Florida’s Call of Duty League Home Series has been and gone, with Atlanta FaZe beating OpTic Gaming Los Angeles in a hard-fought grand final of the online tournament..
Atlanta are holding a close fight with Dallas Empire atop the power rankings, with the two switching between the first and second spot in recent weeks, but could that change following Seattle’s Home Series event?
Let’s take a look at our updated power rankings after CDL Florida.
12. Los Angeles Guerrillas (-1)
The Guerrillas didn’t play at CDL Florida, but the teams that surrounded them in our previous power rankings all seemed to have found their form on the same weekend, which really works out horribly for this Los Angeles side.
Guerrillas have been disappointing throughout the season and, despite undergoing a number of roster changes, have failed to find their footing. Now, though, other teams have, and the Guerrillas will have to put their foot on the gas soon if they want to stand any chance of catching up with the competition.
11. Seattle Surge (-1)
Like the Guerrillas, Seattle Surge didn’t play the Florida Home Series, and as such have had to watch all the teams around them in the standings put on the performance of their lifetimes.
It can’t have been easy viewing for Seattle, who have started to show signs of improvement but no actual results, and they’ll need to get several wins under their belt if they want to start moving upwards in our power rankings.
10. Paris Legion (-4)
While Paris started the season all guns blazing, they’ve slowly petered out as events have gone on, with their only win in almost three months being a close 3-2 over Seattle Surge.
Though they haven’t looked bad by any means, with their only losses this weekend coming at the hands of grand finalists OpTic Gaming and Atlanta FaZe, but the improvements made by other teams mean Paris are letting their occupation in the upper half of our power rankings slip.
9. OpTic Gaming Los Angeles (+3)
OpTic Gaming have been incredibly up and down in recent tournaments. Despite overwhelmingly poor results throughout the season, a 4th place finish at CDL Los Angeles and a grand final appearance at CDL Florida show that there’s a spark to this team that’s just waiting to be ignited.
Many fans and players alike seem to believe that OpTic coming 2nd this past weekend was the start of something much bigger, and with the season quickly approaching its finale, they seem to be coming alive at the perfect time.
8. London Royal Ravens (-)
It’s hard to quantify where exactly London are at right now. An event marred in controversy will cast more questions over London’s current standing, given how they lost their first map against Atlanta FaZe, but it has now been two events in a row where the team has run it close against Atlanta – commonly regarded as the best team in the game.
Needless to say, “running it close” just doesn’t cut it, it’s the results that matter, and London will need to start notching up more wins if they want to be considered a serious championship contender. With Zer0 now on the team, they might start stringing some decent results together.
7. Toronto Ultra (+3)
It might be a bit premature to move Toronto this high in the power rankings, but it looks like they’re finally discovering themselves as the season continues. At the past two events they’ve attended, they beat Florida Mutineers, New York Subliners and Minnesota RØKKR, with their only two losses coming to Florida and Dallas Empire.
With a 10-man roster, Toronto have been trying to find the best starting lineup to move forward, and if their performance this past weekend is anything to go by, they might have found it. Now they have to keep the results coming in.
6. New York Subliners (+1)
It feels at this point like there’s already been two eras of New York Subliners: with Mack and without Mack. Without him, they were arguably the worst team in the league, unable to string any kind of results together. That’s not to say Zer0 was the problem, but they clearly gel better with Mack on the battlefield.
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Now, the ‘with Mack’ era is underway, and the team looks completely different. Though they’ve gone 3-4 since his arrival, one of their wins came against Chicago Huntsmen, while their only losses have been against Atlanta, Chicago and Toronto, but not necessarily being completely dominated in any of them.
5. Minnesota RØKKR (-)
Minnesota had a poor showing at Florida’s home series, beating only the ‘home’ team themselves while dropping the ball against Toronto Ultra and New York Subliners.
The team has been contending for championships throughout the season, and they’ll be hoping this is just a minor blip in the long run. At their best, Minnesota could easily be one of the best teams in the league but, as proven at CDL Florida, they’re not perfect, and risk falling down our rankings with more of the same.
4. Florida Mutineers (-)
At their own Home Series event, Florida Mutineers became the first team in the Call of Duty League to bow out of a tournament without winning a single map. This is a team that has a tournament win and a second place in their recent history.
It’s hard to know why exactly they failed so drastically this weekend, but another performance like that and we’ll quickly see them losing ground on the competition, and they really can’t afford to fall behind now.
3. Chicago Huntsmen (-)
Chicago Huntsmen have been somewhat of a strange one this season so far. At first, they looked near untouchable, but it has quickly become clear that their initial success may not have been a sign of things to come, as teams better learn the game and starting notching up wins over Chicago.
Assault rifle player Arcitys recently said that Chicago simply don’t know how to play the game properly, and with the competition heating up, they’re going to want to rectify this quickly if they want to maintain their top-tier status. Could recently-signed Prestinni be the key to bringing Huntsmen back to the forefront?
2. Atlanta FaZe (-)
Despite taking the win at CDL Florida, Atlanta were not joined by the other teams considered the ‘top 3’ – Chicago Huntsmen and Dallas Empire – in the tournament, so it’s hard to fully assess how they compare, and thus not really possible to shift them up to number 1.
There’s no doubt Atlanta is still one of the best teams in the game, very possibly the best, but until they get the chance to prove it, they’re stuck in second place.
1. Dallas Empire (-)
Dallas were absent this weekend, with a well-earned break after beating Atlanta FaZe in the grand final of CDL Chicago.
In missing out, they were able to hold onto their top spot, with no team able to prove that they’re better than Dallas, which will be especially frustrating for Atlanta who are likely looking to take revenge on the Empire and leave no question in anybody’s mind that they are the best Call of Duty team in the world.
These power rankings were incredibly hard to choose, especially around the mid-table section where we saw a lot of movement. You could argue that Toronto shouldn’t have moved up as much, or that Paris’ performances don’t justify a 10th-place spot, and you wouldn’t be completely wrong.
That said, it only serves to show how intense the competition is in the CDL at all levels. When a team previously ranked 12th finally reaches original expectations and makes a grand final, it speaks volumes of the level of talent in the league.
Now, we wait for CDL Seattle from May 22-24. London Royal Ravens, LA Guerrillas, Seattle Surge and New York Subliners are in Group A, while Group B is comprised of Chicago Huntsmen, Paris Legion, Minnesota RØKKR and OpTic Gaming Los Angeles.