a final score of 3-0 in the series.
Losers Round 1
The action in the losers bracket escalated significantly. With teams such as Splyce, Envy, 100 Thieves and FaZe losing early, many of these rosters were now on their heels. Splyce were the first team to exit the CWL Championship in the Knockout Stage. This came at the hands of the amateur Team WaR, who clutched out a game five Search and Destroy. A round eleven performance by Team WaR spelled the end for Splyce. Vortex had a well-time two-piece that essentially clinched the game and the series. Splyce finished T16 and collectively exit with $25K USD to split. Huke and Temp will continue their journey in search of their first Call of Duty major victory.
In yet another surprising result, amateurs Team Singularity ousted Team Envy from the competition. The boys in blue had very little to provide SNG in terms of a challenge. After winning only the game three Control, Team Envy fell to SNG by a series score of 3-1. ACHES will not repeat as a CWL Champion in back-to-back seasons. With that, the three amateur teams to qualify out of pool play are still alive in the competition.
😰 @100Thieves pull it OUT!!! They take the Control and extend the series one more map against @FaZeClan.
📽: The 2v9 clutch in round 4 that saved it!https://t.co/NKHQSgV6Gh#CWLPS4 | #CWLChamps pic.twitter.com/5rLu0H7gdk
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) August 17, 2019
Finding Winners in the Losers Bracket
100 Thieves versus FaZe in the losers round one was shocking, to say the least. Both of these teams are in the midst of extremely successful seasons. 100 Thieves were victorious twice and FaZe are coming off a third-place finish at the CWL Playoffs. Nonetheless, these two titans were on a collision course. 100T and FaZe produced the best series of the CWK Championship by far. After being up 2-0 and on the brink of victory, FaZe collapsed. They had a 7-2 life advantage in the game three Control, and Priestahh showed up when it mattered most.
100 Thieves went on to win game three and FaZe just simply unraveled. Games four and five went to 100T, who completed the reverse sweep in the process. Octane saw a massive momentum swing in the final game after achieving three kills late in the SND. FaZe’s tournament life ends in heartbreak as they join the group of teams finishing T16. 100 Thieves live to fight another day with the prospect of winning three major tournaments in a row.
Cleaning Up
The final game in losers round one pitted Team Heretics and Elevate Gaming against one another. This was yet another close 3-2 series that went in favor of Elevate. Their series culminated in game five Search and Destroy. Elevate Gaming pulled out game five with a final score of 6-4. Elevate live to fight another day after barely qualified out of Pool A.
As it stands, there still exist many of the best teams in the world at the CWL Championship. The likes of OpTic Gaming, Evil Geniuses, Luminosity Gaming and eUnited all are still in the winner's bracket. 100 Thieves are still alive as well with a momentous victory over FaZe Clan in the losers bracket. Two days remain in the CWL Championship and the action will only intensify. Here is the current bracket situation as we see it heading into day four:
Stay tuned to ESTNN as we continue our days four and five coverage of the CWL Championship.
Image VIA: MLG
Matt is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University. He appreciates all esports titles but primarily focuses on Fortnite and Call of Duty. Matt continuously analyzes gameplay and plays the games himself to better understand in-game decisions by the best players in the world.