Dallas Empire escape with a win against Minnesota at the Stage 2 Major

The Dallas Empire have narrowly defeated the Minnesota ROKKR at the Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major. It was a back and forth match that culminated with a round 11 Search and Destroy map, but the Empire managed to take down the first seed of Group B.

No matter which team won the series, it could be considered an upset. While Minnesota was the first seed in Group B, and thus the favorite to win, Dallas is always tough to defeat–as shown in today’s match.

Dallas Empire take care of surging ROKKR

Coming into today’s winner’s bracket match, the Empire really needed to focus on their Search and Destroy. The game mode is Minnesota’s specialty and Dallas has struggled with it in recent weeks. Just last week, they lost to OpTic Chicago 6-0 in a total map breakdown.

However, it seems the Empire have put in serious work for the Stage 2 Major. Against Minnesota, Dallas won both the Search and Destroys in 6-5 fashion. The first Search and Destroy on Raid was particularly thrilling, as the team put a novel rewrapping strategy to good use.

ROUND 11 ICE 🧊 pic.twitter.com/1CB0CRfaMd

— Dallas Empire (@DallasEmpire) April 9, 2021

No one member of the Empire roster put up stellar numbers but Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro did lead the way with a 1.16 K/D in the series. This performance, paired with Ian “Crimsix” Porter’s fantastic finish in the map three Control, allowed Dallas to take down the hottest team in the CDL.

Minnesota didn’t perform as they have in recent weeks. While rookie Eli “Standy” Bentz still played remarkably, posting a 1.17 K/D, the team choked away several chances to win. In the Control, they allowed Dallas to capture the B point with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock. If not for that, the ROKKR would have likely gone on to win the series.

TALK ABOUT A BUZZER BEATER ⏱@DallasEmpire go clutch with 0.1 on the clock! #DefendTheThrone pic.twitter.com/ac6zLsgiCO

— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 9, 2021

The ROKKR still showed great promise throughout this series, going toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the CDL. However, if they want to make the next leap forward, they need to shore up some areas in their gameplay.

Minnesota drops to the loser’s bracket to face the winner of OpTic and Seattle on Saturday, April 1o, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Dallas moves on to round three of the winner’s bracket to play the winner of Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra on Saturday, April 10, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.