CDL 2022: Ravens and Surge Dominate Opening Week

Rejoice, Call of Duty fans – the CDL is back and the competition is officially hot. Following a Toronto Ultra-led pre-season event, the regular season has now kicked off, leading to some massive upsets very early on. The CDL 2022 season will be an altogether unpredictable one, with last season’s bottom-table teams already dominating the competition. From Friday the 4th through to Sunday the 6th, the likes of the London Royal Ravens and Seattle Surge overwhelmed the competition in an early display of aggression.

It was an unexpected start to a season that has already been relatively riddled with concerns. There are complaints rising from several camps across the League as to the stability of the game, and compared to last year’s season, viewership is already down.

Let’s see what we can learn about the CDL 2022 season following the opening weekend.

Royal Ravens Rising

To kick off the entire season, the London Royal Ravens dominated the Florida Mutineers almost effortlessly. It was an early 3 – 0 victory for the Ravens, which included a 6 – 1 SND and a 3 – 1 Control result. An all-refreshed combination of Afro, Gismo, Nastie, and Zer0 seems to be the best tactical decision the team has made in years. Following the early victory, the Ravens pushed on to punish the newly-formed OpTic Texas, beating Scump, iLLeY, Shotzzy, and Dashy with an aggressive playstyle and a massive reverse sweep.

According to the Call of Duty League standings, Ravens sits in first place, followed immediately behind by Seattle Surge – and it’s only the alphabet that separates these two teams. As the opening weekend played out, Seattle Surge was able to devastate both the New York Subliners and Toronto Ultra, both world-class teams from last season. These losses have already led to some bad blood across the board, particularly from the veteran camp of New York Subliners, featuring the talents of both Crimsix and Clayster.

These are two of the greatest COD players in history, and they’re struggling to keep composure even this early on.

A Disappointing Start

Some of the highest performing teams from last season went the weekend without picking up a single win. For example, the likes of Toronto Ultra, OpTic Texas, New York Subliners, and the LA Thieves all came away with a 0 – 1 or 0 – 2 record. Admittedly, it’s extremely early on in the CDL 2022 competition, but in many cases, there can be a ‘start-as-you-mean-to-go-on’ mentality. For some teams, particularly those with more novice players, the earlier losses can be a crushing blow to morale.

Last year’s champions, Atlanta FaZe, managed to hold strong against both Paris Legion and the LA Thieves, ending up in third place. Also, the all-new team of Boston Breach, brand new for the 2022 season, managed to pin down the Los Angeles Guerrillas in a tough fought 3 – 2 victory. Unfortunately, it wasn’t plain sailing throughout the weekend, with some players experiencing bugs that directly impacted their game.

Elsewhere, there were some minor production issues that impacted the overall quality of the broadcast. As we move into the next week of the CDL 2022 season, there’s plenty to play for for some of these teams. We’ve got a long road ahead of us, and the hope now is that some of the players will regain and come back harder next week.

If you’re eager to check out some highly contested spectacles and engage in top-tier Call of Duty League betting, be sure to tune in to the following matches:

Grant Taylor-Hill
Grant Taylor-Hill

Since: February 12, 2021

Grant is a lifelong, multi-platform gamer with a passion for journalism and more than ten years' experience in the industry. He'll try any game once, and when he's not playing them, he's watching them, being as he is an avid esports fan.

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