Article:CDL Toronto 2020 Day Three

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The final few games of the regular season did not disappoint! With some big ramifications surrounding Toronto Ultra and OGLA still to settle, this was always going to be a good one...
 * Results
 * Bracket
 * Day Three Stream
 * Day Three Stream
 * Day Three Stream

Toronto Ultra 3 : 1 Dallas Empire

 * Game One: Gun Runner, Hardpoint: 250-247
 * Game Two: St Petrograd, S&D: 6-5
 * Game Three: Hackney Yard, Domination: 123-196
 * Game Four: St Petrograd, Hardpoint: 250-244

Tight. Tight, tight, tight.

Off the back of reverse sweeping the Huntsmen, Toronto needed to overcome an unpredictable Empire side to jump into the winners bracket for Champs.

Empire rolled into this semifinal after going through the gauntlet against the Florida Mutineers and FaZe. They eventually came out the other side of one of the toughest groups by blitzing the Mutineers 3-0 in the loser's bracket.

The match got off to a wild start. Not only were the kills through the roof, with Shotzzy dropping 44 and all of Ultra racking up 30+, it was also a super tense finish. A back and forth affair with plenty of scrappy contests meant neither side were able to make themselves comfortable. This culminated in a grandstand finish in which Ultra were able to push through into Mine Carts to hold for long enough to eek out a three point win.

Game two didn't disappoint either. At 5-4 Empire looked as though they were going to bounce back and level the series, but Ultra had other ideas. Thanks to standout performances from Bance and Methodz, who notched up 14 and 9 kills respectively, they were able to clutch up and take two consecutive rounds; leaving Empire scratching their heads and on the brink of a shock defeat.

Game three and Empire were finally able to steady the ship. All in all it was a comfortable Domination, with ILLeY and Shotzzy going off with 57 kills between them. As is often the case on Hackney Yard, control of the preferable A/B flag combination was crucial and Empire executed it to perfection by standing firm on multiple occasions and clearing out when necessary.

Was this the start of a reverse sweep? Were Canadian hearts about to be shattered? Nope. Not at all.

In a game reminiscent of the opening exchange between the two, this ended up coming down to just a few points. Ultra, who trailed by 14 with Empire only six away from victory, had to fight hard to contest the closing seconds of Restaurant to prevent Empire from getting any more ticks. They persevered and pushed through to take the remaining 12 seconds, which saw them head into the final hardpoint at 241-244.

Crucially, Methodz was on point at Shipping Area and stood tall in the face of one final surge from Empire to take the game and to send "Cinderella to the ball" - Miles Ross

OpTic Gaming Los Angeles 0 : 3 Atlanta FaZe

 * Game One: St Petrograd, Hardpoint: 207-250
 * Game Two: St Petrograd, S&D: 1-6
 * Game Three: St Petrograd, Domination: 135-153

The St Petrograd party. It's probably one of those parties you wanna forget if you're OGLA.

This one was another classic FaZe flex. From start to finish they were composed, clinical and clutch.

A 43 point victory kicked off proceedings, with the entire FaZe team finishing the game with positive K/Ds. It was as routine as Hardpoint can possible be really. OGLA were never quite out of it, and they hung around for as long as possible with some slaying of their own courtesy of Hollow. But in the end FaZe were just too much for them.

Simp. Oh my god Simp. I could give you a run down of how game two panned out - it was a 6-1 smashing by the way - but I just want to talk about THAT guy.

12 kills. One death. Taking people's heads off from across the map with ease and dropping down on people and destroying them with a pistol. He was Thanos. He was Michael Jordan. He was unstoppable. When he is in that kind of form it really doesn't matter who is on the other side of the map. It just so happened that OGLA were on the receiving end of a devastating masterclass.

By the time game three rolled around it was going to take a miracle from OGLA to pull off a reverse sweep, and unfortunately there was no divine intervention at play. FaZe completed the clean sweep with another controlled display.

OGLA's confidence was likely in pieces by this point, so it's no wonder that they just couldn't keep up with the slaying power of FaZe this time out. Simp and MajorManiak in particular were flexing their muscles throughout with 22 and 24 kills each. SlasheR was the only member of OGLA to break into the 20s and that was all she wrote.

Let's not take anything away from OGLA for making it this far, though. Their 3-1 victory over the Huntsmen will live long in the memory and will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Huntsmen fans for a long time. They certainly look sharper with the addition of Drazah. But, crucially, they will now have to do it the hard way at Champs as they missed out on the opportunity to jump into the winner's bracket.

Atlanta FaZe 2 : 3 Toronto Ultra

 * Game One: Gun Runner, Hardpoint: 247-250
 * Game Two: Arklov Peak, S&D: 6-0
 * Game Three: Gun Runner, Domination: 157-165
 * Game Four: St Petrograd, Hardpoint: 250-143
 * Game Five: St Petrograd, S&D: 5-6

I said earlier that the Ultra/Empire game was 'tight'. Well if that was tight, I have no idea what this was!

Game one was an absolute nailbiter. FaZe held a sizable lead in the early exchanges, but Ultra just wouldn't go down. They scrapped and scrapped and scrapped in a really back and forth affair. Ultra were able to claw their way back into the fight and, in the dying seconds, they were able to fend off a strong surge from FaZe at Munition Depot to clinch a three point win. The slaying power on display was absolutely breathtaking. Five players racked up 30+ kills, with ABeZy leading the way on 39 (1.50 K/D).

Game two, however, was anything but tight. Ultra may as well have just put their controllers down and went for something to eat. This was a clinic. Cammy finished the game with 0 kills and six deaths. Insane. What's even more insane? The stats from FaZe. The lowest K/D of the bunch? 2.00 from Priestahh. Simp just casually dropped a 5.00 and MajorManiak didn't fall at all. Not once. Disgusting.

After a game like that it wouldn't be surprising to see a complete capitulation from Ultra. They're clearly made of stern stuff, though. They bounced back immediately with an eight point Domination victory.

For the most part Ultra were chugging along comfortably and seemed to be sailing to an easy win. FaZe, however, turned the heat up late on and were able to nail a trip-cap. It was too little too late, though, and Ultra were able to cling on for a crucial win. CleanX dropped a game-leading 29 kills (1.81 K/D) and FaZe were now staring down the barrel of another grand final defeat.

No need to panic, though. Game four was over before it had even begun. FaZe took such a sizable early lead that Ultra would end up trying to play catch up for the remainder of the game - and catch up they could not. FaZe were, once again, demonstrating how calm they can be in high pressure situations. They way they controlled the flow of this game you'd think they were just going through the motions in a casual scrim. All bar one of FaZe (Simp) finished up with positive K/Ds and 20+ kills apiece.

This was one of the best game fives you will ever hope to see. St Petrograd was the setting of a back and forth battle like no other.

For this one I'm not going to talk about statistics. That would do this game a disservice. This game five was about pure finesse, skill, composure and from a viewer's perspective - pure adrenaline.

Standout moments? Where do you even start.

ABeZy and Priestahh's 2v4 was something to behold. It wasn't a standard 2v4 either, it had a delicious diffuse sprinkled in for good measure. With the game at 2-1 ABeZy and Priestahh wiped out Classic, Cammy and Bance; to leave CleanX as the standalone player for Ultra. He tried to take out ABeZy at the entrance to bomb site A but had no luck and went up top. While this duel was going on, though, Priestahh had started to diffuse. CleanX made it to the window to take out Priestahh but it was just milliseconds too late and FaZe clinched the round.

Sure, that was cool... but it wasn't ninja Methodz cool. With the game tied at 2-2 MajorManiak planted the bomb at B and, as he went to post up opposite the Hazmat Building, Methodz snuck in and went straight for the diffuse. Balls. Of. Steel.

That wasn't Methodz's final heroics of the night, though.

The tense battle rumbled on and, would you believe it, it went to a round 11. Clutch time.

With the bomb planted at A for Ultra it was all up to MajorManiak and Priestahh to make their move in the 2v2. MajorManiak pushed through and took care of Classic. It was now a 1v2 for Methodz and in the blink of an eye he took out Priestahh and snapped onto MajorManiak in one of the most clutch moments of the entire season to secure the win and the home series victory for Ultra. With the win Ultra jumped into 7th place in the overall standings to finish above Minnesota RØKKR and secured a date with the London Royal Ravens in the playoffs.

Everything you need to know heading into the 2020 CDL Championship can be found right HERE


 * CreditsLine1 = 'Written by Aaron Rook / Twitter - @AaronRook91'
 * ArticleTextShort=CDL Toronto 2020 Day Three

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 * PublishDate=27th July, 2020
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