Call of Duty Pro League Recap: Day 1, Week 2, Cross-Division Play
| Tags: Call of Duty
| Author Phillip Miner
By the CoD Gods, it’s April, fools, and the Pro League keeps coming at us with thrilling matches! The first match was no foolin’ as Gen.G Esports settled back into their comfortable groove to win over Denial Esports. Second, Splyce takes Midnight Esports for a ride as some tense matches result in a 3-1 victory for Splyce. Third, OpTic Gaming nearly fooled us all by almost losing to Enigma6 Group but come from behind to secure their first cross-division win. And lastly, Team Reciprocity get flattened by 100 Thieves in a deceptively close 3-0 shutout.
Match 1: Denial Esports vs. Gen.G Esports
If you weren’t paying attention to Gen.G Esports win record in the Pro League, you might think Denial Esports stood a better chance. Denial won Game 1 (Hardpoint) by a decent margin of 250-178. However, if you were paying attention to Gen.G’s win record, you’d know Gen.G losing the first map is just a ruse. In the Pro League, it usually takes an opening game loss for Gen.G to achieve final form, and they sure did that in Game 2 (Search & Destroy) where they utterly destroyed Denial in a 6-0 shutout.
From here, it was relatively smooth sailing for Gen.G Esports. They closed out Game 3 (Control) with a round score of 3-1 despite some valiant resistance from Denial. Gen.G finalized their victory over Denial this series in Game 4 (Hardpoint) where they easily trounced Denial by a margin of 250-178.
Match 2: Midnight Esports vs. Splyce
Game 1 (Hardpoint) was nail-bitingly tense. Near the end, Midnight was on the verge of making a miraculous comeback as they closed the gap when Splyce was only 3 points away from winning. However, this comeback was not meant to be as Splyce were able to close out the match 250-243. Game 2 (Search & Destroy) was a bit more lopsided in favor of Splyce. They capitalized upon Midnight’s weaknesses in this mode to win it with a 6-3 round count.
Midnight was able to get a win in Game 3 (Control), but it was only by the skin of their teeth. Coming back from a two-round deficit, they were able to clutch a narrow game win by a margin of 3-2. Splyce wasn’t about to give Midnight any free wins, though, as they put their foot down in Game 4 (Hardpoint)> Splyce defeated Midnight in Game 4 250-171 to secure a 3-1 victory.
Match 3: OpTic Gaming vs. Enigma6 Group
OpTic Gaming nearly pranked themselves by almost losing to Enigma6 here, but thankfully they were able to turn things around in the nick of time. Game 1 (Hardpoint) was business as usual for OpTic Gaming, as they beat Enigma6 by a healthy margin of 250-189. Game 2 (Search & Destroy) was where things got choppy for OpTic, however. Enimga6 were able to take advantage of OpTic’s overconfidence as they pulled off an upset this game with a 6-2 round count. The pain for OpTic continued in Game 3 (Control), as Control is traditionally a mode OpTic struggle with. OpTic’s struggles didn’t get any easier here, as Enigma6 decimated a bewildered OpTic to get a 3-0 shutout in Control.
OpTic didn’t want to play the part of the fools today, though. They hunkered down in Game 4 (Hardpoint), putting their noses to the grindstone as they counter-attacked Enigma6, coming away with an overwhelming 250-84 game victory. OpTic was able to maintain their dominant status in Game 5 (Search & Destroy) with a hot 6-1 round count victory, sealing the match win and making sure they weren’t seen as fooling around.
Match 4: Team Reciprocity vs. 100 Thieves
Team Reciprocity managed to outplace 100 Thieves at CWL Fort Worth this past March, so 100 Thieves were hungry for revenge. Their appetite for destruction ensured they came out of their corner swinging at Team Reciprocity as early as Game 1 (Hardpoint), where they clutched the game victory by the slimmest of margins, 250-249. Game 2 (Search & Destroy) was a similar story, but this time Reciprocity had to play catch-up to 100 Thieves. They almost did, but 100 Thieves again clenched a narrow victory with a round count of 6-5. Reciprocity’s morale must have been shattered by such close, heartbreaking defeats because Game 3 (Control) was almost no contest. 100 Thieves decisively won Game 3 with a shutout of 3-0.
Cross-division play in the Pro League continues as we will see OpTic Gaming vs. Denial Esports, Team Reciprocity vs. Enigma6 Group, 100 Thieves vs. Midnight Esports, and finally Splyce vs. Gen.G Esports.
Phillip has been a freelance writer covering video games for over a decade. He's had video game articles published in places from local newspapers to The Escapist. Call of Duty has been a passion of his since the first Black Ops. You can learn more about Phillip on our About page.