The London home series was the second stop on the Call of Duty League calendar. With eight of the 12 teams in attendance, London was a chance for some of the teams to consolidate their position in the league table and for some to get off the mark with a win.
Heading into the home series, there were plenty of storylines for each of the respective teams.
London Royal Ravens: What Could've Been
It seemed like everything was aligning perfectly for the London Royal Ravens to go all the way and win the entire tournament in front of their home fans.
Taking down Toronto in convincing fashion set up a clash with the New York Subliners to qualify for bracket play. New York showed that their defeat at the hands of the Ravens at launch weekend was no fluke, taking the first two maps, leaving London and the home fans stunned into silence.
Led by an impressive series from European king Jordan "Jurd" Crowley, the Ravens rallied back, taking the next three maps to qualify for the knockout phase of the tournament.
Taking down the Dallas Empire was always going to be a tricky task but with the crowd behind them, London edged the first two maps by the narrowest of margins, needing just one more victory to send the crowd into raptures. Dallas responded strongly with two very impressive performances on Hackney Yard Domination and Hackney Yard Hardpoint to force a deciding fifth game on Piccadilly.
The double sniper rifle setup from the Empire enabled to pick off the stray Ravens players with relative ease. London did manage to reduce the deficit but it was too much as Dallas silenced the crowd with a reverse sweep to eliminate the home team in fourth place.
Dallas Empire: Back On Track
After taking on two of the strongest teams in the league at the opening weekend, it was hard to gauge where Dallas fitted in within the other teams. London was a chance to show that they were still one of the top teams.
Kicking off the event with a comfortable win over the Seattle Surge, Dallas set up a clash with the Chicago Huntsmen for the second time this season. The Empire did manage to score one map win against a strong Chicago team but the team weren't done yet. A rematch against the Surge for bracket qualification was another straightforward victory, booking their place in the final four and against the Royal Ravens.
The opening two games against London should've gone in favour of Dallas but it was the Ravens that managed to come away with two slender map victories, leaving the Empire on the verge of elimination. Solid performances from Indervir "iLLeY" Dhaliwal and Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro in games three and four bought Dallas back into contention, forcing a deciding fifth game. Some solid offensive strategy from the Empire ultimately made the difference as Ian "Crimsix" Porter & co walked into the Grand Finals where they would face Chicago once again. Chicago proved to be the superior team once again but a second-place finish this early in the season is still a good result.
Chicago Huntsmen: Standing Tall At The Top
After launch weekend it was widely considered that the Chicago Huntsmen and the Atlanta FaZe were at the top of the pile in terms of outright performance and it was hard to argue with that.
With Atlanta not in attendance, Chicago had the chance to solidify their place at the top of the Call of Duty esports mountain with a good showing in London.
The Huntsmen began with a swift 3-0 against the Los Angeles Guerrillas to set up another battle with the Dallas Empire. Just like launch weekend, Chicago walked away with a fairly easy win, and one of the four places in the knockout bracket.
The real test was against a very strong Paris Legion team who have proved to be one of the surprises of the season in its infancy. The series went the distance, with Chicago sweeping aside Paris with a swift 6-0 win on the final map to secure a place in the grand final against Dallas once again.
Pierce "Gunless" Hillman and Alec "Arcitys" Sanderson were firing on all cylinders throughout the tournament, especially in the final where the former eUnited teammates fully utilised the Modern Warfare mechanics to their advantage and scoring several clutches that looked almost impossible.
With this win, Chicago now lead the table with Atlanta, who will be back in action on February 23rd at the Atlanta home series event, where we will hopefully get to see an almighty showdown between the Huntsmen and the FaZe!
Final Thoughts
The event once again proved that the London crowd are unmatched when it comes to Call of Duty events. Chanting the locations of players during a match did cross a line but other than that, the crowd showed why London and the UK deserves a chance at holding a world championship.
The level of competition in the Call of Duty League could not be higher, with all 12 teams more than capable of beating each other on any given weekend, It is a shame that not all 12 teams are in action each weekend but that was never going to be a possibility.
Heading into the Atlanta home series, the Call of Duty esports community awaits a potential showdown between Chicago and Atlanta in what could already be one of the matches of the season.
Feature photo credit: Katy Eyre/ESPAT Media
