The Los Angeles Thieves edged the Miami Heretics 3-2 on Saturday to remain perfect in qualifying action for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 3 Major.
All 12 CDL teams will play seven qualifying matches ahead of the Stage 3 Major, scheduled for May 16-19 in Toronto. Every team will advance to the double-elimination tournament, with the qualifying matches determining seeding.
Each qualifier win is worth 10 points. The prize pool for the tournament (money and CDL points) has yet to be announced.
The Toronto Ultra won the Stage 1 Major in January. The Atlanta FaZe won the Stage 2 Major in March.
In other action Saturday, OpTic Texas blanked the Vegas Legion 3-0, while the Seattle Surge downed the New York Subliners 3-1.
Los Angeles opened its match with a 250-164 win on Vista Hardpoint before Miami won two of the next three maps to forge a 2-2 deadlock. On the decisive fifth map, Invasion, the Thieves prevailed 6-4 in Search & Destroy to improve to 2-0 in qualifying.
American Daniel “Ghosty” Rothe led Los Angeles with 91 kills and a plus-1.17 kill-death ratio. The Heretics, a squad consisting of four players from Spain, got a match-high 95 kills from Jose “ReeaL” Fernandez. Fernandez finished with a plus-1.16 K-D.
OpTic had a much easier time with Vegas, winning 250-214 on Karachi Hardpoint, 6-4 on Invasion Search & Destroy and 3-1 on Highrise Control.
Seattle and New York split the first two maps, and the Surge cruised the rest of the way.
Qualifying continues Sunday with three matches:
–Carolina Royal Ravens vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas
–Boston Breach vs. Minnesota Rokkr
–Atlanta FaZe vs. Toronto Ultra
Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major qualifying standings (points, match win-loss record, map win-loss differential):
1. Atlanta FaZe, 20 points, 2-0, plus-5
2. Toronto Ultra, 20 points, 2-0, plus-5
3. Los Angeles Thieves, 20 points, 2-0, plus-2
4. OpTic Texas, 20 points, 2-1, plus-4
5. Seattle Surge, 20 points, 2-1, even
6. Carolina Royal Ravens, 10 points, 1-1, even
7. New York Subliners, 10 points, 1-2, minus-1
8. Vegas Legion, 10 points, 1-2, minus-1
9. Miami Heretics, 10 points, 1-2, minus-2
10. Boston Breach, 0 points, 0-1, minus-1
11. Minnesota Rokkr, 0 points, 0-2, minus-5
12. Los Angeles Guerrillas, 0-2, minus-6
–Field Level Media
