The final day of Division B’s first split in the CWL Pro League will dictate the standings as well as seeding for the upcoming major open, CWL Fort Worth. Check out our write-up of the previous day.
Day 4: Thursday, Feb. 28
Denial Esports vs. Excelerate Gaming
Series scoreline: 3 – 1 Denial Esports
It’s a French revolution as Denial Esports has started to improve its game. Denial had an explosive start to the Hardpoint Gridlock, breaking and holding hills with ease. Excelerate clawed back in the mid-game, but Denial managed to close out the map 250 – 213. Search and Destroy Payload is proving to be one of Denial’s better maps, taking a comfortable 6 – 3. The French squad looked at home, controlling the map as a wolf pack. Excelerate came to life in the Control Frequency, dominating Denial and taking a swift 3 – 0. Denial shut down any hopes for a reverse sweep in the Hardpoint Frequency, 100-point clubbing Excelerate 250 – 53.
Put up another win for @DenialEsports, they close out @ExcelerateGG 3-1!
Denial end the first division split at 2-5; Excelerate at 1-6. pic.twitter.com/5LeclvmGjj
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) February 28, 2019
Excelerate is at a breaking point. The roster change has destroyed the team synergy, and they need to completely break down their game strategy. Their pacing is off, players are inconsistent, and there is not enough firepower to contend with other teams. Denial, on the other hand, is very much still reliant on performances from its star players. Although they performed well the past few series, it’s likely that top teams can single out their support players. Denial Esports has the team coordination, but we are yet to see whether its support cast is consistent enough.
MVP of the series: Lucas “rizK” Derambure
Team Envy vs. Team Heretics
Series scoreline: 3 – 1 Team Envy
It looks as if Team Envy expected the Spanish Inquisition as it countered and handed Team Heretics its second series loss. Heretics came out strong in the Hardpoint Frequency, dominating the map 250 – 143. Team Envy’s holds were simply too weak for the Spanish squad. The Search and Destroy was a completely different story, 6 – 1 for Team Envy. Team Envy read Heretics’ plays, potentially with help from counter-strategizing with their coach. The boys in blue carried their momentum over to the Control Gridlock, taking a comfortable 3 – 1. Wonderful execution and heads-up plays from SMG star Cuyler “Huke” Garland shut down Heretics. The final Hardpoint Gridlock was a back-and-forth, with Team Envy having slightly better trade balance. Off of a monster performance from Huke, Team Envy won the map 250 – 236.
Behind a stellar performance from @Huke, @Envy take the S&D 6-1 over @TeamHeretics. https://t.co/NKHQSgV6Gh #CWLPS4
📽: Huke with a 1v2 clutch pic.twitter.com/04UuxGWpp0
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) February 28, 2019
Team Envy looks improved compared to their first-week showing. Role changes have clearly helped the team with consistent MVP performances from both Huke and AR Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer. The main points of focus should be an improvement on the side of their “support” players. It is an interesting statement as most of the Team Envy roster has the capability of putting up gigantic numbers. Team Heretics played well but has a similar issue of lack of well-rounded firepower. Additionally, it appears that teams have adjusted and sufficiently countered Heretics’ meta plays. Team Heretics need to look into expanding their strategies to continue highlighting their talent.
MVP of the series: Cuyler “Huke” Garland
100 Thieves vs. Enigma6
Series scoreline: 3 – 0 100 Thieves
100 Thieves continued their victory stride on the final day. The Thieves came out hot, always ahead of E6 on the Hardpoint Hacienda. The map ended with a respectable 250 – 174 scoreline to 100 Thieves. They continued onto Search and Destroy Hacienda with patient and disciplined plays to win 6 – 3. It looks now that the team has cleaned up their mistakes, taking advantage of their man advantages better. The final map, Control Gridlock, was a 3 – 0 blowout in favor of the Thieves. Enigma6 couldn’t adapt to their dynamic pacing and annoying flank plays. With this win, 100 Thieves secure themselves at the top of the Division B rankings.
A FAST series for @100Thieves, they blow away @Enigma6Group in the 3-0 sweep! 😳 pic.twitter.com/9Eia1RFAqO
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) February 28, 2019
One of the biggest stories in the Black Ops 4 season has been the redemption arc of 100 Thieves. Their transition from a chaotic mess into a regimented squad truly has been a spectacle. Every player has individually improved and plays a consistently strong game with a little splash of explosive plays from star SMG Preston “Priestahh” Greiner. Enigma6 didn’t look bad in any respect though. Coming off of a tough past few matches, some players have stepped up. Unfortunately, they had to run into a 100 Thieves squad on a streak. 100 Thieves looks composed and ready for the upcoming major open, CWL Fort Worth. The squad has developed to a point where they can be argued as a top-tier team.
MVP of the series: Preston “Priestahh” Greiner
eUnited vs. Splyce
Series scoreline: 3 – 1 eUnited
The final match of the split was a rematch of the losers finals from CWL Vegas. EUnited came out with the fire on Hardpoint Frequency, constantly shutting down Splyce. Strong hill holds and dominant breaks won eUnited the map, 250 – 141. Splyce showed that it was no slouch in the Search and Destroy Payload, however. The map came down to the wire with both sides making clutch plays. The boys at eUnited closed it out in the end 6 – 5. Carrying its momentum in the Control Frequency, eUnited went up early. Splyce brought it back, winning three rounds straight to end the map 3 – 2. A back-and-forth Hardpoint Seaside between the two teams came down to the final moments of the map. History repeated itself as eUnited managed to clutch up off the back of scorestreaks from main AR Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson.
A highlight-filled S&D, it’s @eUnitedgg that win it in the round 11! https://t.co/NKHQSgV6Gh #CWLPS4
📽 @ScufGaming Play of the Game: @Prestinni with the 1v3! pic.twitter.com/NbiKNN6YvV
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) March 1, 2019
EUnited continues its mantra of always clutching up. The roster is so well balanced, and improvement from their role players is why they edged out the Splyce matchup. Multiple players have proven throughout the two weeks that they can clutch the direst situations. Despite recent performance drop from Arcitys, star SMG Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris has become one of the standout players in the entire division. Splyce still looks in a downswing with multiple players underperforming. The lack of support forces star SMG Donovan “Temp” Laroda and flex Daniel “Loony” Loza to over-perform. This and the inconsistent play from AR slayer Ulysses “AquA” Silva put pressure on the other two. The team cannot rely on gigantic numbers from them and need to balance out the performances across the squad.
MVP of the series: Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris
That concludes the first split for both Division A and B. Here are the final standings for the division.
Fans shouldn’t be disappointed as Call of Duty action continues this upcoming weekend with the major open, CWL Fort Worth. Today’s matches decided the seeding for pool play for the major. They were officially announced on the CWL Pro League broadcast.
Past that, the CWL Pro League will see the first leg of cross-divisional play. As always, keep updated here on Daily Esports for a rundown on everything that happens.
