FaZe & Thieves off to flying starts – CDL Opening Weekend recap, scores, highlights

The Atlanta FaZe Home Series Opening Weekend has wrapped up and a few teams are off to strong starts in Stage 1 of the 2021 Call of Duty League season. Catch up on all the action below with scores, highlights, and recaps of all four days.

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• FaZe & Thieves finished 2-0, the first teams to two wins in 2021.
• OpTic & Empire suffered their first defeats after both lost five-map thrillers.
• Quick turnaround as CDL Stage 1 Week 2 takes place Feb 18-21.

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Nothing beats competitive Call of Duty at the highest level and that’s exactly what we all got to witness in the CDL’s Opening Weekend. With all 12 teams in action, numerous big-name players made their highly anticipated team debuts, including Clayster with NY Subliners, Dashy with OpTic Chicago, and Arcitys with Atlanta FaZe.

For a full recap and highlights of the event, make sure to check the daily reports below:

CDL Opening Weekend: Scores, Highlights, Daily Recaps

Day 1 – Thursday, February 11

Thieves dominate in CDL debut, Empire still look untouchable

High hopes for the Thieves turned into frenzied concern when they lost 0-3 to OpTic Chicago in the preseason Kickoff Classic. Now, those concerns have washed away as Los Angeles shut down an impressive Minnesota lineup in their first official match of the season. After starting the series tied 1-1, the Thieves simply started frying.

With SlasheR and Temp holding down lanes, Kenny and TJHaLy around the map creating space for a 100-point-club victory. While MajorManiak continues to play well, Minnesota heads back to the lab to prepare for their Sunday matchup with the reigning champs.

Speaking of the reigning champs, Dallas continue to look like the CDL 2021 favorites just months after winning the inaugural season’s championship. The team had to drop Clayster in the swap to 4v4, but they still have 2020 MVP Shotzzy and he is still, on a new game, dropping absurd highlight plays.

The Surge retooled and put an entire new lineup around Octane, but that didn’t amount to much in face of a cohesive Dallas unit. Fortunately, they get a couple of days off before a much easier matchup against the London Royal Ravens on Sunday.

Day 2 – Friday, February 12

OpTic prove Texas FormaL right, FaZe untouchable vs LAG

Before facing the Paris Legion in their 2021 debut, OpTic’s FormaL let it be known that their foes would need an absurd performance out of highly touted rookie Fire to avoid getting smacked. Unfortunately, adding Fire and star veteran Skrapz in the offseason wasn’t enough — as a vibing, Texas-based OpTic squad dismantled the European unit almost instantly.

In nearly another 100-point-club effort (a 250-102 Hardpoint win in Map 1), Chicago sent Paris back to the drawing board, gifting Fire some much-needed experience. Afterward, Scump made it clear that this Dashy reunion is going to last.

After Chicago swept their opponents, former teammate Arcitys made his debut for FaZe and helped the team overcome preseason jitters with a dominant performance. Having dropped 2-3 during the Kickoff Classic, FaZe made their 2021 season debut count as Arcitys posted a nutty 1.31 K/D and Atlanta comfortably swept what seemed like an upsurging Guerrillas lineup.

https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1360349093835456515

Day 3 – Saturday, February 13

Thieves spoil Clayster’s NY debut, Ultra & Guerrillas get first wins

It turns out that Apathy’s preseason form was no fluke, as the veteran SMG helped the Guerrillas jump out to a big lead over the Legion before things got tight. Eventually, Paris evened the game up at 2-2, but Los Angeles, bolstered by a 1.13 K/D out of Assault and a 1.06 from SiLLY, rocked the XM4s and secured a match-winner in Map 5.

Later, in a battle of underrated rosters, the Ultra surprised everyone by comfortably outdueling the Mutineers 3-1. This is a big bump for Toronto’s expectations, as Florida impressively beat FaZe 3-2 in the preseason.

In the final match of the day, the Thieves kept up their Week 1 form by dominating a continually coalescing NYSL roster — despite Clayster’s best efforts. Without ZooMaa or HyDra available, New York are a step behind and that showed against a Los Angeles unit that looks revitalized to start the year.

https://twitter.com/LAThieves/status/1360760746045370369

Day 4 – Sunday, February 14

FaZe win first battle vs OpTic, ROKKR stun Empire in five-map thriller

Parasite’s CDL debut was highly anticipated, but one computer monitor dashed his team’s hopes. The winless Seattle and London’s match went the distance, but, bolstered by Gunless’ finally fixed monitor settings, the Surge denied the reverse sweep and secured their first win.

In the next match, the revamped ROKKR lineup shut down doubters and threw power rankings into disarray. With huge performances across their roster, an underdog Minnesota unit shocked Dallas with a 3-2 victory.

Rounding off the day and weekend was a match that everyone had been waiting for – the next chapter of the storied OpTic vs FaZe rivalry. While the respawn games were very tight, the S&D was as one-sided as can be as Atlanta won both with a combined 12-1 round count.

Atlanta’s perennial MVP candidate, aBeZy, stepped up massively in the final two games, delivering clutch plays in the Moscow HP to force a game five and then went huge in the final S&D to take the series.

CDL Opening Weekend essentials

• CDL 2021 pre-season power rankings
• 5 players to watch at CDL Opening Weekend
• OpTic Chicago season preview: Reclaiming the throne
• Atlanta FaZe season preview: Championship caliber reunion?
• Dallas Empire season preview: Don’t fix what isn’t broken
• LA Thieves season preview: Escaping OpTic’s shadow
• Can Scump & FormaL Destroy Atlanta FaZe?

CDL Opening Weekend: Format & CDL Points

• Location: Online (hosted by Atlanta FaZe)
• Prize Pool: N/A
• CDL Points: 10 per win
• Maps & Modes:
  • Hardpoint: Checkmate, Crossroads, Garrison, Moscow, Raid
  • Search & Destroy: Checkmate, Garrison, Miami, Moscow, Raid
  • Control: Checkmate, Garrison, Raid
• Matches are best-of-five (HP, S&D, Control, HP, S&D)

CDL Opening Weekend: Teams & Rosters

All 12 teams competed in the Opening Weekend, split into two groups. The groups are determined in a special draw that takes place before each Stage and are then redrawn after the Major at the end of the Stage.

Group A

Group B

That wraps up everything there is to know about Opening Weekend. Make sure to check out our CDL 2021 season hub for the latest standings and a look ahead to Stage 1 Week 2.