This article is part of our Call of Duty series.
Team EnVyUs took care of business in the first day of competition, dropping just two maps total in its best-of-five matchups against eUnited and Team eLevate in Pool A. Coming off a disappointing performance in the Stage 2 playoffs, Jordan "Jkap" Kaplan seemingly rebounded with a vengeance in EnVyUs' opening matchup against eLevate, posting a 41/31 KD in Round 1 Hardpoint. He followed that strong performance with an equally impressive Round 2 Search and Destroy, in which he put together multiple critical kills en route to a 7/4 KD. If Jkap can continue that same level of results throughout the tournament, EnVyUs will be a tough team to beat.
The only European team in pool play, Team Infused seems to have the inside track on Pool B after defeating both Ground Zero and H2K Gaming. While Infused had to grind out a 3-1 series win over Ground Zero and a 3-2 series win over H2K Gaming, there's something to be said about winning the big matchups when they matter the most, which is a skill that Infused hasn't always demonstrated during this iteration of Call of Duty.
More shocking in Pool B, however, was the performance by the ex-Dream Team squad, Ground Zero, which lost both of its opening matchups. After a second place finish at the Stage 2 playoffs, the team's disappointing start to MLG Orlando means it's in danger of falling into the Championship's lower bracket.
Dubbed the "group of death," Pool C has been relatively calm, save for a climactic 3-2 win by FaZe Clan over Rise Nation. Despite losing both matchups 0-3, compLexity Gaming was able to hang with both FaZe Clan and Rise Nation throughout each series. However, losing both sets likely makes it tough for the reinvented organization to jump into the Championship upper bracket.
Much like Team EnVyUs, OpTic Gaming entered MLG Orlando pursued by high expectations, and promptly blitzed through the opening day of competition in Pool D. While Stage 2 playoff nemesis Luminosity Gaming did put together a valiant series, pushing OpTic to the brink in Round 1 Hardpoint before securing a victory on Round 2 Search and Destroy, OpTic Gaming appeared to exorcise its playoff demons, taking the next two games for the series win. Luminosity may still have a shot to play OpTic Gaming again, however, as its dominating 3-0 win over Team Kaliber likely keeps the team in Championship winner's bracket contention.
The action continues on Saturday when the 96-team Open bracket is whittled down to eight, the top half of which will join each of the four pools to complete pool play and determine Championship bracket placement. The top two teams of each pool will be seeded into the Championship winner's bracket while the bottom two will go into loser's.
