CDL Major IV is over, and with it, the 2022 regular season has come to an end. Following LA Thieves’ historic victory over hometown heroes New York Subliners, who qualified for Champs by the skin of their teeth, we look at the most in-form teams in our CDL power rankings.
London Royal Ravens entered the tournament as the top seed, but ended up being double first rounded to drop down the standings.
Meanwhile, OpTic Texas looked like they were getting back to Major 1 form in New York, a far cry from the 1-4 team they qualified as, and a huge turnaround as Champs approaches.
With that in mind, here are our final rankings of the CDL 2022 season.
CDL power rankings
12. Paris Legion (-)
No surprises here, as Paris Legion finish the season exactly how everyone predicted.
They took Atlanta FaZe to a Game 5, losing the final Berlin Search and Destroy, exactly the same as happened in their opening game of the season against FaZe too. There’s something poetic about it, but unfortunately, poetry doesn’t earn you CDL points.
11. Seattle Surge (-1)
Having Seattle this far down the list feels wrong — they won Major 3, the talent on the roster is endless, and they’re not actually as bad as this number would suggest.
After their Round 1 loss though, it’s hard to justify moving them up, especially as other teams around their level performed much better.
10. LA Guerrillas (-3)
The Guerrillas are great at pulling out results from nowhere, such as their victories over Atlanta FaZe at both the Major 2 grand final and in Major 4 qualifiers.
It’s not really reflective of their overall performance in the league, though, and is often a surprise that doesn’t lead to an upturn in form. They beat London in a 5-map matchup, but it was more reflective of just how terribly the EU side played over the weekend than any real strengths on the side of LAG.
9. Minnesota RØKKR (-)
There’s definitely an argument for RØKKR to have moved down after their disappointing Major 4 performance, but ultimately they still showed promise even in their poor results.
They missed out on Champs and will no doubt be disappointed, especially Attach who has been one of the best players in the game this season.
8. Boston Breach (-3)
This Boston team has been constantly up and down, and many predicted a respectable placement at Major 4.
Unfortunately for them, they ran into a red-hot OpTic Texas in round 2, and they looked out of their depth for much of it. They almost matched them in the Hardpoints, but ‘almost’ isn’t good enough when trying to add a notch to the wins column.
7. London Royal Ravens (-5)
London looked like they were hitting final form in Major 4 qualifiers and were deemed a real threat for LAN.
By the time they got to LAN, though, they weren’t anywhere close to their online form. They lost a tight match to Toronto Ultra that they arguably should have been able to close out, and followed up with another 3-2 loss to LA Guerrillas, who had not shown anywhere near London’s performance levels throughout qualifiers. They’ll have a lot to work on for Champs.
6. Florida Mutineers (-)
Florida Mutineers have been a middling team for some time now, and they proved it at Major 4, finishing 5-6th after a victory over Boston and a loss to Atlanta FaZe.
They failed to qualify for Champs as a result, but they did look better than the teams below them in these rankings, so it was hard to move them down, despite how far off the elite teams they are.
5. Toronto Ultra (+3)
Toronto Ultra also finished with a top 6 placement, but their elimination loss to OpTic was incredibly close and boiled down to a few mistakes made on the Ultra side.
They could very well have pushed for a 4th-place finish or even higher had they managed to close the series out, and while there is clear room for improvement, this team isn’t far off the top sides.
4. OpTic Texas (+7)
OpTic Texas looked legitimately like one of the worst teams in the league throughout Major 4 qualifiers. They weren’t just getting unlucky with their losses, they really looked as though they were a completely different team at times.
But it’s approaching Champs season and OpTic on LAN wasn’t going to let just anyone get the better of them. They fought through the loser’s bracket before ultimately losing 3-1 to FaZe. They weren’t perfect, and their wins over RØKKR and Ultra were more a testament to their SnD prowess than their dominance, but it’s a huge step in the right direction.
3. Atlanta FaZe (-)
Atlanta FaZe’s period of dominance came to an end throughout Major 4, with a 3-2 qualifier record and third-place finish on LAN.
That said, it’s more than likely just a bruise on their 2022 season and not a tattoo — expect them to be competing for the trophy at Champs, with anything worse deemed a failure.
2. New York Subliners (-1)
Subliners came into the tournament in top form and, with the odds stacked against them, managed to get their entire tournament run almost spot-on.
They won all their matches up until the grand final, when an LA Thieves team who had just come off a huge victory against Atlanta FaZe managed to put them to bed in eight maps. Make no mistake, though: with a few tweaks, they’ll no doubt still consider themselves the team to beat.
1. LA Thieves (+3)
LA Thieves had a good qualifying run but almost went under the radar. Between New York and London flying, and OpTic Texas struggling like never before, it was easy to miss the improvements LA Thieves had made.
Those improvements were impossible to ignore for fans and teams alike at the event, though, as they steamrolled their competition, their only loss coming to NYSL in the winner’s final.
With only Champs left on the 2022 calendar, all eight teams who qualified will be putting in double-time shifts to make sure they’re more than ready for the big one. Right now, though, LA Thieves are the team that everyone will be looking to get the better of.
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