The fight for a spot in the top eight was on during Week 9 of the North American Call of Duty World League Pro Division, presented by PlayStation 4. Day 1 began with a big upset as #11 Counter Logic Gaming was able to win the series 3-1 against #5 compLexity. And there were no surprises in the second match, as #1 OpTic Gaming shut out Dream Team with a 3-0 win.

Team Kaliber started off strong on Day 1, but they were unable to close out their match against FaZe Clan. Although tK forced a Game 5, FaZe blasted through them 6-1 in Search and Destroy. Next up, we saw Team SoloMid get a big win over a strong H2K team. Day 1 ended with one of the best plays possibly in Search and Destroy as Team eLevate’s Nagafen got a 1v4 clutch in Game 5 to win the series 3-2 against Team EnVyUs

A 1v4 clutch from @eLevateNaga to end the night!! @eLevateGG wins series 3-2 vs @TeamEnVyUs. #CODWorldLeaguehttps://t.co/HITr6DVGub

— ESL Call of Duty (@ESLCoD) March 9, 2016

Day 2 featured the Premier Match of the week, as FaZe went up against compLexity. FaZe was able to close it out 3-1, which put them in third place in the league. OpTic took down H2KGG with a fast 3-0, which lead to H2K finishing 0-2 on the week. H2K had a strong performance in Week 8, but they could not bring that momentum with them into Week 9. Luminosity went big on Day 2 to win their series 3-0 against CLG. With Team Kaliber's deafeat of TSM, TSM has slid from 7th place to 9th place at the end of Week 9 allowing Luminosity (as of now) to be in the top eight, but TSM, Luminosity, and H2K are currently tied in Win/Loss count: 7-11. TK’s win helped them stay away from 10th place and leaves them with a chance of getting out of the relegation zone; however, their remaining matches are all against top ranked teams.

These last two weeks are going to be extremely crucial, as they will define which teams make it to the finals and which teams will be forced to play in relegation.

STANDINGS

MATCH OF THE WEEK

This week’s match of the week was Luminosity vs. Rise Nation.

John “Revan” Boble says, “In such a crazy week of matches it's tough to pick out just one. I think that Rise vs Luminosity was a huge match for LG. They're currently in the relegation zone and needed a good start to the week to solidify their spot going into Stage 1 playoffs. The Hardpoint went very well for Rise as they surged to a +111 point victory but the Search and Destroy went Luminosity's way as they finished with a 6-2 scoreline. Going into Rise's best gamemode in Uplink, it was looking grim for Luminosity. But they found a way to turn the series around with an 11-7 victory which led into a 6-2 win in game 5. Luminosity finished the week 2-0 and move out of relegation zone for the time being with a record of 7-11.”

MVP

This week’s MVP was Saints from Luminosity. Luminosity won both of their matches this week.

Revan says, “The MVP was definitely Saints from Luminosity. In an important week for Luminosity where they needed to break out of the relegation zone, Saints had a massive week against both Rise and Counter Logic Gaming. Against Rise, Saints finished the 5 game series with a 1.24 K/D ratio standing above his teammates who didn't even break over a 1. The slaying power from Saints has consistently been something that separates him from the rest of the players in the CWL.”

COMING UP

We have two more weeks of the North America Pro Division Stage 1 left, and the fight to stay in the top eight shows no signs of cooling down. As we head into Week 10, here are the matches to look out for: Luminosity vs. Team EnVyUs and eLevate vs. Team Kaliber. Both Luminosity and Team Kaliber have to win the rest of their matches to try and secure a spot in the playoffs.

For a deeper dive into the Call of Duty World League, be sure to watch the recap show today at 15:00 Pacific/18:00 Eastern right here. The World League matches will resume next week, so follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest #CoDWorldLeague news!