Stage 1 of the Call of Duty World League, presented by PlayStation Pro Division has officially come to an end in North America! For the last 11 weeks, the 12 teams battled it out to secure a spot at the Stage 1 Finals and a chance to compete for a share of the US$250,000 prize pool.
There was a lot of excitement going into Week 11 as there was a chance for five different teams to secure the 7th and 8th place positions. Team SoloMid went up against Counter Logic Gaming in the first match of the night, and they were able to win that series in Round 11 in Game 5! With this win for TSM, they secured the 8th spot.
Day 1 also saw OpTic Gaming, Team eLevate, and Rise Nation take down FaZe Clan, compLexity, and Team Kaliber, respectively. In a major upset, Dream Team won their match 3-1 versus Team EnVyUs, taking the Search and Destroy 6-0. In the final matchup of Day 1, Luminosity secured the 7th spot in the Stage 1 Finals with a 3-0 win over H2K.
Day 2 matches of the final week were all about securing seeding going into Stage 1 Relegation/Finals. OpTic ended the stage with the highest win-loss record, 20-2. OpTic secured the #1 seed going into next weekend, beating TSM 3-0 in their final series.
.... @OpTic_DKarma #CODWorldLeaguehttps://t.co/L13053PUIM
— ESL Call of Duty (@ESLCoD) March 23, 2016
Dream Team ended this week 2-0 and finally moved away from last place. In Day 2, they took down CLG 3-1 and secured 10th place going into relegation. TK faced off against Luminosity and won that series, which boosted them to 9th place in the standings. Finally putting their troubles behind them (and their 6-match losing streak), EnVyUs soared through H2K 3-0.
Oh my...@TylerTeeP #CODWorldLeaguehttps://t.co/0wCjBfEfoH
— ESL Call of Duty (@ESLCoD) March 24, 2016
FINAL STAGE 1 STANDINGS
MATCH OF THE WEEK
This week’s match of the week was TSM vs. CLG. “TSM vs. CLG without a doubt,” said commentator John “Revan” Boble. “Going into this week both teams were looking to secure their spot in the top 8 going into the Stage 1 Finals. CLG needed to not only win both matches this week, but also needed the teams above them to lose. There was still some hope going into that match. TSM needed just one win to secure their spot and the match against CLG looked a lot more winnable than their match on the following day against OpTic Gaming. The series went to game 5 and CLG had a record of 0-6 in game 5's."
"CLG found themselves in a very favorable position," Revan continued. "Being up 5-2 in rounds and having specialists and scorestreaks available to aid them to close out the map. Looking to not only win their first game 5 of the season, but also stay in the top 8 contention for the overall standings, CLG was sitting pretty. Somehow TSM were able to fight back round by round to win the round 11 battle. TSM secured their spot in the top 8 going into the Stage 1 Finals and CLG's stage ended in fitting fashion.”
MVP
The MVP of Week 11 was Colechan from TSM. Revan said, “Colechan from TSM without a doubt. In the crucial swing games of their series versus CLG, Colechan rose to the occasion. Sporting a 1.24 KD for the overall series, he had a big impact on each and every game. On the Uplink game he led the lobby going 28-16 with 6 of his team's 13 points and when it came down to that final game it was Colechan and his sniper rifle posting up an impressive 12-6 scoreline, leading his team to a much-needed victory.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO STAGE 1 FINALS
As we look forward to next weekend’s finals, here’s a look at teams who will be going head to head in the Quarterfinals.
We should be in for some intense games, and according to Revan, the big first-round matchups to look out for are EnVyUs vs. eLevate and FaZe vs. compLexity.
COMING UP
Tune in today at 15:00 Pacific/18:00 Eastern for our Call of Duty World League Recap Show right here. In this week’s show, the casters will take a look back at the North America Call of Duty World League Stage 1 and preview this weekend’s European Stage 1 Finals, which will kick off on Friday, March 25.
The Stage 1 Relegation/Finals in North America take place next weekend from Friday April 1 to Sunday April 3, so be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest #CODWorldLeague news!
