This last weekend marked the start of the 2018 Call of Duty World League season. Taking place in Dallas, Texas, the three day event hosted over 200 teams. The tournament featured a $200,000 prize pool that would be split up between some of the best players out there. Of course there were the fan favorite teams that we would expect to see such as OpTic Gaming, Luminosity, Team Kaliber and eUnited, but the event also presented itself with the biggest open bracket that the CoD esports have seen yet. They attracted teams from all over the world who would fight to earn a spot in the CWL Dallas teams pool. This is where Echo Fox, Team Allegiance, Next Threat, and Faze Clan came in. All of them doing well in the open brackets, I was excited to see how they would hold up against the more well known teams.
Thinking that Friday was intense, I was not ready for Saturday. With both OpTic Gaming and Team Kaliber dominating their pool with a 4-0 score, they seemed like the teams to beat. Joining them in the winners bracket were Echo Fox, Red Reserve, Luminosity Gaming, Ground Zero, Splyce and eUnited.
During the winners bracket, with no surprise OpTic Gaming stole the show with a 3-1 win. Both Team Kaliber and eUnited followed OpTic Gamings fortune. Then, there was Splyce, dominating Ground Zero with a 3-0 win. Each passing game garnered more and more hype. In the winners semifinals we find OpTic Gaming up against Splyce. One of the more anticipated games, the first round was a bit of an upset. Leaning in Splyce’s direction, they gave OpTic Gaming a run for their money. Tying it up in the the second round, OpTic was able to turn it around and win after a total of five games.
On the other side of the brackets we had eUnited and Team Kaliber. Just as with the other teams, we got to see all five games with Team Kaliber taking the win. Facing off in the winners finals, we find ourselves with Optic Gaming and Team Kaliber. Here we see Team Kaliber sweep OpTic Gaming with a 3-0. With Team Kaliber making it to the Grand Finals, we now turn to see who will join them from the Losers Bracket.
Here we have Splyce taking their games at 3-1 against Echo Fox. While they put up a good fight, we see their journey end here. We see the same with Faze Clan taking the victory against eUnited with a 3-1 win. The next games continued with Splyce taking a 3-2 win against Faze Clan.
Finally we see the Losers Finals. With a big upset, we see Splyce taking the win from OpTic gaming with a 3-0. Though OpTic gaming was able to take down Splyce in the Winners bracket, it seems that their luck ended there. Splyce, adapting to OpTic Gamings antics, were able to steal the win. Even with OpTic Gaming being the 2017 CWL Champs, we see that anything can happen at these events. So now, we would see Splyce against Team Kaliber in the Grand Finals.
Pulling up a quick 2-0 in the series, it seemed like Team Kaliber would steal the win with little difficulty. Splyce, not yet giving up forced a game five. It was during this game five that we would see Team Kaliber take the match and with it the 2017-2018 Call of Duty World League Dallas Open.
With the CWL Dallas Open finished, we now wait for CWL New Orleans. Hopefully there will be just as much action waiting for us.
