Major League Gaming
Following the explosive first two days at the 2018 Call of Duty World League Atlanta Open; the third and final day has proven to be one to remember with an insane amount of matchups between some of the world’s best gamers. With over 160 teams and over 1,000 players starting the weekend all vying for a shot at gaming glory, the CWL Atlanta Open has winded down to the Top Eight teams where anything becomes possible.
While we wait to see who will take home the $200,000 prize pool by the end of the CWL Atlanta Open, it’ll be imperative that each of the teams competing in the Final Winners bracket to bring their all if they want to bring home the title. We’ve seen some of the top teams in the league either flourish or falter in their time here at the CWL Atlanta Open becoming one of the most nailbiting events of the season and whoever ends up on top will become one to watch when it comes down to who will be competing in the 2018 Call of Duty World Championship later this year. We got a chance to speak with Call of Duty World League director Kevin Flynn and he was delighted with the turnout for the Open saying, “we’ve got probably nearly 1,000 competitors here this weekend, which is awesome…we love seeing [it], we’ve heard the crowd cheering in the arena. It’s those moments that are really rewarding.”
Top teams like Team Kaliber, Faze Clan, and Optic Gaming have been competing hard this weekend to make sure their teams make it all the way to the end but dreams of glory have been dashed after losing their final games in the Winners Bracket. In their game against Team Kaliber, Team Envy was able to manage a win after ending the series in a tie leading to a Round 5 tiebreaker, winning the series 3-2.
We got to speak to Team Envy player, “SlasheR”, after the team’s win against Team Kaliber and he was ecstatic about getting a spot in the finals saying, “every day at practice when we get online is for the event, when you’re at the event it’s about staying calm and getting ready for the next match.” While not competing in professional Call of Duty tournaments, “SlasheR” is a recent college graduate from UC Santa Cruz where he graduated with a degree in Robotic Engineering; we spoke a little bit about how hard it was to maintain his college workload while being one of the best in the league. “I still to this day don’t know how I did it, it was pretty impossible. I had to take days where I couldn’t play the game, I had to take days where I couldn’t study…it was long days, you have to be really good at time management to pull it off,” he said when recalling his years juggling school and Call of Duty. It seems the hard work has paid off seeing as Team Envy has made it into the semifinals before losing to Rise Nation in a tie-breaking round.
The final day of competition also saw both Optic Gaming and Rise Nation sweep their first matches in the Winners Bracket, taking out Lightning Pandas and Faze Clan respectively. While playing against Luminosity Gaming in their Semifinal match, Optic Gaming (a favorite to win the entire Open) were knocked out in a bitter and sad loss in a 3-0 sweep.
Major League Gaming
Now as we enter the final stages of gameplay at this weekend’s CWL Atlanta Open, we’ve learned that the final two teams set to duke it out during the final day of the Open are Rise Nation and Luminosity Gaming. We’ve watched all weekend as these eight teams have fought long and hard for a shot at the $200,000 and become the winners of the 2018 CWL Atlanta Open and soon enough we will have our winner.
Stay tuned for an interview with the winning team of the 2018 CWL Atlanta Open and more!
