This article is part of our Call of Duty Recap series.
Group Blue's weekend was an absurd rollercoaster of emotions that saw massive upsets, wins, plays, streaks and loses. The entire playoff bracket has been shaken up by the events this weekend with Evil Geniuses taking first place seeding over FaZe Clan and Rise Nation. FaZe Clan fell into second place while Rise Nation, after a heartbreaking match, fell into third place for Stage 2. Meanwhile, Fnatic was slotted into relegation. Nothing was clear-cut in this group, with every placement being won by razor-thin margins.
Day 1 hardly set-up the tone for this weekend with predicted teams coming out on top. Evil Geniuses had a horrendous Day 1 where they failed to win even a single map. Rise Nation even blew out Evil Geniuses in Round 3 Uplink with a 20-0 score. Fears that Evil Geniuses would be Group Blue's Cloud9 dominated every discussion going into Day 2. Both FaZe Clan and Rise Nation did extremely well in their matches on Day 1, with both looking to come on top of the weekend. Tailing behind the top two was Fnatic with a solid first day.
Then Day 2 came. In a stunning upset, Evil Geniuses, after six straight map losses, 3-0'd FaZe Clan. That single win shook the entire weekend. Afterwards, Evil Geniuses was dominating every single game while FaZe Clan looked like the weakest team in the group. Straight off of their 3-0 win, Evil Geniuses then won a series over Rise Nation in a Round 5 Search & Destroy. The unbelievable turn-around was thanks to Anthony "NAMELESS" Wheeler insane KD's. Simply no one in this weekend could compete with NAMELESS silky smooth shots. Credit also has to be given Jared "Nagafen" Harrell who kept closely behind NAMELESS' insane streaks.
Day 3 began with every team at 2-2. It was anyone's tournament. However, Evil Geniuses came in hot with a swift win over FaZe Clan before decimating Fnatic. In two short games, Evil Geniuses was locked in first place. Fnatic, on the other hand, suddenly couldn't slay. Their unpredictably helped them edge out map wins, but their lack of kills doomed the team to fourth place. Fnatic's Bradely "wuskin" Marhsell had an especially soul-crushing loss in his series against Evil Geniuses on Day 3 in Round 2 Search & Destroy. In that round, wuskin scored a massive 14/5 KD only to fail to clutch the round.
Then, it all came down to the final series between FaZe Clan and Rise Nation. Both teams were battling for second place in a tense fight. Rise Nation swept the first two maps as FaZe Clan continued to limp through matches. When Round 3 Uplink came around, FaZe Clan looked finished only to find a win thanks to James "Clayster' Eubanks. Round 4 Hardpoint was a nail-biting round with FaZe Clan edging out an absurd win 250-249. Then, Clayster once again exploded. In Round 5 Search & Destroy, Clayster 6-0'd Rise Nation with an 8/0 KD. In six games, Clayster didn't die once while outslaying all of Rise Nation. It was an emotional defeat as Rise Nation saw their second seed placement slip through their fingers in a single map.
Next weekend will see Group Yellow with eUnited, Millennium, Epsilon eSports and Luminosity Gaming facing off from May 5th to May 7th. The first two days will be streamed on YouTube, MLG's website and in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. May 7th will only be streamed on MLG and in-game. Matches begin Friday, May 5th at 4:00 pm EST.
