Call of Duty Power Rankings after CDL Atlanta

The Call of Duty League is well underway and the second home series of the season has been and gone, with Atlanta FaZe beating Florida Mutineers at their home event to claim the tournament victory.

With three events now out of the way, every team has played at CDL Launch Weekend and at least one home series tournament, meaning we’re beginning to get a better idea of the capabilities of each squad.

With these events now in the books, we take a look at the Call of Duty League power rankings after CDL Atlanta.

12. OpTic Gaming Los Angeles (-)

OpTic Gaming are struggling more now than at any time in the organization’s history, following another disappointing performance at CDL Atlanta.

• Read More: OpTic’s Dashy makes role change after team’s terrible start to CDL

They won only one map in Atlanta, the opening hardpoint against eventual runners-up Florida Mutineers. Although it looked like they may finally be finding the form we expect of them, we were quickly proved wrong as they were dismantled for the rest of the event and sent back to LA to think about how they can move forward.

11. Toronto Ultra (-)

Toronto’s 10-man roster was expected to be a huge benefit at the start of the season, with a depth no other franchise can possibly match. Instead, despite some glints of good competitive play, they simply aren’t getting the results.

A close 3-2 loss to Chicago Huntsmen and a 3-1 loss to Paris Legion shows that they’re capable of coming good – but until they start getting some more wins under their belt, they’re going to struggle moving up the rankings.

10. Los Angeles Guerrillas (-)

The Guerrillas missed out on CDL Atlanta, but still stay ahead of their Los Angeles rivals after they failed to get a result at FaZe’s Home Series.

The Aches-led team has struggled to find form in the opening weeks of the league, with just one match win out of a possible four, but will be expecting to pick up some more solid results over the next few weeks – especially at their own Home Series event.

9. Seattle Surge (-)

Seattle Surge weren’t in attendance in Atlanta, giving them some more time to practice with Casey ‘Pandur’ Romano who is rumored to have replaced Ian ‘Enable’ Wyatt on the starting roster.

• Read More: Should CDL home events count as championship wins?

However, their performances had been lackluster at CDL Launch Weekend and London, which is what prompted the change in the first place. A team of proven winners, Seattle will be desperate to demonstrate that they’re much better than the other teams on the lower end of the table and return to championship form.

8. New York Subliners (-1)

Another team not in attendance in Atlanta, the Subliners have been given some extra time to figure out their shortcomings and find out why they’re unable to consistently win matches.

After a decent showing in London, New York may have been disappointed to not be able to build momentum in Atlanta, and as such have had to move down the power rankings slightly. We’ll establish over the next couple of events whether they’re really good enough to push into the upper half of CDL teams.

7. London Royal Ravens (-1)

After a top 4 placement at their Home Series and only facing a tight 3-2 loss to Dallas Empire, London could have shown they’re a team capable of fighting for championships, but a disappointing 5-6th place in Atlanta sees London fail to move upwards.

A 3-1 win over Florida starting out looking promising, but their subsequent losses to Atlanta and Florida meant London didn’t even make it to the championship bracket, setting them back a few steps in the process.

6. Paris Legion (-2)

Paris are still one of the standout performers of this season so far – with expectations so low preseason, they have turned the head of every CoD esports fan with consistency in getting wins and putting up a challenge against some of the top teams in the league.

• Read More: Stats show how Cellium outshone aBeZy for CDL Atlanta MVP

Placing 5-6th in Atlanta, Paris lost to Minnesota twice to be knocked out, with an aggregate scoreline of 3-6 against the side across their two series. Their only win of the weekend came against Toronto Ultra which, based on results over the last few weeks, isn’t a lot to brag about.

5. Minnesota RØKKR (-)

Having not attended the London Home Series, it wasn’t clear how Minnesota had developed since Launch Weekend in Minneapolis – but they still appear to be a top team, and were incredibly close to making the grand final of CDL Atlanta if not for slipping up and being reverse swept by the home side.

We were very close to having a Florida Mutineers vs. Minnesota Røkkr grand final which, at the very least, would have made for some serious conversations being had around power rankings. That said, Røkkr were reverse swept and finished top 4 – behind only the other teams ahead of them in our rankings.

4. Florida Mutineers (+4)

Florida has been considered a dark horse team since the inception of the League – and they proved why with an incredible outing at CDL Atlanta, which saw them lose only to the home team themselves.

On their grand final run, they even took down Chicago Huntsmen in a reverse sweep, with Preston ‘Prestinni’ Sanderson handing his brother Alec ‘Arcitys’ Sanderson his first LAN loss since a Pro League match in July 2019. They kept it close with Atlanta in the grand final but were unable to overcome the home team so, while they have seen a huge upward shift in these rankings, they really could have cemented their status as a top team with a win in Atlanta.

3. Dallas Empire (-)

Dallas still has a team that look like they should be improving, with the likes of Indervir ‘iLLeY’ Dhaliwal and Anthony ‘Shottzy’ Cuevas-Castro expected to come into their own and figure things out as the season progresses.

• Read More: Scump explains Dallas Empire feud as he sends shots at Crimsix’s team

They made it to the grand final of CDL London but did not attend CDL Atlanta so, if they don’t get another good result at the next event, we may see them slipping down the pecking order. That said, the team still looks to be top-tier, but just aren’t quite reaching the heights Chicago and Atlanta are.

2. Chicago Huntsmen (-1)

After winning CDL London, every single CoD esports fan was anticipating and excited for Chicago to face off against Atlanta at the latter’s Home Series, with the two expected to meet in the grand final of the tournament.

To many, this would solidify who was number one right now – but Chicago didn’t even make it far enough to fight for their number one spot. They ended up losing to the Florida Mutineers in the semi-final in a 3-2 scoreline, barely missing out on the opportunity to claim a second consecutive championship.

For now, they miss out on the top spot – and the next event the two are both scheduled to compete in is Chicago’s Home Series April 4-5. Maybe, by then, both teams will be set to prove why they’re the best in the world.

1. Atlanta FaZe (+1)

After the win at their home series event, there can be no doubt that Atlanta is the best team in the game. With an MVP performance from Jovel ‘Cellium’ McArthur – who managed to complete the seemingly-impossible task of outshining the likes of Tyler ‘Abezy’ Pharris, Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr and Preston ‘Priestahh’ Griener – Atlanta got the home crowd roaring with the win everyone saw coming.

Proving that they’re better than Chicago, who got knocked out in the semi-final of the tournament, Atlanta will now be looking to show that their number one spot is not up for grabs.

With two Home Series events now out of the way, teams look forward to the Los Angeles event over the weekend of March 7-8. It will be the first tournament thus far without Chicago Huntsmen, who will be watching on hoping to find holes in Atlanta’s play that they can take advantage of and move up the power rankings.

Meanwhile, Dallas will be looking to prove that they’re still a top team, while Florida will be hoping to prove that they weren’t simply a one-hit-wonder and really can compete with the best.