Call of Duty Champs is a special time of year, and this year's inaugural franchised championship tournament was an experience. After a few days of confusion and disconnect, the final two days of the tournament ended with the best competitive Call of Duty that one will be able to see in Modern Warfare.
Here is every map of the first five days of champs in a sentence.
DAY 1
Paris Legion 3, Seattle Surge 0
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: Paris own nearly every rotation in the first half of the map and finish with a 140-point victory.
Arklov Peak, Search and Destroy: Big performances from both Shockz and Octane in a back-and-forth map but Paris come out ahead 6-4.
Hackney Yard, Domination: Strong A-B control allow Paris to overextend to C when needed and keep at least two points capped for almost the entire first half which carries them through a strong Surge second half that brings it within three points.
Los Angeles OpTic 3, Los Angeles Guerrillas 2
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: Well, Kenny drops out of this game, so it's a 4v5 which unfortunately takes away from a 45-kill performance from Decemate and I personally hate this rule that internet issues are on the team and are not replayed.
Gun Runner, Search and Destroy: Slasher and OpTic channels their rage from Map 1 into a 13-kill S&D match and tie the series 1-1.
St. Petrograd, Domination: OpTic take a 15-point first-half lead and expand on this in the second half with a strong performance from TJ.
St. Petrograd, Hardpoint: I don't even know what to say about this but it is painful to watch another 4v5 hardpoint.
Piccadilly, Search and Destroy: A legendary map where Dashy rolls out of bed and casually snipes his way to an OpTic victory with Kenny sitting out due to the fear that he would disconnect again.
DAY 2
Toronto Ultra 3, London Royal Ravens 1
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: CleanX gets off to a great start and even when the Ravens have stronger rotations to hills, the Ultra are able to break.
Rammaza, Search and Destroy: The Royal Ravens tie it up with a strong 6-3 S&D performance with a lot of close individual rounds.
Gun Runner, Domination: The Ultra overtake the lead in the final few seconds of the first round and London's domination woes continue despite a strong performance from Zer0.
Hackney Yard, Hardpoint: This is so unfair and I'm so mad that another match was ruined due to a disconnect.
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New York Subliners 3, Minnesota RØKKR 1
Rammaza, Hardpoint: New York come back from a large deficit with stronger rotations and spawns.
Arklov Peak, Search and Destroy: Minnesota tie it up with a surprisingly strong S&D performance led by Exceed.
St. Petrograd, Domination: The Subliners take the first-half lead and while Minnesota make it close with a near triple-cap, New York go up 2-1 in the series.
Hackney Yard, Hardpoint: The most crushing thing for Minnesota has to be how close these hardpoint losses are.
DAY 3
Chicago Huntsmen 3, New York Subliners 2
Rammaza, Hardpoint: The Subliners have nearly a 100-point lead after the first series of hardpoint rotations and carry that to an 82-point win.
Arklov Peak, Search and Destroy: The actual 11th round of the first Round 11 of champs was a bit anticlimactic but the S&D match itself was entertaining between two teams that were very evenly-matched.
St. Petrograd, Domination: A late triple-cap means a lead change for the Subliners after strong A-B control gave most of the first half to Chicago, and following a close second-half, Chicago takes it.
Hackney Yard, Hardpoint: New York bring it to a Map 5 with a close hardpoint win.
St. Petrograd, Search and Destroy: Scump coming up clutch in a champs series, Huntsmen fans love to see it.
Toronto Ultra 3, Florida Mutineers 1
Azhir Cave, Hardpoint: Je l'ai regardé en français parce que le stream d'anglais y avait un problème.
Piccadilly, Search and Destroy: Frosty stays alive in the final round to plant the bomb but Havok steals the show for Florida as they tie the series.
Hackney Yard, Domination: Florida nearly pull this back from Toronto in the final seconds of the map but the Ultra take it by five points.
St. Petrograd, Hardpoint: Toronto narrowly wins this 249-250 with CleanX putting up 37 kills.
DAY 4
London Royal Ravens 3, Paris Legion 1
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: Paris has the early advantage with better breaks until a good hold at Mine Entrance gives London control of the map from that point forward.
Arklov Peak, Search and Destroy: A domineering 6-2 performance from the Royal Ravens.
Hackney Yard, Domination: The Royal Ravens' domination problems continue as strong A-B control gives Paris an early first-half lead that they close out in the second, but the best part of this map is the listen-in where players are complaining about lag.
Rammaza, Hardpoint: London has almost full control of this map with stronger breaks whenever Paris get the first rotation.
Los Angeles OpTic 3, Minnesota RØKKR 0
Azhir Cave, Hardpoint: Another close hardpoint where Minnesota cannot close on the final few hills, giving OpTic the win.
Piccadilly, Search and Destroy: TJ's snipes lead OpTic to a commanding 2-0 lead.
Hackney Yard, Domination: After knowing what Minnesota were capable of at the start of the season on LAN, it's heartbreaking to watch their season end this way.
Atlanta FaZe 3, Chicago Huntsmen 2
Rammaza, Hardpoint: FaZe close this out definitively even after a strong break from Chicago on Construction.
Arklov Peak, Search and Destroy: This goes all the way to Round 11 where Chicago reads Atlanta's A-site plant and ties the series 1-1.
Gun Runner, Domination: After an early Chicago lead, FaZe bring it within three points in the first half and Cellium goes big to help Atlanta close it out.
St. Petrograd, Hardpoint: This time it's Scump and Envoy's turns to come up clutch for their team, bringing this match to Map 5.
Rammaza, Search and Destroy: This series was much more of what I was expecting when these two teams met for the first time and it's a close 3-2 win for FaZe.
Dallas Empire 3, Toronto Ultra 2
Azhir Cave, Hardpoint: This is a convincing start for the Empire who have much stronger rotations, holds, and breaks for a 250-182 win.
St. Petrograd, Search and Destroy: Toronto get out to a 4-1 lead before the Empire nearly bring it to a Round 11 in a 6-4 Toronto win.
Gun Runner, Domination: Dallas make this really close with a late triple-cap but the Ultra go up 2-1.
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: The Empire take a 100-point lead on the first series of hardpoints and don't let up for a 250-107 win.
Piccadilly, Search and Destroy: Dallas get their first Piccadilly win convincingly to advance in the winners' bracket.
DAY 5
London Royal Ravens 3, New York Subliners 2
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: Zer0 takes control against his former team, giving London the 1-0 advantage.
Arklov Peak, Search and Destroy: New York win their first S&D match of playoffs in a close 6-4.
Gun Runner, Domination: The Subliners get the early first-half lead off of a triple-cap and strong A-B control, and while the Ravens make it competitive in the second half with their own A-B two-cap, New York takes it.
Rammaza, Hardpoint: A bit of early overaggression from New York and some fortunate spawns give the Ravens the lead and stronger rotations through the back half of this map, bringing it to Map 5.
Rammaza, Search and Destroy: Seany and the Royal Ravens take complete control of this map, only giving up one round.
OpTic Gaming Los Angeles 3, Florida Mutineers 0
Azhir Cave, Hardpoint: OpTic took a commanding lead and take this first map even though Florida made it close, also I will not miss Azhir Cave whatsoever.
Gun Runner, Search and Destroy: OpTic have incredible reads on whatever Florida want to do behind Kenny and TJ.
Hackney Yard, Domination: Florida take a 20-point first-half lead but TJ goes huge in the second half, allowing OpTic to take the lead in the final minute.
London Royal Ravens 3, Toronto Ultra 1
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: Toronto win this by 20 points but it comes down to the final hardpoint and stronger breaks.
Gun Runner, Search and Destroy: This is a really important map win for Ravens considering their abysmal Domination record.
Gun Runner, Domination: Is that the Royal Ravens winning a dom map?
St. Petrograd, Hardpoint: You can tell that the Ravens are really feeling themselves here as they close out the series 3-1 and advance to championship weekend.
Chicago Huntsmen 3, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles 2
Gun Runner, Hardpoint: This is a ridiculously back and forth map where OpTic was unable to hold off Chicago's breaks and the Huntsmen win 250-241.
Gun Runner, Search and Destroy: Huntsmen have their moments (Envoy's read on Round 7 is fantastic) but OpTic and TJ win the map.
St. Petrograd, Domination: OpTic hold on to a two-cap for the majority of the second half to take the series lead.
Rammaza, Hardpoint: This comes down to a hold on Construction and rotation to Ruins where Prestinni and the Huntsmen manage to win it.
Arklov Peak, Search and Destroy: This is one of the best series of COD all year and Scump, Arcitys, and Envoy come up huge.