The 12 Call of Duty League teams are starting to make their way to Brooklyn, New York for Major IV. This tournament is every team’s last chance to earn CDL Points for the Champs bracket. With this pressure, paired with the $200,000 grand prize for the tournament, teams are sure to give it their absolute all in Brooklyn.
While Vanguard has been extremely difficult to pick against this season, we have a few bold predictions for this weekend. Some may not seem like the boldest of predictions, but we’re also playing the odds of certain things happening at Major IV. For example, we don’t have the Paris Legion winning a match even though that would be the boldest possible prediction.
1. Boston Breach make it to the grand finals
The Boston Breach have been a rollercoaster of a team during the 2022 season. Some of that can certainly be chalked up to the inconsistent nature of Vanguard but the rest might be attributed to some possible roster problems. Boston switched out rookie Kenyen “Capsidal” Sutton for Reece “Vivid” Drost before Major IV. They performed horribly during Major III, leading to the change. Bringing in Vivid has proven to be one of the best roster moves of the season, as the Breach went 4-1 in the qualifiers and looked primed for a deep run this weekend.
However, fans have seen this story with the Breach before. They had a great Major II qualifying stage but petered out at the actual tournament. With Vivid, though, we’re predicting they get over their LAN demons and make a run to the grand finals.
Boston defeated every previous major winner during these past qualifiers. They’re playing at a level few teams are right now and if they can win their first match against Florida, Vivid’s old team, they have a favorable bracket ahead of them.
The X-factor for Boston is whether or not Dylan “Nero” Koch can continue his stellar play in the SMG role. If he can, the Breach will have a much easier time winning matches.
2. The LA Thieves get the FaZe monkey off their back
Since forming in the CDL last season, the LA Thieves have never defeated Atlanta FaZe. This dates back to the start of Black Ops Cold War.
As fate would have it, because the Thieves defeated the Subliners in their final qualifier match this stage, they match up against FaZe in Round 1 of the winners bracket. While usually we wouldn’t give LA a chance, Atlanta has looked particularly vulnerable this stage.
FaZe were wiped by London and the LA Guerrillas during the course of the qualifiers. While they also defeated the Thieves, it was only by a 3-2 score. With LA’s season potentially on the line, we think they overcome this curse and knock FaZe to the loser’s bracket early.
If the Thieves don’t have a strong tournament performance, they could find themselves out of a Champs spot. They know they need to make a stand against Atlanta.
3. Every previous major winner wins a match
On paper, this seems like the most obvious prediction of all. Although, during these past qualifiers, the three previous major winners (OpTic, LAG, Seattle) went a combined 4-11. For whatever reason, after every team has won a major, they’ve performed horribly in the following stage. While we don’t think OpTic, the Guerrillas or the Surge will win the event, or even get too far, we do think each one will win their first loser’s bracket match.
LAG play the loser of London and Toronto, OpTic players the loser of NYSL and Minnesota, and Seattle plays the loser of Boston and Florida. Any of those matchups are winnable for the major winners. All three teams had a rough qualifying stage these past three weeks but anything can happen on LAN.
For the Guerrillas, specifically, they’re fighting for a top eight spot in the standings. Currently, they’re clinging to a five point lead for the eighth spot. Their Champs hopes are on the line, and we think this is enough to propel LA to at least win one match.
As for OpTic and the Surge, they have more than enough talent to win any match. It’s simply about putting together full performances during each series.
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