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The Florida Mutineers came into the Minnesota Rokkr Home Series with a free agent replacing one of their starters for the second time in just a few months. The Atlanta FaZe came into the weekend running the same lineup that has widely reigned as the Call of Duty League’s best, with 15 wins to just two losses.
The FaZe head into next week with a third loss and the Mutineers with a new starting spot cemented, as Owakening helped his team beat the CDL’s three top-ranked teams, Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas, in his CDL debut.
Both teams faced adversity in their road to Championship Sunday. The Mutineers needed to outduel the Chicago Huntsmen 3-2 and an upsurging Los Angeles Guerrillas 3-1, while the FaZe had to pull off two reverse-sweeps, against the Seattle Surge and Dallas Empire, to secure their place in the finals bracket.
Group Play
Friday, June 12
Toronto Ultra 2 – 3 Los Angeles Guerrillas
Atlanta FaZe 3 – 2 Seattle Surge
Florida Mutineers 3 – 2 Chicago Huntsmen
Dallas Empire 3 – 1 Minnesota Rokkr
Saturday, June 13
Florida Mutineers 3 – 1 Los Angeles Guerrillas
Dallas Empire 2 – 3 Atlanta FaZe
Chicago Huntsmen 3 – 0 Toronto Ultra
Minnesota Rokkr 2 – 3 Seattle Surge
Chicago Huntsmen 2 – 3 Los Angeles Guerrillas
Seattle Surge 0 – 3 Dallas Empire
Finals Bracket
Sunday, June 14
Los Angeles Guerrillas 2 – 3 Atlanta FaZe
Florida Mutineers 3 – 2 Dallas Empire
Florida Mutineers 3 – 1 Atlanta FaZe
Full schedule and standings available here.
Florida’s team character inherently changed when fero replaced Prestinni, who left the team for personal reasons, in March. Following disappointing performances from Maux, the team shifted once again—this time with Owakening joining the fold.
And the midseason rookie made his mark, taking his MP5 out on a nice dinner date and chowing down with a quick four-piece against the Empire in the weekend’s semifinals.
But it was longtime starter Skyz who had the performance of the day—rattling off 13 straight kills while earning a near-100-point lead over the Empire on Hardpoint. Swapping between his M4A1 and MP5, Skyz obliterated the formerly 15-7 Empire, helping set his team up for a championship match against the league’s most intimidating roster.
All season, the FaZe have dictated the Call of Duty’s meta by playing quickly, aggressively and relentlessly—forcing players to settle on Gentleman’s Agreements not to run mobility techs like the Auto Tac Sprint and hipfire-enabling attachments like the Merc Foregrip. Even with those banned by players (and Merc Foregrip now being officialized by the CDL), Atlanta’s fast-paced MP5 usage (along with Simp’s sniping prowess on Search and Destroy) has set the tone in win after win.
But Florida shut that down in dominant fashion, playing a consistent team-based game with its players comfortably switching between the M4A1 and MP5 while keeping pressure without overextending. It is only fitting that there was no clear individual highlight from their obliteration of Atlanta, but instead one spree in which the kill feed was all Mutineers.
Now, Florida sits at fourth in the league’s standings with 13 wins, eight losses and 150 CDL Points (50 behind Atlanta, 40 behind Chicago and 20 behind Dallas). If they can continue to build on this weekend’s chemistry, then they have a strong shot to come away with a large chunk of the CDL Championship, an August double-elimination playoffs that will award $4.2 million in total, with a fat $2 million going to the first-place squad.
