The Call of Duty League returns this weekend on a new patch and with a new map. After the Toronto Ultra won Major 1 in Boston, the competition looks fierce going into the next stage of the season.
Entering the qualifiers for Major 2, Breaking Point has updated our rankings for the Rookie of the Year race. Players are ranked based on their performances from the first set of qualifiers and the Major. These rankings will continue to change, as the new patch will spice up the competition, but this piece serves to give a great insight into how the season has gone so far!
Previous Rankings
Best Performance of the Qualifiers - Jan 22nd
Opening two-week performance - Jan 8th
Storylines to watch
Rostermania commenced after Major 1 and resulted in two rookies being picked up by CDL teams. Las Vegas picked up a new AR in Giovanni “Gio” Webster from FaZe Black. Gio placed second at the Boston Challengers Open with Lore Gaming, performing very well across the weekend. On the new patch, Gio impressed many while practicing against pro teams, which resulted in him being signed. Miami have also made a change, which is technically their second of the season. Originally, Eric “EriKBooM” Ferrer was a part of the starting roster only to be benched for Juan “JurNii” Antonio González Muñoz before the season began.
1) Thomas "Lynz" Gregorio - Minnesota RØKKR
Team Record: 5-6 Series Record, 21-22 Map Record, 75 CDL Points (4th)
Next Match: Sunday, February 18th vs Toronto Ultra at 4:30 pm EST
Stage 1 Breakdown: The Minnesota RØKKR had a terrible start to the opening stage of the season. They lost their first four matches before winning out their remaining series to save their qualifiers. With a 3-4 record, the Rokkr secured the sixth seed and an upper bracket start heading into the Major 1 at Boston. Minnesota began Major 1 with a surprise 3-0 victory over the New York Subliners. They did get swept by the Ultra in round two, but they bounced back with a 3-2 win against the Guerrillas. Their tournament run came to an end with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of OpTic. After a 0-4 start to the qualifiers, earning 75 CDL points (fourth-most) and a fourth-place finish in Boston is a great performance.
Advanced Season Stats
Overall
KD: 1.04
Slayer Rating: 78.8
aKD: 1.08
TES: 57.9%
Hardpoint
KD: 1.00
Kills per 10 minutes: 21.3
Hill Time per 10 minutes: 38.1
Damage per 10 minutes: 4051.3
SND
KD: 1.18
Kills per round: 0.81
ADR: 160.8
Opening Duel Win Percentage: 52.6%
Control
KD: 1.06
Kills per 10 minutes: 18.3
Caps per ATK Round: 1.4
Damage per 10 minutes: 3342.5
2) Isaiah "Gwinn" Gwinn - Carolina Royal Ravens
Team Record: 2-7 Series Record, 12-24 Map Record, 25 CDL Points (10th)
Next Match: Friday, February 16th vs New York Subliners at 4:30 pm EST
Stage 1 Breakdown: Carolina had a very rough go during the qualifiers for Major 1. The roster consisted of rookies Gwinn and ReeaL with a veteran AR duo of GodRx & Clayster. Unfortunately, ReeaL suffered visa issues that hampered him from the start and kept him from finishing the qualifiers. Then GodRx, after struggling in the opening series, would be released and retire from competing. Coming in to replace them were veterans Thomas “TJHaly” Haly and Tyler “FeLo” Johnson. While the team finished 1-6 in the qualifiers, they looked exponentially better on LAN. The Royal Ravens took down New York 3-1 in their first matchup before falling 3-2 to Seattle. With a full stage of practice and a revamped Search and Destroy, Carolina could take big strides during the second stage.
Advanced Season Stats
Overall
KD: 1.02
Slayer Rating: 75.4
aKD: 0.95
TES: 57.9%
Hardpoint
KD: 1.06
Kills per 10 minutes: 21.3
Hill Time per 10 minutes: 57.4
Damage per 10 minutes: 3791.4
SND
KD: 0.76
Kills per round: 0.62
ADR: 148.0
Opening Duel Win Percentage: 35.7%
Control
KD: 1.10
Kills per 10 minutes: 19.1
Caps per ATK Round: 1.5
Damage per 10 minutes: 3615.2
3) Eric "Snoopy" Pérez - Boston Breach
Team Record: 2-6 Series Record, 14-19 Map Record, 20 CDL Points (11th)
Next Match: Saturday, February 17th vs Carolina Royal Ravens at 3:00 pm EST
Stage 1 Breakdown: The Boston Breach had a start to forget for the Modern Warfare 3 season. They struggled during the qualifiers at times but still had some bright spots. The Breach beat the Ultra 3-0, Miami 3-1, and then took both Atlanta and New York to a fifth game. They looked great against the best teams but also terrible against the lower competition. Boston lost to LAG 3-1, LAT 3-0, and then Seattle 3-1 to finish the qualifiers 2-5 with the 10th seed. This resulted in the team starting in the lower bracket to start their own Major. The team matched up again with the Surge, falling 3-2 to finish the Major with top 12 placing. The lackluster start resulted in the team releasing Kenyen “Capsidal” Sutton in favor of Obaid “Asim” Asim going into the next stage of the season.
Advanced Season Stats
Overall
KD: 0.99
Slayer Rating: 79.9
aKD: 1.02
TES: 57.0%
Hardpoint
KD: 0.99
Kills per 10 minutes: 21.9
Hill Time per 10 minutes: 50.7
Damage per 10 minutes: 4024.2
SND
KD: 1.11
Kills per round: 0.78
ADR: 159.6
Opening Duel Win Percentage: 62.5%
Control
KD: 0.95
Kills per 10 minutes: 18.9
Caps per ATK Round: 1.9
Damage per 10 minutes: 3710.7
4) Jordan "abuzah" François - Seattle Surge
Team Record: 5-6 Series Record, 20-26 Map Record, 60 CDL Points (6th)
Next Match: Saturday, February 17th vs New York Subliners at 6:00 pm EST
Stage 1 Breakdown: Seattle started the qualifiers for Major 1 well, going a perfect 2-0 in the first week of matches. The momentum faded, as the Surge fell to 3-4 in the end to secure the 7th seed. While the Surge beat Miami 3-2, they fell against the top 3 teams in the league in Atlanta (3-1), Texas (3-1), and Toronto (3-0). This would forecast future matches during the Major. In the opening match, the Surge got swept by the Ultra to get knocked into the lower bracket. The team bounced back with 3-2 wins against the Boston Breach and Carolina Royal Ravens. They would end up falling to OpTic Texas 3-1 in a lower round three match to finish top six in the tournament. Even with the struggles against the top teams, the Surge came away with 60 CDL points from Stage 1.
Advanced Season Stats
Overall
KD: 0.97
Slayer Rating: 74.6
aKD: 1.03
TES: 56.2%
Hardpoint
KD: 0.95
Kills per 10 minutes: 20.0
Hill Time per 10 minutes: 70.5
Damage per 10 minutes: 3835.1
SND
KD: 1.27
Kills per round: 0.80
ADR: 165.9
Opening Duel Win Percentage: 51.4%
Control
KD: 0.92
Kills per 10 minutes: 17.0
Caps per ATK Round: 1.6
Damage per 10 minutes: 3369.5
5) Justice "Estreal" McMillan - LA Guerrillas
Team Record: 4-7 Series Record, 17-25 Map Record, 50 CDL Points (8th)
Next Match: Sunday, February 18th vs Las Vegas Legion at 3:00 pm EST
Stage 1 Breakdown: Many in the community thought that the LA Guerrillas were going to fail this season when they announced their starting roster. The noise from the community didn’t go away after a 0-2 start to the qualifiers, but they found two clutch wins over the Boston Breach and LA Thieves to finish 2-5. The win over the Thieves gave them the tiebreaker for the 8th seed, which locked in an upper bracket start at the Major. The Guerrillas had an impossible round 1 match, falling to the Atlanta FaZe 3-0 to fall to the lower bracket. The squad showed resilience, beating the LA Thieves and Las Vegas Legion to make a little run. They would end up falling to Minnesota in 3-2 to finish top six at Major 1. The stage showed the potential of the team, but they’ll have to continue improving going into the Major 2 qualifiers.
Advanced Season Stats
Overall
KD: 0.95
Slayer Rating: 73.7
aKD: 0.91
TES: 56.3%
Hardpoint
KD: 0.93
Kills per 10 minutes: 20.8
Hill Time per 10 minutes: 57.3
Damage per 10 minutes: 3853.2
SND
KD: 0.77
Kills per round: 0.57
ADR: 121.9
Opening Duel Win Percentage: 42.9%
Control
KD: 1.06
Kills per 10 minutes: 19.4
Caps per ATK Round: 2.2
Damage per 10 minutes: 3668.6
6) Evan "Purj" Perez - Las Vegas Legion
Team Record: 2-7 Series Record, 14-23 Map Record, 25 CDL Points (9th)
Next Match: Sunday, February 18th vs LA Guerrillas at 3:00 pm EST
Stage 1 Breakdown: Purj and the Las Vegas Legion had a rough go in the opening stage of the season. They won their first against against Minnesota but then lost six straight to finish 1-6 with the 12th seed. They did have one of the hardest schedules in the league but still only won 31% of their maps played. They turned it around somewhat at the Major, beating the Miami Heretics in the lower bracket 3-0. In the series sweep, Purj set the lowest series KD in Modern Warfare 3 with a 0.46 overall KD. The team then fell to the LA Guerrillas 3-2 to finish top eight in the tournament. The poor results sparked change in the roster, with rookie Gio coming in for Eli “Standy” Bentz. With this move, Purj will be moved to the SMG position. The new patch will put a lot of pressure on Purj to perform, as the league will be in a 2 SMG meta instead of the 3 AR meta in Stage 1 in the previous update.
Advanced Season Stats
Overall
KD: 0.82
Slayer Rating: 61.7
aKD: 0.84
TES: 54.9%
Hardpoint
KD: 0.83
Kills per 10 minutes: 15.0
Hill Time per 10 minutes: 73.0
Damage per 10 minutes: 3385.3
SND
KD: 0.90
Kills per round: 0.62
ADR: 176.4
Opening Duel Win Percentage: 51.6%
Control
KD: 0.78
Kills per 10 minutes: 14.6
Caps per ATK Round: 1.6
Damage per 10 minutes: 3406.4
