The Florida Mutineers beat the Atlanta FaZe to win this past weekend's Call of Duty home series. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
While the Mutineers' home series win 10 days ago might have raised a few eyebrows, their strong repeat performance this past weekend has left no doubt the Mutineers are serious contenders to take home $2 million at the end of the season. They made a statement in the way they dominated the Atlanta FaZe -- a team many have considered the best in the league -- beating them 3-0 in the finals on Sunday.
It's worth repeating: The Florida Mutineers beat the Atlanta FaZe 3-0 in the finals.
Read more: Every map from the Paris home series in a sentence | Florida Mutineers win the weekend
The New York Subliners have yet to reach a home series final, but they've played very well for three straight home series now, reaching yet another semifinal. Meanwhile, both the London Royal Ravens and OpTic Gaming Los Angeles stumbled, failing to repeat their strong performances from previous weekends. In this week's Power Rankings, we examined the things each team should repeat in the final three weeks of the season to find success down the stretch.
Below is how our staff voted to rank the 12 teams after this past weekend's home series. Each participating staff member ranked the CDL teams from No. 1 to No. 12, and the results were aggregated to determine the list below. All player stats are courtesy of Atlanta FaZe stat analyst Austin O'Neil.
Previous rankings: Jan. 28 | Feb. 12 | Feb. 26 | March 11 | April 14 | April 29 | May 13 | May 27 | June 17
1. Florida Mutineers
Season record: 17-8 | Week 10 record: 4-0 | Change from last ranking:
2
What shouldn't the Mutineers look to replicate after two weeks of stellar performances?
After posting a K/D of 1.34 in the Minnesota home series, Cesar "Skyz" Bueno one-upped himself with a season-high 1.42 in the Paris event. That mark was by far the best at the event and the third highest of the season, behind launch weekend performances from London's Bradley "wuskin" Marshall (1.60) and Atlanta's Chris "Simp" Lehr (1.58). Anyone not pegging Skyz as the odds-on MVP of Season 1 is just trolling at this point. There's no competition with the exception of Sam "Octane" Larew, but unlike Octane, Skyz has some great team results to back up his claim to that title.
Joseph "Owakening" Conley's move into the starting lineup has been a boon for Florida, as well. The flex player, who replaced Chance "Maux" Moncivaez as a starter, had the third-highest K/D (1.24) among Paris participants and led his team on Search & Destroy with nearly one kill per round. His 0.98 KPR was second only to OpTic Gaming Los Angeles SMG player Thomas "TJHaLy" Haly, who had a 1.13 KPR with a much lower sample size of 18 rounds.
With a true S&D threat and continued synergy on Domination and Hardpoint, it's tough to point out any weaknesses for the Mutineers. They have about a month to bask in the glory of back-to-back titles before coming back to league play during the London home series July 17-19.
-- Sean Morrison
2. Atlanta FaZe
Season record: 21-4 | Week 10 record: 3-1 | Change from last ranking:
1
Ah, FaZe. Let's repeat something about Atlanta: They love to underestimate weaker opponents but always perform against "tougher" teams. During the last event, it was a loss to the Seattle Surge, a near loss to the Los Angeles Guerillas and 3-2 hard-fought wins against a shockingly tough Toronto Ultra and a surprisingly scrappy New York Subliners.
So, yeah, that's a thing that keeps happening.
Here's another repeat for you: two events in a row, two finals appearances, two losses to the Florida Mutineers. And Sunday's 3-0 loss wasn't very close, either. Sure, Map 2 on Picadilly went to Round 11 (which nearly went Atlanta's way with some heroics from Preston "Priestahh" Greiner at the last second), but the Mutineers put the FaZe to shame with a record-breaking 235-70 Domination win on Hackney Yard on the very next map.
Look, the FaZe had a tough run overall: The first three matches were all five-game marathons. A five-game series against the Dallas Empire we can understand, but the Ultra and Subliners? We expect better, but this song is on repeat for now.
-- Darin Kwilinski
3. Dallas Empire
Season record: 17-10 | Week 10 record: 2-2 | Change from last ranking:1
The Dallas Empire need to repeat what they did during the Chicago home series when they went 4-0 en route to a home series title. They beat Chicago 3-0 in the semifinals and Atlanta 3-1 in the finals of that tournament. The Empire peaked that weekend, becoming the first team to win two home series this season. Although they're still a solid team, they haven't been able to replicate that performance. They're only 4-4 since then, with the four losses coming to the teams just ahead of them in our Power Rankings -- two apiece to the Mutineers and FaZe.
Dallas' goal as they play in their final two home series should be to get into as favorable a spot as possible for playoff seeding. That means cracking into the top two in the standings. It's really about making small adjustments for the Empire, like how they finally beat London this past weekend on a Gun Runner S&D map. What they need to focus on going forward, like the rest of the league, is finding a way to beat the Mutineers. Only Florida, not Atlanta, will be competing the weekend of July 17 when Dallas play next, so if the Empire put together a solid game plan against the Mutineers, they might be able to win another home series.
-- Brian Bencomo
Check out the rest of the Call of Duty League schedule.
4. Chicago Huntsmen
Season record: 17-6 | Week 10: DNP | Change from last ranking:
With questions swirling around whether the Huntsmen are a top-three team in the league right now, Chicago will hope to repeat what it did the last time the team got a break before a home series: win a title.
Missing bracket play and losing to the Los Angeles Guerrillas in the Minnesota home series was an embarrassing step back for this team, but nearly a month of time to work through the missteps in that tournament should help the Huntsmen get back on track in the New York home series July 10-12.
-- Morrison
5. New York Subliners
Season record: 8-14 | Week 10 record: 2-2 | Change from last ranking:2
The Subliners repeated their pattern of handily defeating lower-tier teams while being unable to quite get over the hump when it comes to contenders such as the Mutineers and FaZe. They were so close (!!) to facing the FaZe in the finals, running out to a 2-0 lead against the Mutineers in the semis. Florida managed to engineer a reverse sweep, however, despite the best efforts of Dillon "Attach" Price and Makenzie "Mack" Kelley. The Subliners have a chance to finally make it over the hump in their next home series July 10-12, which they'll be hosting.
-- Joe DeMartino
6. London Royal Ravens
Season record: 9-11 | Week 10 record: 1-2 | Change from last ranking:1
On its face, the Paris home series result is worse than a Seattle tourney that saw London make it to the final and narrowly lose to the Chicago Huntsmen, but it's mainly because the Royal Ravens ran into Dallas. The Empire beat the Royal Ravens twice this past weekend. The second time around was 3-0 and included two embarrassing losses in Hardpoint (250-131) and Domination (171-131). However, there were some mitigating circumstances for the Royal Ravens.
Bradley "wuskin" Marshall led the team with a 1.26 K/D, with his brother Matthew "Skrapz" Marshall finishing No. 2 on the team at 0.96. Amid those performances, though, the duo were going through a "nightmare," wuskin said, with the death of a family member occurring during the week leading up to the event.
The Royal Ravens' next matchup will take place July 10 on Day 1 of the New York home series. They'll face the Chicago Huntsmen for a shot at revenge for their finals loss during the Seattle home series.
-- Morrison
7. Minnesota RØKKR
Season record: 12-12 | Week 10 record: DNP | Change from last ranking:1
The RØKKR will open up the New York home series against the New York Subliners, a rematch from May at the Florida home series. We've got this one on our radar, because even though it was a 3-0 victory for the Subliners, it wasn't easy (250-249 Hardpoint, 6-5 S&D and 157-150 Domination wins).
-- Kwilinski
To see rosters for all of the Call of Duty League teams, click here.
8. OpTic Gaming L.A.
Season record: 7-13 | Week 10 record: 0-2 | Change from last ranking:
OpTic Gaming L.A. need to not repeat how they performed this past weekend. After two straight strong tournaments in which they reached the semifinals in the Seattle home series and the finals of the Florida home series, OpTic took a huge step back during the Paris home series. They went 0-2 this past weekend and won only one map. Their series against Toronto was particularly bad. Their 250-49 loss on the opening Hardpoint map was the worst Hardpoint loss by any team in the league this season.
What OpTic need to do in their two remaining tournaments is repeat the kind of the performances they had when they reached a home series final. They need Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat to pop off like he did in the Seattle home series when he had a K/D of 1.34 or in the Florida home series when he put up a 1.29 K/D.
They're currently in the eighth spot in the league standings, but only 10 points ahead of Paris and 20 ahead of Toronto, Seattle and the Guerrillas. If OpTic can finish the season out strong and remain in the top eight, they'll avoid starting off the playoffs in the losers bracket.
-- Bencomo
9. Los Angeles Guerrillas
Season record: 5-13 | Week 10 record: DNP | Change from last ranking:
The Guerrillas need to repeat what they did during the Minnesota home series when they went 2-2 and rode some strong Search & Destroy performances all the way to the semifinals. The Guerrillas have suddenly become the third-best S&D team in the league after going 5-2 in that mode during the Minnesota home series. Their only two S&D losses were to the Atlanta FaZe in what turned out to be a nail-biting five-map semifinal matchup. Reece "Vivid" Drost, Ulysses "AquA" Silva and Renato "Saints" Forza were particularly good that weekend for the Guerrillas.
If they can continue to excel in S&D and shore up their Hardpoint and Domination play, they can realistically move into the top eight and thus avoid starting in the losers brackets for the playoffs. They'll get a rematch with Atlanta when the next CDL home series kicks off on July 10.
-- Bencomo
10. Paris Legion
Season record: 6-12 | Week 10 record: 0-2 | Change from last ranking:1
For the Legion, this week was basically a repeat of the Seattle home series -- two quick routs and an early tournament exit. In their one map win, an S&D victory against the Royal Ravens, they almost managed to blow a 5-1 lead despite Luke "Louqa" Rigas and Matthew "KiSMET" Tinsley fragging out. The Legion are a far cry from their early-season form. One can almost imagine the great Roman emperor Augustus Caesar tearing out his hair and shouting "Quinctilius Varus, give me back my Legion!" You know, if he had any idea what Call of Duty or video games or Paris were, and if Varus was the Legion's head coach instead of a guy who lost three actual legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
-- DeMartino
11. Toronto Ultra
Season record: 5-12 | Week 10 record: 1-2 | Change from last ranking:1
Would you believe this is the first time the Ultra and FaZe have faced off in the CDL? We'd love to see another go-around in mid-July in New York. Why? Because despite losing 3-2, we saw some great things from the Ultra that we've been waiting for.
First, resilience. The Ultra bounced back from a Map 1 loss to not only hold off a comeback from the FaZe in Map 2 but break a losing streak in Search & Destroy. Map 3 they held on in Domination on Hackney Yard despite a triple cap from FaZe, and they traded blows in Map 5 on Gun Runner for a 6-5 loss in Search & Destroy.
Second, splitting the load. The Ultra have largely been dependent on one player stepping up at a time, mostly Anthony "Methodz" Zinni, but there were multiple players on each map who contributed this time. Cameron "Cammy" McKilligan and Adrian "MettalZ" Serrano both helped out Methodz on Map 3 to tough out the win by grabbing 25 frags apiece. Newly added Tobias "Cleanx" Juul Jønsson put up a team-leading 30/28 K/D on Map 1 and a 12/9 scoreline on Map 5 (Search & Destroy), nearly leading his team to the upset win.
Here's another mini-repeat: In the Ultra's next match against OpTic, all five players showed up and simply stomped OpTic in Map 1 and Map 3 (with MettalZ carrying the team in Map 2).
If this new lineup continues to come together, the Ultra might have a late-season resurgence on their hands. Only time will tell, and we're hoping to see a repeat slugfest against the FaZe.
-- Kwilinski
12. Seattle Surge
Season record: 5-14 | Week 10 record: DNP | Change from last ranking:2
After going 1-5 in two straight events, the Surge are in the middle of a two-event break that might help them sort out whether Ian "Enable" Wyatt or Casey "Pandur" Romano should be their full-time starter. Neither player is a great option: Enable's 0.62 K/D in the Minnesota home series was the worst among any player, while Pandur's 0.75 was the third worst of the event. But consistency is a key for a team that has had nothing but up-and-down performances this year.
-- Morrison
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