CWL Pro League Recap: Day 2, Division A

Day 2 of the Pro League is complete, and we got to see some knock-down, drag-out matches between top contenders! Gen.G Esports made a statement against Red Reserve for the first match of the day. Next, Midnight continued to establish their dominance of Division A with another victory against Evil Geniuses. Third, OpTic Gaming took UYU down a peg, but only after much struggle. Lastly, a nail-bitingly close match between Reciprocity and Luminosity resulted in a narrow Reciprocity win.

Match 1: Gen.G Esports vs. Red Reserve

The teams were neck-and-neck through much of Game 1 Hardpoint, but Red Reserve eventually pulled away with the lead halfway through the match. Red Reserve held this lead despite Michael “MajorManiak” Szymaniak of Gen.G going ham with an impressive KD of 33/24. Kills aren’t everything in Call of Duty (although they do help). Red Reserve won that round 250-167.

Red Reserve firmly controlled the match going into Game 2 Search & Destroy, but they quickly lost that control as Gen.G took advantage of their weak S&D strategies to dominate that game with a 6-2 round lead. Speaking of strategies, Gen.G gambled with some unorthodox strategies in Game 3 Control, such as Jared “Nagafen” Harrell using a sniper rifle. Thankfully these unique strategies paid off as Gen.G led the Control game 3-2 by the end. The last respawn round, Game 4 Hardpoint, was the nail in the coffin for Red Reserve, as they could not withstand a renewed assault by Gen.G. Gen.G ran away with that Hardpoint round 250-140, claiming the match with their victory.

Match 2: Midnight vs. Evil Geniuses

Things looked a little dicey for Midnight on Game 1 Hardpoint, as at one point they were down 50 points with Evil Geniuses one hardpoint hold away from a victory. However, Midnight turned it around to shut out the Evil Geniuses completely to claim the round 250-222. That would be the only time things looked dicey for Midnight, however. Fresh from their victory against OpTic Gaming on opening day, Midnight continued to exert their supremacy upon Evil Geniuses, as the next two games were one-sided affairs. Midnight’s Eric “JetLi” Phan lived up to his alias as he slew his way to his team’s victory in Game 2 Search & Destroy with a 10/4 KD. Evil Geniuses were handed their first series loss in the Pro League after Game 3 Control, as Midnight annihilated them (pun definitely intended) 3-0.

Match 3: OpTic Gaming vs. UYU

OpTic Gaming, still reeling from their loss against Midnight on opening day, came back swinging against UYU. They ultimately prevailed, but only after much proverbial blood, sweat, and tears were shed. OpTic led by 100 points about halfway through the match, but UYU staged a comeback and almost succeeded. OpTic clutched up at the end, however, and claimed Game 1 Hardpoint with a score of 250-212. Game 2 Search & Destroy was a similar story. OpTic kept a small lead throughout, but UYU answered back by exploiting Ian “Crimsix” Porter’s aggression, getting the first blood on him in multiple rounds. OpTic clutched up again, though, as an ultra-tense Round 11 went narrowly in OpTic’s favor.

Game 3 Control was almost déjà vu for OpTic, as they made more careless mistakes that cost them the game 3-1, UYU easily able to exploit their weaknesses. Around the middle of Game 4 Hardpoint, Cesar “Skyz” Bueno earned all of his score streaks and used them judiciously to break OpTic’s momentum to help UYU clutch a game for once, ending Game 4 in UYU’s favor 250-242. Things looked grim for OpTic. But OpTic finally decided to put their foot down for once, and they put it right on UYU’s throat, destroying them in Game 5 Search & Destroy with a 6-0 shutout.

Match 4: Luminosity vs. Reciprocity

This match was a slobberknocker. There was some real back-and-forth warfare going on between these two teams in Game 1 Hardpoint, where Reciprocity barely edged out a victory against Luminosity 250-236. The two teams continued to be evenly matched in the respawn rounds, where Luminosity eked out wins in Game 3 Control with a score of 3-2, and again in Game 4 Hardpoint with a real skin-of-their-teeth win with a score of 250-242. However, Reciprocity knew Luminosity’s kryptonite this match – the Search & Destroy rounds. Reciprocity exploited Luminosity’s weaknesses in this game mode to claim victory in both games, 6-3 for Game 2 and 6-4 for Game 5. Combined with their narrow victory in Game 1 Hardpoint, Reciprocity claimed their first Pro League match victory 3 games to 2.

Check back next time for a summary of Day 3 of Division A of the Pro League. You can catch the games here on ESTNN TV.