Cellium & Simp lead the Stars of Friday's Matches

EasyMac

January 25, 2025 5:40 PM

The final week of the Major 1 Qualifiers is upon us, giving fans battles from taking the 1st seed and to making it into the Upper Bracket. The weekend will surely give everyone many great matches. Last night started the week with a bang, including two Game 5s to go with a classic FaZe stomping.

In today’s article, we’ll spotlight the best players from yesterday’s matches. Check out the key stats and highlights of their impact, key moments, and the plays that made them the stars of Friday night.


Jovan "04" Rodriguez - Vancouver Surge

3-2 Win vs Carolina Royal Ravens

The O4 that showed so much promise from last season has officially returned. The sophomore SMG had himself a series against the Royal Ravens, going full take-over mode in the SNDs. His 21 SND Kills over the 5-map series were tied for 4th most in a match this season. Surge will need both their sophomore players to continue heating up going into Major I.

Led the Surge with 105 kills and 1.15 KD in the series (Only positive VAN Player)
Went 21-12 (1.75 KD) with 6 Opening Duel Wins in the two SNDs
Game 5: 10-6 (1.67 KD) with 1,319 damage and 4 opening duel wins


Isaiah "Gwinn" Gwinn - Carolina Royal Ravens

2-3 Loss vs Vancouver Surge

Carolina has been stumbling as of late, but in this series, Gwinn did all he could to stabilize the ship. Gwinn led the lobby in multiple categories including kills (113), K/D (1.40), damage (13,073), Hardpoint K/D (1.38), Control K/D (1.75), and Slayer Rating (103.0). While his performance wasn’t enough to get the win for the Royal Ravens, he played at an elite level in all three game modes.

13,073 series damage to lead the lobby
Finished with 113 series Kills and 1.40 series K/D
69 Kills, 50 deaths (1.38 K/D) in the two HPs with 180 seconds of Hill Time combined


Thomas "Scrap" Ernst - LA Thieves

3-2 Win vs Miami Heretics

Scrap bounced back with a great series against the Miami Heretics after a historically bad performance last week. While his Hardpoint gameplay still doesn’t look at an elite level, that cannot be said for both SND and Control. The superstar AR finished 12-8 (1.50 KD) over two SND maps while going 29-14 (2.07) in the Control. His damage output is still at an insane level, showing that once his slump in Hardpoint is over, he’ll be one of the best in every mode.

Ended 10-2 (5.00 K/D) with 1088 damage in the Game 5 victory
Lobby-High 11,893 damage over the series
Insane 29-14 (2.07 K/D) performance in Control


📸 Photo by @CODLeague

McArthur "Cellium" Jovel - Atlanta FaZe

3-0 Win vs Boston Breach

Forget December completely, Cellium has found his form and is looking dangerous right now. MC has been playing with a faster pace, leading to more situations where he can use his high-level aiming and movement to fuller effect. This has led to the team playing better and the insane individual numbers returning for McArthur. They will surely be favorites going into Major 1 carrying this form.

Lobby-High 1.50 K/D over the series with 106.7 Slayer Rating
1.25 K/D or higher in each game mode
7-1 (7.00 K/D) in the Map 2 SND stomping


Chris "Simp" Lehr - Atlanta FaZe

3-0 Win vs Boston Breach

While Cellium stole the show, Simp had yet another consistent series for Atlanta. He was the leading slayer in the series with 66 kills, while having a 1.40 K/D. Simp continues to show his elite level in every mode, finishing with K/D splits of 1.44 in Hardpoint, 1.25 in SND, and 1.38 in Control while contributing greatly in the objective stats in each of those modes.

Led the series with 66 kills in the 3-0 win
39-27 (1.44 K/D) with 3,923 damage and 83 seconds of hill time to start Map 1
Went 22-16 (1.38 K/D) in the Control with 1.31 Attacking K/D and 7 tick captures


Check out the full slate of Box Scores from today's matches here!