Toronto Ultra bring home the Kickoff Classic for Canada

Seattle Surge has been at the bottom of the standings in the CDL for the last two years but now find themselves in a grand final on Championship Sunday against the Toronto Ultra. Both teams have looked seemingly unstoppable during their run at the Kickoff Classic and it all boils down to the last match in Arlington.

The Ultra dominated in Cold War and made it to the grand finals of Champs but were unable to close it out against the Atlanta FaZe. Seattle on the other hand was barely able to win a map let alone a series and now are on cloud nine in Vanguard. A new roster is exactly what the Surge needed for a mental reset in the league.

Unlike at Majors, the Kickoff Classic is only one best-of-five series which leaves for fewer mistakes to be made by either team. The ultimate test will be if Toronto to knock Seattle off of a Control which they had been lights out with throughout the weekend.

Toronto pick up where they left off

The Ultra went on a tear throughout the lower bracket at Champs just to come out short in the finals. They were unable to make history by being the first European team to win a ring. However, with a new title and the same team, the Ultra picked up where they left off. The loss at Champs only lit a fire underneath the Ultra who are hungry for the opportunity to prove themselves in Vanguard.

😤 P U R E D O M I N A T I O N 😤

The @TorontoUltra are your Kickoff Classic CHAMPIONS presented by @Zenni_Gaming!#StrengthInTheNorth | #CDL2022 pic.twitter.com/UIZ883SEsX

— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) January 24, 2022

They were able to do just that against the Seattle Surge which was a team full of rookies without the experience of clutching up when it mattered most. After a close map, one hardpoint Seattle prevailed to take the early lead in the series. The two teams then went on to a nail-biting Search and Destroy which had Toronto come out on top. Control was a similar situation with the Ultra being the first team all tournament to win a Control series against Seattle who had failed to drop one round. With that momentum behind them, Toronto gave Seattle Surge the biggest middle finger possible by wiping the floor with them 250-71 in the final Hardpoint.

Bance is confident in his teammates

“It feels good,” said Ben “Bance” Bance in a post-match interview. “We had quite bad scrims but we have the talent, we have the teamwork we have everything to do well so I am not really surprised we made it this far and won. Our SnD was looking a bit shaky but we have some unreal SnD players like Cameron “Cammy” McKilligan, Jamie “Insight” Craven and Toby “CleanX” Jønsson constantly clutching.”

While Seattle was able to turn heads throughout the weekend in Arlington they were still no match for the Ultra who proved that roster changes don’t always work out in the end. Toronto Ultra take home the $30,000 prize and have their heads held high coming into the Vanguard season with the hopes of potentially winning it all.