Call of Duty Pro League: Week Two, Day Three Recap

Day three of the Call of Duty Pro League featured some critical matchups as teams jockey for position in the Division A standings before they leave for their two-week hiatus tomorrow. Some rosters surprised fans with their performances yesterday while others were able to establish their strong position in the division heading into the final day of matches. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Match 1: UYU vs. Team Reciprocity

Both UYU and Team Reciprocity entered yesterday’s matchup at 2-3 in the Pro League, though through very different circumstances. While UYU lost a tough series to current Division A leaders Gen. G, Team Reciprocity displayed their incredible clutch gene (winning the Control map 3-2 and both Search and Destroy maps 6-5) while taking down previously undefeated Midnight Esports. The winner of this match would move to .500 in the league and establish themselves in the middle of the Division A standings while the loser would sit merely two wins above the struggling Evil Geniuses roster.

UYU took the first Hardpoint in a relatively close 250-216 contest. Cesar ‘Skyz’ Bueno finished 32-15 to propel UYU to the victory. On the other side, Thomas ‘Tommey’ Trewren and Bradley ‘Wuskin’ Marshall struggled for Team Reciprocity, both finishing with close to double-negative stat lines in map one. However, Reciprocity turned it around in map two as their clutch factor was again on display with yet another 6-5 Search and Destroy victory.

From there, UYU put forth a dominant 3-0 control game, before Reciprocity answered back again in the subsequent Hardpoint. Zach ‘Zed’ Denyer carried Reciprocity early and finished 32-19, but it was Tommey flipping the script from his map one performance with a nine kill-streak towards the end of the map to cement Reciprocity’s 250-198 victory and setting up a pivotal map five. However, Reciprocity was unable to repeat yesterday’s map five magic, and Nicholas ‘Proto’ Maldonado could do no wrong as he finished 13-2 in a handy 6-2 map five UYU win.

Match 2: Evil Geniuses vs. Red Reserve

After a tough map five loss yesterday, Evil Geniuses remained winless entering today’s matchup with Red Reserve, and that was not to change. After a back-and-forth map one Hardpoint, Red Reserve pulled away late to take the map 250-185.

In the map two Search and Destroy, Evil Geniuses managed to start with a 2-1 lead before dropping five straight rounds to lose in a handy 6-2 fashion. In the subsequent Control, EG put up an intense fight, but Matthew ‘Skrapz’ Marshall and Trei ‘Zer0’ Morris both picked up full scorestreaks while finishing 22-15 and 23-15, respectively as Red Reserve took the map 3-2 and closed out the series 3-0, leaving EG winless after six matches.

Match 3: Luminosity Gaming vs. Midnight Esports

Former underdog darlings Midnight Esports dropped their first series of the Pro League two days ago to Reciprocity in a heartbreaking fashion, losing both Search and Destroy’s 6-5 and the Control 3-2. They looked to rebound against a Luminosity roster that had struggled to find any chemistry before defeating a winless EG team yesterday. It seemed that Midnight was in a good position to bounce back, but they seemed to lose the map vetoes process, allowing two of the first three maps to be on Frequency, Luminosity’s favorite map, it would seem, by far.
Luminosity did nothing to alter that preference as Pierce ‘Gunless’ Hillman continued his strong Pro League

with a 24-15 map one stat line. He got significant help from the oft-maligned Josiah ‘Slacked’ Berry who has significantly picked up his performance as of late and finished map one at 27-13. Together, the two helped Luminosity to a strong 250-116 victory on Frequency in map one.

The Gunless and Slacked show didn’t end there, as they went 10-2 and 11-3 respectively as Luminosity took the map two Search and Destroy in a convincing 6-2 manner. Gunless continued his dominant series in the map three Control (again on Frequency) as he finished 23-10 and this time it was Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper by his side, mirroring his 23-10 stat line. LG finished off Midnight in a dominant 3-0 Control, reflecting their dominant 3-0 victory.

We all knew Luminosity was talented, and while this recent turn around has seemed promising for LG fans, whether or not this is reflective of substantive change within the team remains to be seen. Opposing teams will no doubt be vetoing the map Frequency against them, and Johnathon ‘John’ Perez and Nicholas ‘Classic’ DiCostanzo have yet to return to their former peak. They will be tested again tomorrow against OpTic Gaming, and a win there would truly cement their comeback status. Speaking of OpTic Gaming:

Match 4: OpTic Gaming vs. Gen. G

Gen. G entered this match as the only remaining undefeated team in Division A. After fighting to make bracket play at the Pro League Qualifier, they have returned to their start-of-season form and are still the class of Division A (at least until OpTic is at full strength again).

In all of their matches thus far, Gen. G has dropped the opening map one Hardpoint, but they were able to close this one out if only barely, 250-232 behind the strong performances of Colt ‘Havok’ McLendon and Jared ‘Nagafen’ Harrell. From there, they maintained their undefeated Search and Destroy record with at 6-4 victory. Here, an extremely smart play from Michael ‘MajorManiak’ Szymaniak proved the pivotal moment, as he would go on to pick up scorestreaks which enabled Gen. G to close out the map and go up 2-0 in the series.

But OpTic Gaming would not go down without a fight. In the map, three Control, incredible clutches from Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow, Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, and substitute Thomas ‘ZooMaa’ Paparatto propelled OpTic to a 3-1 victory. ZooMaa continued his strong performance in the map four Hardpoint, starting out 7-0 and picking up full scorestreaks. OpTic then pulled away from Gen. G with a great team effort, winning the map 250-139 and forcing a decisive map five Search and Destroy.

However, the comeback was not to be for OpTic. After a round one ace from Thomas ‘TJHaly’ Haly, Gen. G took over, winning five straight rounds behind scorestreaks from Nagafen and aggressive plays from Havok. Gen. G took the map five in a 6-2 fashion and Havok finished 14-5. Gen. G remain undefeated in Search and Destroy and that is arguably the most important reason they are unbeaten in Division A. Meanwhile, OpTic fall to a 4-2 record, a decent record given their substitute situation, but they wanted a better one.

Summary

With seven days of action in the books, Division A of the Pro League stands thus:
Call of Duty Pro League CWL

Of course, there is still one more day of action to go. Today’s matches will begin with at mid-table clash between Red Reserve and UYU before Midnight Esports will attempt to break their recent freefall against division leaders Gen. G. From here, Evil Geniuses will try to finally get a win under their belt against fellow struggling roster, Team Reciprocity. Finally, OpTic Gaming will get a chance to finish in the top three in the division if they can take care of their grudge match against Luminosity Gaming tomorrow.

CWL Call of Duty Pro League Schedule