Article:CDL Major 1 2026 Weekend Recap

Following 186 days since the last major tournament (EWC 2025), the teams of the Call of Duty League traveled to University Park, Texas, for the first major of the 2026 season - hosted by OpTic Texas. The Dallas inner-suburb is the location for Moody Coliseum, the Southern Methodist University Mustangs basketball and volleyball teams.

The qualifier for the event was possible the most closely contested in the history of the league. Four teams tied with 5-2 records, and just two series separated first from tenth. Paris Gentle Mates took the first seed, but any of the top eight seeded teams had a realistic shot at leaving Texas with the championship win. Despite bad winter weather for the week leading up to the event, all players made it and were ready to compete.

Day 1

Paris kicked off the event with a 3-1 win over Toronto KOI. They won all three respawn modes, despite starting slow on all three maps. In Search and Destroy on Exposure, they failed to get going until late and lost 3-6. Neptune closed out the series with an 11 streak on Exposure Hardpoint (watch) and solidified a tone setting win in the first round.

Following a rough start to the season, Carolina Royal Ravens won four four straight series heading into their round one match-up as the higher seed against the LA Thieves. But that's where the fairy tale ended. The LAN veterans of the Thieves convincingly took the series 3-0 with aBeZy going 14-3 with a 12 streak on Den Search and Destroy. The Overload was over in the first half as the Thieves went up 4-0 in under three minutes Scar against the top ranked team in the mode.

⁠

⁠Riyadh Falcons vs ⁠

⁠OpTic Texas

Colossus HP ⁠⁠135 - 250⁠⁠	Exposure S&D ⁠⁠3 - 6⁠⁠	Den OVR ⁠⁠1 - 4⁠⁠

	Player	K	D	KD	S&D	HP	3RD
⁠⁠	Dashy	52	47	52	2.00	0.92	1.17
⁠⁠	Huke	47	51	47	0.50	0.68	1.35
⁠⁠	Mercules	57	44	57	1.60	1.45	1.00
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	58	47	58	1.33	1.35	1.06
⁠⁠	Cellium	47	52	47	1.17	1.00	0.68
⁠⁠	Exnid	42	55	42	0.43	0.81	0.82
⁠⁠	KiSMET	51	55	51	0.86	0.96	0.91
⁠⁠	Pred	48	52	48	0.57	0.92	1.05

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	23	25	0.92	64
⁠⁠	Huke	17	25	0.68	83
⁠⁠	Mercules	32	22	1.45	92
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	31	23	1.35	52
⁠⁠	Cellium	27	27	1.00	18
⁠⁠	Exnid	21	26	0.81	22
⁠⁠	KiSMET	24	25	0.96	102
⁠⁠	Pred	23	25	0.92	7

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	8	4	2.00	2
⁠⁠	Huke	3	6	0.50	1
⁠⁠	Mercules	8	5	1.60	1
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	8	6	1.33	1
⁠⁠	Cellium	7	6	1.17	1
⁠⁠	Exnid	3	7	0.43	0
⁠⁠	KiSMET	6	7	0.86	2
⁠⁠	Pred	4	7	0.57	1

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	21	18	1.17	0
⁠⁠	Huke	27	20	1.35	0
⁠⁠	Mercules	17	17	1.00	3
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	19	18	1.06	1
⁠⁠	Cellium	13	19	0.68	0
⁠⁠	Exnid	18	22	0.82	0
⁠⁠	KiSMET	21	23	0.91	0
⁠⁠	Pred	21	20	1.05	1

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
Map not played/stats not recorded

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
Map not played/stats not recorded

OpTic Texas and Riyadh Falcons had reversed forms in the qualifiers. OpTic started off hot, and finished by losing 3 out their final four matches. The Falcons started 0-2 and then won five straight. With the home fans behind them, OpTic took Colossus Hardpoint by over 100 points and gained all the momentum they needed to win the final two maps with confidence and move on to the second round with a dominant 3-0 victory.

FaZe Vegas entered the tournament as one of the favorites after finishing tied for first with a 5-2 record and pulling of big wins against other top teams. Unfortunately for them, they didn't play a top team. They played G2 Minnesota who gave FaZe one of those two losses. Blackheart Hardpoint was close until G2 pulled away at the end. Scar Search and Destroy wasn't close. The series nearly went to game four but G2 came back from three overloads down to win the Den 7-5 and the series 3-0.

Day 2

The second day kicked off with the Carolina Royal Ravens needing a bounce back series against the worst team in the league to clear any allegations of being onliners. But that didn't happen. After winning Hardpoint on Scar by just two points, Carolina lost the Search and Destroy 6-2 and were then bested by Vancouver after parking the bus on Den Overload. The series was finalized on Colossus and Carolina became the first team eliminated from the major just days removed from being considered a possible event winner. Vancouver achieved just their third win in any event this season.

⁠

⁠Toronto KOI vs ⁠

⁠Miami Heretics

Exposure HP ⁠⁠250 - 195⁠⁠	Raid S&D ⁠⁠5 - 6⁠⁠	Exposure OVR ⁠⁠2 - 3⁠⁠	Colossus HP ⁠⁠250 - 214⁠⁠	Den S&D ⁠⁠4 - 6⁠⁠

	Player	K	D	KD	S&D	HP	3RD
⁠⁠	MettalZ	83	103	83	0.73	0.89	0.65
⁠⁠	RenKoR	107	80	107	1.40	1.31	1.37
⁠⁠	SupeR	93	75	93	3.29	0.92	1.33
⁠⁠	Traixx	91	100	91	1.13	0.90	0.80
⁠⁠	CleanX	89	101	89	0.53	0.98	0.92
⁠⁠	Insight	77	86	77	1.00	0.94	0.68
⁠⁠	JoeDeceives	113	88	113	1.21	1.29	1.32
⁠⁠	ReeaL	78	100	78	0.29	0.81	1.10

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	MettalZ	27	27	1.00	96
⁠⁠	RenKoR	31	24	1.29	32
⁠⁠	SupeR	19	26	0.73	51
⁠⁠	Traixx	26	28	0.93	40
⁠⁠	CleanX	22	28	0.79	63
⁠⁠	Insight	21	24	0.88	115
⁠⁠	JoeDeceives	30	26	1.15	55
⁠⁠	ReeaL	32	26	1.23	68

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	MettalZ	4	9	0.44	0
⁠⁠	RenKoR	5	5	1.00	1
⁠⁠	SupeR	16	4	4.00	3
⁠⁠	Traixx	11	7	1.57	4
⁠⁠	CleanX	2	11	0.18	0
⁠⁠	Insight	12	8	1.50	2
⁠⁠	JoeDeceives	9	8	1.13	1
⁠⁠	ReeaL	2	9	0.22	0

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	MettalZ	17	26	0.65	0
⁠⁠	RenKoR	26	19	1.37	0
⁠⁠	SupeR	24	18	1.33	1
⁠⁠	Traixx	20	25	0.80	2
⁠⁠	CleanX	23	25	0.92	0
⁠⁠	Insight	13	19	0.68	1
⁠⁠	JoeDeceives	29	22	1.32	1
⁠⁠	ReeaL	23	21	1.10	0

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	MettalZ	28	35	0.80	70
⁠⁠	RenKoR	36	27	1.33	38
⁠⁠	SupeR	27	24	1.13	87
⁠⁠	Traixx	27	31	0.87	47
⁠⁠	CleanX	34	29	1.17	70
⁠⁠	Insight	27	27	1.00	69
⁠⁠	JoeDeceives	37	26	1.42	63
⁠⁠	ReeaL	18	36	0.50	89

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	MettalZ	7	6	1.17	1
⁠⁠	RenKoR	9	5	1.80	0
⁠⁠	SupeR	7	3	2.33	2
⁠⁠	Traixx	7	9	0.78	2
⁠⁠	CleanX	8	8	1.00	0
⁠⁠	Insight	4	8	0.50	1
⁠⁠	JoeDeceives	8	6	1.33	4
⁠⁠	ReeaL	3	8	0.38	0

In the battle of Spanish organizational supremacy, the story lines wrote themselves. Toronto KOI took over on Exposure. Then Miami Heretics bounced back with a round 11 win on Raid Search and Destroy with 16 kills from SupeR. Back on Exposure, Miami went up early and held on to win 3-2 with keep-away tactics for the final stage of the game. The second Hardpoint on Colossus went back and forth for five lead changes and Toronto KOI pushed the contest to map five on Den. The series was closed out by Miami 6-4 after starting out the map 5-0.

Riyadh Falcons needed a recovery series after getting thrashed by OpTic Texas. Luckily they had Cloud9 New York waiting for them in losers. They won Blackheart Hardpoint 250-243, but then lost Colossus Search and Destroy 6-3 despite an incredible 1v3 from Cellium (watch). Falcons took care of business in Overload and were then able to close out the series on Den Hardpoint to advance in the bracket.

FaZe Vegas came out hot map one and won Den by over 100 points. Boston Breach clutched up in the Search and Destroy by winning the final two rounds to take it in round 11. The 4-3 Den Overload win was secured in the final seconds by Abuzah for FaZe. FaZe then won Exposure Hardpoint 250-173 to take the series 3-1 and advance to face Riyadh Falcons in the next round.

Miami Heretics and Vancouver Surge played their second series of the day and it was the end of the run for the Surge. On Exposure Hardpoint, Miami came back from almost 100 points down to steal the map 250-246. MettalZ took over on Raid with a 15-3 scoreline and then they closed out Overload 4-3 to make it to Saturday.

Day 3

⁠

⁠FaZe Vegas vs ⁠

⁠Riyadh Falcons

Blackheart HP ⁠⁠250 - 233⁠⁠	Colossus S&D ⁠⁠5 - 6⁠⁠	Exposure OVR ⁠⁠4 - 3⁠⁠	Den HP ⁠⁠215 - 250⁠⁠	Exposure S&D ⁠⁠6 - 2⁠⁠

	Player	K	D	KD	S&D	HP	3RD
⁠⁠	04	82	99	82	0.81	0.87	0.73
⁠⁠	Abuzah	111	80	111	1.36	1.48	1.16
⁠⁠	Drazah	85	80	85	1.00	0.98	1.32
⁠⁠	Simp	104	93	104	1.14	1.16	1.00
⁠⁠	Cellium	82	82	82	1.08	0.96	1.07
⁠⁠	Exnid	85	103	85	0.69	0.77	1.04
⁠⁠	KiSMET	90	103	90	1.21	0.85	0.74
⁠⁠	Pred	95	96	95	0.83	1.00	1.05

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	04	23	33	0.70	35
⁠⁠	Abuzah	42	24	1.75	122
⁠⁠	Drazah	29	25	1.16	107
⁠⁠	Simp	30	25	1.20	79
⁠⁠	Cellium	20	28	0.71	111
⁠⁠	Exnid	28	30	0.93	46
⁠⁠	KiSMET	31	36	0.86	54
⁠⁠	Pred	28	32	0.88	101

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	04	5	10	0.50	1
⁠⁠	Abuzah	8	7	1.14	1
⁠⁠	Drazah	8	7	1.14	1
⁠⁠	Simp	8	9	0.89	3
⁠⁠	Cellium	9	7	1.29	1
⁠⁠	Exnid	7	10	0.70	2
⁠⁠	KiSMET	10	7	1.43	2
⁠⁠	Pred	7	5	1.40	0

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	04	16	22	0.73	2
⁠⁠	Abuzah	22	19	1.16	1
⁠⁠	Drazah	25	19	1.32	1
⁠⁠	Simp	21	21	1.00	0
⁠⁠	Cellium	16	15	1.07	2
⁠⁠	Exnid	26	25	1.04	0
⁠⁠	KiSMET	17	23	0.74	1
⁠⁠	Pred	22	21	1.05	0

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	04	30	28	1.07	84
⁠⁠	Abuzah	32	26	1.23	52
⁠⁠	Drazah	20	25	0.80	71
⁠⁠	Simp	37	33	1.12	37
⁠⁠	Cellium	32	26	1.23	56
⁠⁠	Exnid	20	32	0.63	77
⁠⁠	KiSMET	25	30	0.83	103
⁠⁠	Pred	35	31	1.13	67

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	04	8	6	1.33	2
⁠⁠	Abuzah	7	4	1.75	0
⁠⁠	Drazah	3	4	0.75	0
⁠⁠	Simp	8	5	1.60	2
⁠⁠	Cellium	5	6	0.83	1
⁠⁠	Exnid	4	6	0.67	0
⁠⁠	KiSMET	7	7	1.00	2
⁠⁠	Pred	3	7	0.43	1

FaZe Vegas and Simp vs Riyadh Falcons and Cellium started off as a battle of comebacks. FaZe came from nearly 100 points down to win Blackheart Hardpoint by leading only after one hill - the final one. Then on Colossus, Riyadh won the final four rounds to tie up the series. FaZe won Exposure Overload but then Falcons responded again with a big 250-215 win on Hardpoint. In game five, FaZe finally secured victory with a confortable 6-2 win on Exposure.

The Paris and Thieves showdown started on Scar Hardpoint. For the final hundred points, the teams stay within 10 points of each other until the Gentle Mates pulled away at the end 250-223. Raid went 6-1 to Paris, too, and then they closed out the 3-0 with a 2-1 win in Overload.

OpTic Texas began their second match of their home event against G2 Minnesota with an ego-chall on "Krempolossus" Hardpoint and proved their skill with a 250-203 while leading the whole game. The continued their dominance on Exposure with a Mercules and Huke takeover. OpTic closed out the sweep with another great showing on Scar Overload and moved on to the winners finals to face Paris Gentle Mates.

Simp and aBeZy faced off at a major LAN for the first time in the match-up between FaZe Vegas and the LA Thieves. FaZe Vegas came back from an big deficit late on to win Scar Hardpoint 250-235. On Colossus Search and Destroy, HyDra went 1-8 (only getting a consolation kill in the final seconds) and Faze pushed the lead to 2-0. Faze nearly threw away 4-2 lead on Exposure Overload by parking the bus but held on to win 4-3.

In the final match of the night, G2 Minnesota had a shot to bounce back with a solid win against Miami Heretics after a thumping from OpTic Texas just a few hours before - and that's just what they did. A 250-146 Hardpoint win on Scar, a 6-5 win on Exposure Search and Destroy, and then a 3-2 win on Scar Overload moved G2 into Sunday.

Day 4

FaZe Vegas came out in their Sunday red jerseys for revenge against G2 Minnesota. Things didn't start as planned for them as G2 started off the day with a 250-236 win on Blackheart Hardpoint. FaZe finally got going on Colossus to tie up the series with a solid 6-4 win and then followed it up with a controlled 5-1 win on Overload. G2 controlled the second Hardpoint from start to finish. In the final map, Abuzah and FaZe Vegas went flawless and eliminated G2 Minnesota from championship contention.

In the winners finals, Paris Gentle Mates came out hot and controlled the first half of Scar Hardpoint. Then OpTic Texas came to life. They won the map 250-209, dominated the Search and Destroy 6-0 (Dashy going 8-0) and then continued their excellence with a 4-1 win on Exposure Overload. The series was over before it started and OpTic moved on to the grand finals.

After a short break, Paris Gentle Mates were back at it again vs FaZe Vegas. Things got worse for Paris as they lost their best Hardpoint map (Scar) again 250-182. They were finally able to get a map win with a 6-1 victory on Exposure Search and Destroy. Staying on Exposure, FaZe won their fifth straight Overload 3-1. The final two maps of the series took place on Colossus. On Hardpoint, Paris took the map 250-169. In Search and Destroy, finally secured victory and a spot in the grand finals against OpTic Texas with a 6-5 win on the most entertaining map of the season so far thanks to back to back clutches from Neptune (watch) (watch).

⁠

⁠OpTic Texas vs ⁠

⁠Paris Gentle Mates

Colossus HP ⁠⁠158 - 250⁠⁠	Raid S&D ⁠⁠5 - 6⁠⁠	Scar OVR ⁠⁠4 - 3⁠⁠	Exposure HP ⁠⁠250 - 166⁠⁠	Exposure S&D ⁠⁠2 - 6⁠⁠	Exposure OVR ⁠⁠4 - 1⁠⁠	Scar S&D ⁠⁠4 - 6⁠⁠

	Player	K	D	KD	S&D	HP	3RD
⁠⁠	Dashy	110	127	110	0.77	0.96	0.81
⁠⁠	Huke	102	131	102	0.43	0.81	0.90
⁠⁠	Mercules	124	112	124	1.16	0.98	1.21
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	129	121	129	0.91	1.02	1.19
⁠⁠	Envoy	114	123	114	1.35	1.08	0.67
⁠⁠	Ghosty	107	114	107	1.36	0.92	0.84
⁠⁠	Neptune	131	121	131	0.95	1.25	0.98
⁠⁠	Sib	139	107	139	1.39	1.02	1.56

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	21	32	0.66	19
⁠⁠	Huke	25	32	0.78	45
⁠⁠	Mercules	26	26	1.00	63
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	25	29	0.86	57
⁠⁠	Envoy	27	25	1.08	115
⁠⁠	Ghosty	32	24	1.33	97
⁠⁠	Neptune	27	23	1.17	59
⁠⁠	Sib	33	25	1.32	47

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	5	8	0.63	1
⁠⁠	Huke	6	8	0.75	1
⁠⁠	Mercules	7	7	1.00	0
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	9	7	1.29	1
⁠⁠	Envoy	10	5	2.00	1
⁠⁠	Ghosty	7	7	1.00	0
⁠⁠	Neptune	6	8	0.75	4
⁠⁠	Sib	7	7	1.00	3

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	19	33	0.58	1
⁠⁠	Huke	26	27	0.96	0
⁠⁠	Mercules	31	26	1.19	0
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	28	27	1.04	2
⁠⁠	Envoy	22	30	0.73	1
⁠⁠	Ghosty	23	26	0.88	0
⁠⁠	Neptune	31	28	1.11	2
⁠⁠	Sib	37	20	1.85	0

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	28	19	1.47	123
⁠⁠	Huke	21	25	0.84	38
⁠⁠	Mercules	19	20	0.95	89
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	28	23	1.22	49
⁠⁠	Envoy	25	23	1.09	20
⁠⁠	Ghosty	15	27	0.56	84
⁠⁠	Neptune	33	25	1.32	52
⁠⁠	Sib	14	21	0.67	30

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	5	8	0.63	0
⁠⁠	Huke	2	7	0.29	1
⁠⁠	Mercules	9	5	1.80	1
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	3	6	0.50	0
⁠⁠	Envoy	7	6	1.17	1
⁠⁠	Ghosty	5	4	1.25	1
⁠⁠	Neptune	5	5	1.00	1
⁠⁠	Sib	9	4	2.25	3

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	25	21	1.19	0
⁠⁠	Huke	20	24	0.83	0
⁠⁠	Mercules	26	21	1.24	3
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	28	20	1.40	1
⁠⁠	Envoy	17	28	0.61	1
⁠⁠	Ghosty	18	23	0.78	0
⁠⁠	Neptune	21	25	0.84	0
⁠⁠	Sib	30	23	1.30	0

	Player	K	D	KD	OBJ
⁠⁠	Dashy	7	6	1.17	0
⁠⁠	Huke	2	8	0.25	0
⁠⁠	Mercules	6	7	0.86	2
⁠⁠	Shotzzy	8	9	0.89	3
⁠⁠	Envoy	6	6	1.00	2
⁠⁠	Ghosty	7	3	2.33	0
⁠⁠	Neptune	8	7	1.14	1
⁠⁠	Sib	9	7	1.29	2

OpTic Texas were considered strong favorites following their total domination over Paris Gentle Mates in the winners finals. But momentum was in the favor of Paris after their thrilling win against FaZe Vegas. A best of seven for the grand finals would be a definitive test to determine the best team. Colossus Hardpoint went in favor of Paris with good control throughout. The momentum slowed on Raid, but four straight rounds wins closed out the map 6-5 in favor of the Gentle Mates. OpTic clutched up in the dying moments of Scar Overload to tie up the map and force overtime where they got the win in sudden death. A triple Exposure run was next. OpTic Texas won the Hardpoint 250-166 to even up the series, but then Paris won the Search and Destroy 6-2 to go on series point. Overload went in OpTic's way again to set up a map seven decider. After going down 2-5, OpTic battled back to 4-5 before Paris and Ghosty clutched up in round ten to win the map and tournament.

This Call of Duty League major victory was the first for the organization since the acquisition by Gotaga and company back in 2024. Envoy became the first player to win a Call of Duty League tournament with four different organizations and Neptune won his first major after losing in four last season.

The next stage of qualifiers begins on February 13 with six weeks of online play heading into the Birmingham Major.

Published on 02. Feb 2026

Written by Esen

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