Day 1 of the 2018 Call of Duty World Championship has come to an end, and at least for a handful of teams, aspirations of garnering the lion's share of the $1,500,000 prize pool have come and gone. Still, the most impactful moment of Wednesday's slate of action occurred in the very first match of the tournament, setting a chaotic tone that would carry on throughout the day.
Revenge sparks upset to open tournament
Lightning Pandas was considered one of the premier amateur teams in the world, winning the Canadian National Circuit four stages in a row throughout the duration of the Call of Duty: World War II season. But a near fatal stumble in the North American Last Chance Qualifier -- which saw Pandas lose to EZG eSports 3-1 in the upper bracket and then come back in the subsequent series to reverse sweep GAS Gaming in the lower bracket -- seemed to quell any notion of an extended run at CoD Champs.
Slotted in Pool A alongside Stage 2 World League champion, Team Kaliber, it seemed all the more unlikely Lightning Pandas could string together a positive wave of momentum. Just two hours into the tournament, however, the conversation changed completely, as Lightning Pandas pulled off arguably the biggest upset of Day 1, handing the Stage 2 champions a 3-1 loss.
The fact that two members of Lightning Pandas -- Jevon "Goonjar" Gooljar-Lim and Dylan "Theory" McGee -- each spent three years with Team Kaliber at different points in their careers has to make the win even sweeter. Particularly for Theory, who was unceremoniously dumped from the team back in April, Wednesday's win wasn't just a jolt up the standings, it was a tiny mark of revenge.
Lightning Pandas would go on to finish the day 2-0, already guaranteeing themselves a spot in the championship bracket, which begins later this week. Team Kaliber, on the other hand, was one map loss away from a last-place finish in Pool A, which would have rendered their final pool play game a mundane, and moot point. Team Kaliber's Round 5 Search and Destroy win over Heretics KFC assured it would survive another day, and with a schedule bout against winless Team Epsilon still left on tap, there's a strong possibility a championship bracket spot is in the cards. But for a lineup considered to be one of the strongest entering this event, Day 1 was a disappointment.
Group D stands for 'disoriented'
There was supposed to be one clear cut favorite in Group D, with the rest of the teams fighting for a shot at second place in the group. After Wednesday, that point remained true, except it was the unheralded Team Sween atop the standings, while Splyce and eUnited were forced to fight for second place.
The only team to enter the Call of Duty World Championships without an organization, Team Sween is not your ordinary amateur lineup. While the roster did make it to the major tournament by virtue of the Last Chance Qualifier, all of its members, save for Connor "Weeman" Chilton, have performed in the Pro League at some point or another during their careers. Still, it was a bit surprising to see the upstarts from Europe hold strong with eUnited during the final series of the evening.
eUnited have been susceptible to five-game series this season, particularly recently, so it probably shouldn't be such a shock to see the team struggle to the same fate on Day 1 of CoD Champs. Such is the life of eUnited, as the latest dip down the rollercoaster sees James "Clayster" Eubanks and company dangling on the precipice of a lower bracket run. A loss to Splyce on Thursday will mean just that, but it's worth pointing out that Splyce share similar struggles to eUnited, if not more egregious. There was a time when Splyce was considered one of the best teams in the world, but a 5-9 mark during Stage 2 of the Call of Duty World League was essentially the final black mark on what has been an otherwise dismal World War II competitive season. As a result, it would be a surprise to see eUnited lose their upcoming contest, but then again, they weren't expected to drop a series Wednesday, either.
--Joe Bartel