Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra are seen as the two favorites for the Stage 4 Major trophy: Tyler “aBezy” Pharris and co. are topping the regular season score charts with a 110 point lead while Jamie “Insight” Craven’s squad have their strong recent form to cling to in this barnburner of a matchup.
Atlanta FaZe: the young guns topping the league
Atlanta FaZe have been on top of the standings since the first Stage of Season 2. After winning against the defending champion Dallas Empire in Stage One Finals, they got behind the steering wheel to demolish other teams’ dreams in the second stage with a string of unstoppable performances during the regular season.
Chris “Simp” Lehr, Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris, McArthur “Cellium” Jovel and Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson merged the best synergy and understanding of the game mechanics out of every other player but Toronto Ultra came out more prepared for the Stage 2 Major finals and managed to defeat what the CDL social media team appropriately framed as “the final boss”.
Though FaZe failed to repeat the clean sweep during the regular season of the third stage, players did not quit on each other and bounced back with a Major win, defeating the New York Subliners side who inflicted their only defeat in the round robin portion of Stage 3. trophy.
Toronto Ultra: the ultimate resurgence
Toronto Ultra had a horrible opening performance in the 2021 CDL season with only one victory and four defeats during the regular season and lost four. Despite this, Toronto Ultra moved to the third round of the first Major by beating London Royal Ravens and Minnesota ROKKR. Both series ended 3-2 and their close nature suggested that the Canadian organization would fail to make it past Los Angeles Thieves in the following round.
The second stage, featuring their Home Series, was the complete opposite of the first one. After a 2-3 record in the regular season netted them an upper bracket spot on tiebreakers, they were a different team in the Major with better understanding, synergy and individual performances, going all the way. Though they couldn’t repeat the same performance n Stage 3, they still reached the semifinals of the Major, losing to FaZe in a close series.
Atlanta and Toronto: a growing rivalry
At the time of writing, Atlanta FaZe are the leaders of the league with 440 points and Toronto Ultra follow them with 315 points, factoring in their S4 Major earnings so far. So far, Atlanta FaZe hold the edge in the matchup with two regular wins and a 3-1 record at the Majors, though that one loss cost them the championship in Stage 2. Toronto Ultra managed to beat Atlanta FaZe only one time this year and that one time was Stage 2 Finals.
Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra will meet each other in Winners Bracket Final for the fourth stage of the Call of Duty League. According to CDL’s format, the loser will not be eliminated but will try to hustle their way up in the Losers Bracket, meaning we might get a repeat of the matchup in a single day’s time.
