TORONTO, Ontario — Day 2 of the Call of Duty League (CDL) 2022 Major III brought more excitement into the city of Toronto. OpTic Texas fans got to see their team play twice with the crowd on their side, the London Royal Ravens eliminated the first team from the competition, and all the Toronto Ultra fans got to see their home team win live in Canada. A shorter but no less entertaining day than day one, here are some of the best aspects of Day 2.
Players of the day: Havok and Shotzzy
It was too hard to choose just one, as day two was much more electric compared to day one. Both Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro and Colt “Havok” McLendon both made a mark in their series on day two.
Starting with Shotzzy, he was crucial in both the OpTic games on day two, with flashes of brilliance against the Los Angeles Guerrillas. He made sure that Texas swept both of the wins on day two, with a clutch double kill closing out the map.
As for Havok, he was the Minnesota RØKKR’s key player in their sweep over the Boston Breach. Coming onto the Minnesota roster as a relatively new acquisition, this series was a great example of what he can do to try and help the team go through the lower bracket.
Moment of the day: CleanX gets a super fast ace on Search and Destroy
“I remember I ran up mid, noticed that some of them got hurt, and as I turned the corner I knew it was a guaranteed two-piece,” said Tobias “CleanX” Juul Jønsson. “But then, the rest of the team just started running at me.”
Listening to CleanX say the above took longer than the actual play he describes — on Search and Destroy, needing to bring the Ultra back into the series, CleanX did just that with a blink-and-you-miss-it ace. That round alone was a back-breaker for the Paris Legion, who couldn’t seem to keep up with the Ultra for the rest of the series; making this our moment of the day.
Stat of the day: A 1 second difference in Hardpoint
In the series between the Minnesota RØKKR and Boston Breach, the first map proved to be the closest one of the tournament. On the map Bocage, both teams fought tooth and nail for each second. So much so, that the teams were scrapping it out as the time ticked down on the final hardpoint. Both teams were less than ten seconds away from 250 and the map victory. As each team traded, hid on point and died, the time ran out and Minnesota won 245-244.
We’ve seen multiple one second Hardpoint losses before, but not typically ones that ended with with the match clock. Most one second Hardpoint maps have ended up with a score of 250-249, but this match had both teams scrapping it out on the point in the final seconds just to get those last few seconds. That map win came in clutch for Minnesota, and is therefore our stat of the day for day 2 of the CDL 2022 Major III.
