The Atlanta 28-3 Curse Has Officially Hit Esports: Seattle Surge Wins $200,000 And Beats Atlanta FaZe In The Grand Finals of CDL Major III
Oh boy do I have a Call of Duty tournament to break down for you guys! Seattle Surge win $200,000 and beat Atlanta FaZe TWICE to win CDL Major III. The entire tournament featured a ton of crazy moments, a lot of upset and a shitload of overall madness. So let's break down how Atalnta FaZe completely choked and how Seattle Surge managed to take advantage.
So above in a mode called 'Control,' it's a mix between Hardpoint and Search + Destroy. FaZe is up 2-0 in the series at this time (in a best of 5) and they're defending against Seattle Surge. Defense in Control is notoriously easier than attacking. Surge has 5 lives remaining - meaning they have one respawn left (die and come back) and then 4 remaining lives. So they were on the brick of extinction at the time of this clip. If they lost, they'd be sent down into the loser's bracket and have to face the winner of Toronto Ultra/ Los Angeles Thieves. The winner of this series gets through to the Grand Finals.
Somehow, someway, Seattle Surge wipe FaZe (fully kill all 4 players) and jump on the point to complete an absurd comeback victory. This then forces a map 4 for this series. If you’re FaZe, you have to feel dejected after this map. You had the Grand Finals in the bag and completely threw it away. It was truly the choke of the century. BUT, then it gets even worse...
Next map, they play Hardpoint (King of the Hill) on the same map 'Tuscan.' Initially, FaZe appeared to shake off the map 3 loss and came out firing. They take an early, BIG lead on Surge and slowly it all starts to unravel. In Hardpoint, you earn points by staying in the hill. Every second you're in the hill, you earn 1 point. The first to 250 points wins!
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So let's roll the clip:
Before the clip above, FaZe were about to get scrap time when Sib hit the god nade of the century on Cellium in the hill. Watch the kill feed:
This is where he threw it from, an absolute PISS MISSILE!
Reference the picture from KeviSkills - FaZe were 26 points away from winning the map and the series. Surge was 106 points off at this point.
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Through some sort of sorcery, Seattle end up playing the most perfect hardpoint I've ever seen and deny FaZe the victory. Thus, forcing a map 5, winner-take-all Search and Destroy. Surge go on to win the Search and complete an ABSURD comeback to reach the Grand Finals.
Now, FaZe has to go through Toronto Ultra (who beat LAT) to reach Grand Finals.FaZe manages to fully regain, beat Ultra 3-1 and move into the Grand Finals to rematch Seattle Surge.
Out of their last 19 tournaments, the FaZe have made Grand Finals 15 times. Just an absurd stat! This team is easily one of the most consistent teams we've ever seen in competitive Call of Duty, but they can't seem to get the win this year.
The Grand Finals is a best of 9 series - Surge came out scorching hot and won the first three maps to go up 3-0.
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In my head, I almost go a broom out of the closet to record a selfie reaction video cause I thought the sweep was coming. However, shoutout to FaZe because they showed some mental toughness and were able to steal a few maps against Seattle Surge.
In the end, Surge beat Atlanta FaZe 5-3 to secure $200,000 and the Major III Championship.
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The story of Major III was the young Seattle Surge roster finally clicking. They're headed by the veteran 'Accuracy' and he's supported by three young studs (Pred, Sib and Mack). Pred and Sib are both rookies that are absolutely lighting it up in their debut seasons. Sib is also the guy at the top of this blog lighting it up after the Chip.
At Major II in Minnesota, I was able to ask Pred and Sib if they'll see themselves as a duo for the foreseeable future:
If this duo sticks together, the future CDL teams should be scared because these guys are next level demons on the map! We also gotta talk about MackMelts, he was playing absolutely out of his mind this entire tournament. He might be one of the best players I've ever seen on LAN.
In the gaming community, you'll hear the term 'LAN' a lot. This just means a local tournament. Everyone's on the same connection, so no player has an advantage due to connection. There's a huge difference between playing on LAN and playing Online. So teams are called "Onliners' because they only perform online and can't put it together when it matters on LAN. If you had the choice, you always want a player that performs on LAN when it matters. Think about it like Clayton Kershaw pre-World Series. It's great they're able to perform in the regular season (online), but they HAVE to perform when it matters most in the playoffs (LAN).
Lastly, Accuracy, aka the ICEMAN, who always clutches in SnD. He provides a great veteran presence for this young roster.
Overall huge shoutout to Seattle Surge on the Major III dub! The roster finally clicked and this team is dangerous going into Major IV and Champs.
Major III
The entire event and crowd seemed absolutely electric. Huge shoutout ton the entire Toronto Ultra staff for their hard work to pull off an unbelievable tournament! The crowd was fueling Ultra more than anything I've ever seen.
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Questions from Twitter
Scump, the King of Competitive Call of Duty, he's OpTic Texas' golden boy and has been competing for over a decade. He has stated previously that there's a 50% this is his last year to compete. It all depends if he likes MW2 when it drops. MW2 is the first time ever that a Call of Duty will have a 2 year life cycle. We will not be getting a new Call of Duty in 2023. So if Scump likes the games, he'll keep running it. I also imagine that this year's results have something to do with it. If they win Champs, I could see him riding off in the sunset, but I could also see him wanting to keep pushing.
He's a competitor through and through. He knows once he retires he won't get the ups and downs of competitive Call of Duty. So we'll see what happens.
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This is an interesting one - FaZe have placed 2nd in all 3 Major events this year. According to CDL points, they're the #1 team in the league. However, with no dubs under their belts, it's hard to confidently say they're #1. For FaZe it comes down to individual performances. Some matches aBeZy struggles to get it going, other times it's Arcitys. Simp and Cell are as reliable as it gets. For FaZe it comes down to focus. We saw them completely throw away Map 3 and 4 against Surge in their Winner's Final. If they maintain focus, that's an EASY sweep for them.
They have one of the best coaches in the game in Crowder, so it's tough to pinpoint one thing. If I had to choose one, it seems like they struggle to maintain that focus for the full match time when it comes down to the wire and their backs are against the wall. We saw it in Major 1 when OpTic reverse swept them and we saw it again today. The boys gotta get the ice and clutch up.
If you ever heard the team comms before, then this question makes perfect sense. When we hear the team comms, it sounds like pure chaos! These guys are able to communicate so concisely and so quickly that it's tough to decipher when you aren't used to it. But most words are specific callouts like "Grandma's," "Tank," or "Top Church." Us gamers have our own language that one or two words can mean a paragraph!
If you ever hear the word "Absolute," that means someone is one-bullet or extremely close to death. Then your teammate should challenge him and get your trade. Lastly, if you hear "GET SHIT ON"…well…get ready to watch the clip later.
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#FadeMRags is alive and well! We're getting WSD picks out here too.
If LAT didn't place Top 4 this Major, I absolutely would be calling for a roster change. BUT, LAT hired a new coach Shane a few days before the Major and the players SWEAR by him. They've looked like a completely different roster since he's joined, so I do think they can make some noise towards the end of the year when it all clicks! The MRags decision: hold the line and trust this roster.
At the end of the day, it typically comes down to Kenny's performance: