The 3 Biggest Stories From Call of Duty Championships 2014

The 3 Biggest Stories From Call of Duty Championships 2014

The 2014 Call of Duty Championships wrapped up in Los Angeles over this past weekend. 32 of the best teams from around the world competed over three days for a share of the $1,000,000 prize pool. While an event like this is always full of drama, three storylines really stood out:

Complexity Does It Again:

Now a trend all too familiar in the CoD community, it was the foursome from CompLexity Live that took home 1st place, $400,000, and the title of “World Champion”. Aches, TeePee, Crimsix, and Karma captured the organization’s third Ghosts victory of the year, and arguably their most dominant. With an overall map count of 24-4, including 11-0 in Domination, they cruised to 8 straight match wins, starting with three consecutive 3-0s over VexX Revenge, Team Orbit, and Real All-Stars to attain the number 1 seed in Pool B. Once into the championship bracket, they cruised through back-to-back sweeps of TCM Gaming and Xfinity. A 3-1 defeat of FaZe Pro in the Winner’s Bracket semifinals brought a matchup with OpTic Gaming. This time CompLexity found themselves with their backs to the wall, having lost a Search and Destroy in Round 11 as well as their first Blitz of the event. Down 18 points heading into the second side of Sovereign Domination, a well-balanced attack of 25+ kills each rallied coL to complete the comeback, which they finished off with a 6-0 blowout on Warhawk SnD, led by Crimsix going 11-0. After advancing to the Grand Finals and a guaranteed $200,000, three maps was all it took for CompLexity Live to sweep Team EnVyUs and claim the World Championship. It is now the 9th victory in the last 10 events for coL, a victory that has cemented them in the pantheon of eSports history as one of the greatest teams of all-time.

The Green Wall Returns:

As it is every event, all eyes were on OpTic Gaming. The biggest brand in the industry is always the most hyped heading into any event, but the hype was magnified on the world scale. Starting the season with back to back T12-16 finishes at MLG Columbus and UMG Philadelphia, it had been a year to forget for most OpTic supporters. On top of that, the revolving door of team changes, unheard of for the team, was a cause for much uncertainty around the organization. Following the drop of JKap for Ricky, and the retirement of BigTymer, it was clear a new era was to begin for the Green Wall. However, most people probably pictured that era beginning with Seth “Scumpii” Abner, the thrilling 18 year old slayer, who shocked the Cod world with his departure for Team EnVyUs, and then his quick return without even playing another event. On top of that, the additions of Saints, Parasite, and Ricky, combined to play one in one total event (Ricky @ UMG Philly). Thus, Nadeshot, Scumpii, and the relatively new Clayster and MBoZe headed into Cod Champs confident but uncertain. After a 2-1 record in pool play, OpTic took the scene by storm as play began Saturday morning, 3-0ing heavy contender Team Kaliber, and defeating US Champions Strictly Business 3-2. Then a 3-1 defeat of the Australian surprise Trident T1 Dotters guaranteed OpTic Gaming a T3 finish. After going up on CompLexity Live 2-1, OG was unable to finish the job, and found themselves against brother team and rival Team EnVyUs for a spot in the Grand Finals. Despite being bounced from the tournament by NV, a top 3 finish with their usual flare for the dramatic showed the world that OpTic was back.

Trident T1 Dotters Pull Off Major Upsets:

The Australian team of Trident T1 Dotters was definitely the biggest surprise of the Championships, finishing in 5th place and taking $70,000 dollars home down under. It was already a big upset for Denz, Issei, Chilean, and Damage to get to Los Angeles, as they rallied to make a loser’s bracket run to qualify, and then defeat favorite and powerhouse Team Immunity in the Australian and New Zealand Championships. Once in LA, they made their first splash with a 3-2 upset of NA team FaZe Pro. After starting out down 1-0, it looked as if it would be another American romp. But T1 answered with what became their staple all weekend: a dominant and unorthodox Search and Destroy approach that gave them a 6-3 win, led by Chilean’s impressive 13-8 performance. This big map win contributed to their 6-1 SnD record for the event. After dropping the Blitz, they came back to win Sovereign Domination 159-142 thanks to a 27-21 from Damage, along with 7 captures. Game 5 was all Chilean again, going 12-8 to with SnD 6-4 and emerge from Pool Play with a Top 8 seed in the Championship Bracket. Once into the Championship Bracket, Trident T1 really started to make some noise with two huge wins, a 3-1 over Vitality Returns and a 3-2 over Rise Nation, to secure T6 and a matchup with OpTic Gaming. Unfortunately for T1, this was where the road began to end, a 3-1 loss to OG set up a Loser’s Bracket semifinal matchup against white hot Team EnVyUs, winners of six straight maps, who promptly extended that streak to 9 with a 3-0 sweep. T1 were able to win the rematch with FaZe Pro in the 5th place game, securing $70,000 dollars and bringing serious spotlight to the Australian and New Zealand eSports scene. Hopefully Trident T1 Dotters can take this momentum and turn it into a string of worldwide success. With another successful Call of Duty Championships, look to see new storylines emerge in the upcoming MLG Winter Invitational Finals at PAX East (April 11th-13), UGC Niagara (May 2nd-4th), and MLG Anaheim (June 20th-22nd).