Minor 1: Team Winners & Losers | 1.15.25

EasyMac

January 14, 2025 4:24 PM

This past weekend, the Call of Duty League's Minor 1 tournament delivered a weekend full of electrifying gameplay, unexpected results, and many highlight moments. 

As the first minor tournament of the season, the stakes were high as teams fought for a haul of CDL points and the $20,000 prize. While some squads rose to the challenge, claiming victories and setting themselves up as contenders to watch, others faltered, leaving fans questioning their form heading back into the Major 1 Qualifiers. 

In this article, we’ll break down the biggest winners and losers of Minor 1, exploring the teams who shined and those who struggled under the spotlight.


Winner: The Return of Atlanta FaZe

While many fans around the League began to celebrate the premature downfall of FaZe, the team didn’t let the pressure get to them. Instead, the team would go on a 4-series win streak to win the first Minor Tournament of the CDL.

Hardpoint was in prime form during their run, having a 7-1 record, currently sitting on a 7-map win streak, and map wins on four different maps (Didn’t play Vault). They won 71% of their rotations, leading the CDL and powering their +54.0 average score margin (1st in the CDL). The squad was also rejuvenated in SND, finishing the weekend with a 4-1 record in the mode. They were great in the early rounds, having a 56.5% opening duel win rate but, even more importantly, had an 80.0% conversation rate (2nd in the CDL). 

📸 Photo by @ATLFaZe


Loser: Thieves Locked Up Early

The LA Thieves will continue to have immense pressure on themselves, as they came into the season as the new superteam & have loud personalities. After going a perfect 4-0 in the opening two weekends of the season, they were tournament favorites for many. 

Instead, the team made a rapid exit. In their opening match, the Thieves fell to eventually winners Atlanta 1-3. They lost both Hardpoint (198-250 on Skyline, 155-250 on Protocol) while looking a step behind in the 2-6 loss on Skyline SND. While it’s just one series, many red flags were glaring including converting just 50% of their opening duel wins (12th in CDL) and 0-4 attacking record in SND.


Winner: The Two-Win Teams

While Atlanta FaZe won the most series in the tournament with 4, there were multiple 2-win teams that impressed on the weekend. Those teams included Carolina Royal Ravens, Minnesota Rokkr, and OpTic Texas.

Carolina finished 2nd in the tournament, losing to Atlanta in the Finals but taking down both Cloud9 and OpTic on their way there. They struggled in Hardpoint (1-5) but were stellar in both SND (4-1) and Control (2-1). 

Minnesota had little expectations going into the weekend but showed that there is an excellent foundation to build upon. The Rokkr took down both M8s and Ultra 3-2 before running into a hot FaZe squad (Lost 2-3). Going 3-0 in Control, the Rokkr looked perfect on Protocol and had a stout defense on Vault.

OpTic Texas failed to make the Grand Finals but still showed plenty of good aspects in their game. OpTic had a winning record in all three modes, the only team to do so in the tournament (ATL 1-3 in Control). They were the best breaking team (54.2% Break %) and attacking team in Control (1st in Ticks per attack - 4.8).

📸 Photo by @Spribs_


Loser: Three of the Top 4 Seeds

The Top 4 seeds of the Minor Tournament contained multiple surprises. Top teams in Texas & Atlanta failed to secure the byes, leaving room for surprises in Toronto Ultra, Boston Breach, and Carolina to take the open positions.

The top teams would get to skip the Friday matches, opening up on Saturday instead. By the end of the night, three of the four top-seeded teams would fail to make Sunday. Toronto lost a Game 5 thriller to Minnesota, Boston fell to Texas in an equally thrilling Game 5, and LA Thieves dropped to Atlanta. The Age of Parity is here in the CDL.