CWL Vegas: Five things we learned from the first major tournament of the season
With the first major tournament of the 2019 Call of Duty World League season now in the books, it’s time to take a look at back at some of the major storylines coming out of the $250,000 CWL Vegas event.
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As many would have predicted, tournament favorites OpTic Gaming sliced their way through the entire field of competition, eventually dismantling rivals eUnited 3-0 in the Grand Final.
While the Green Wall may have captured most of the spotlight at CWL Vegas, and deservingly so, they’re not the only ones to have made a major statement.
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Numerous other teams will be proud of their strong performances at the first event of the season, while some will look back at the tournament as a major learning experience.
That being said, here are the five most revealing things we learned from CWL Vegas:
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#1 – OpTic Gaming are better than everyone else, and it’s not even close
It’s not just the fact that OpTic Gaming won CWL Vegas that makes them the clear-cut best team in CoD esports, it’s how they went about doing it.
Undefeated in their eight matches, (four in pool play and four in the Championship Bracket) the Green Wall won 24 total maps while only dropping four, an incredible 86% conversion rate.
Add that to the fact that no one has been able to beat OpTic in any of the four major online tournaments prior, we could see another dynasty team in the making.
#2 – Dashy may end up being OpTic’s best player this season
It’s no secret that one of the main reasons why OpTic Gaming picked up Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell this offseason was to improve their play in Search and Destroy, a mode they were noticeably mediocre at all throughout the previous WWII season.
Dashy has given them that, and so much more, as the former compLexity man made highlight play after highlight play during the weekend, on his way to posting an incredible 1.36 K/D in Hardpoint, 2.17 in Search and Destroy, and 1.35 in Control.
While he may be thrilled at winning his first event and tournament MVP, there will likely be a lot more for him to smile about in the coming months.
#3 – eUnited are really, really good
Many expected eUnited to be a force coming into CWL Vegas, but they’ve proved that they’re a whole lot better. They went undefeated in Pool Play and their only two losses this weekend came to OpTic Gaming, which they can’t really be blamed for.
Despite getting swept in the Grand Final, the individual matches were closer than the overall scoreline would suggest, as they pushed OpTic to the brink in both the Hardpoint and Control.
The addition of JKap and ABeZy has injected new veteran leadership and youth talent into an already stacked squad, and it wouldn’t be too much of stretch to predict a tournament win for eUnited this season.
#4 – FaZe Clan and 100 Thieves need to hit the drawing board
As two of North America’s powerhouses, 100 Thieves and FaZe Clan came into CWL Vegas expecting success, but both under-performed big time.
Lackluster Pool Play from both teams led them to finish third in their respective Pools, despite being clear favorites to finish first, which meant they’d have to start off in the Loser’s Bracket, where they didn’t last much long either.
With FaZe finishing 13th-16th and 100 Thieves 9th-12th, it may be time for them to hit the drawing board before the Play-In tournament for the CWL Pro League, where the stakes will be high and there will be no margin for error.
#5 – Call of Duty esports is back!
No one will disagree that CWL Vegas was a very successful event, and it’s set the stage for what should be a strong year for Call of Duty esports.
Despite just being one major event into the season, it’s clear that the excitement of CoD esports is back, with consistently over 100,000 viewers watching on various platforms and thousands more in attendance.
Many are predicting that this could be the best ever year for CoD esports, and they may not be wrong. Heck, even former CWL Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop, who was very critical of competitive WWII last season, made a surprise guest appearance, taking his rightful place on the main-stage and hyping up the crowd just like the days of old.
