This article is part of our Call of Duty Recap series.
The first group of the CWL Pro League came to a close this weekend with some small, but important developments. The biggest thing to come out of Group Red was Splyce taking second place while Team EnVyUs took first. This means that Team EnVyUs will have the luxury of going up against a second place seed during playoffs portion of Stage 1. Splyce, as a result, will be forced to fight one of the first place teams. Meanwhile, Cloud9 dropped out of the tournament completely and fell to relegation for Season 2. Mindfreak, on the other hand, made a strong name for themselves and slid into third place for a seed in Stage 2.
One of the oddest things this weekend was Cloud9's performance. After a season of up-and-downs, Cloud9 closed on a decided low by nearly going fifteen straight map loses. The first two days of Group Red saw Cloud9 fail to win a single map against anyone. It wasn't until Day 3 that Cloud9 was able to take a map off of Team EnVyUs by winning Round 2 Search & Destroy. That seemed to ignite Cloud9 as they eventually pushed towards a Game 5, losing in Round 11 to EnVy, securing their fourth place finish in the process. Cloud9 then, frustratingly, won their only game of the weekend against Mindfreak after their placement was already confirmed.
Mindfreak attracted new attention as an Asia-Pacific team that could run with the pros. Conrad "Shockz" Rymarek was crucial to Mindfreak's group performance as he single-handedly carried rounds with strong killstreaks and a steady shot. The only-qualifying APAC team even took Splyce to Round 5 Search & Destroy thanks to Shockz's and Lincoln "Fighta" Ferguson's quick aim. While Mindfreak will still have an uphill battle to climb once Stage 2 commences, their performance in Group Red certainly should be seen as a positive.
Splyce had a near-flawless weekend only to lose out on the top seed to Team EnVyUs during the final match of the weekend. Splyce were absolutely dominate with only Team EnVyUs giving them any sort of challenge. At least for the first two days. On Day 3, Splyce was taken to Round 5 Search & Destroy by Mindfreak and lost in a 0-3 seep to Team EnVyUs. The two significant stumbles slotted Splyce into the second place seed. The placement is made all the more infuriating for Splyce since they only had to win a single map against Team EnVyUs in their very last series. Instead, in a repeat of the championship match at CWL Birmingham, Splyce choked their lead when it mattered most.
Group Red also saw Team EnVyUs finally playing at full strength. The first two days were slightly lackluster but still solid performances. The likes of Bryan "Apathy" Zhelyazkov and Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat were able to keep up with their opponents' despite some complications. However, Team EnVyUs were quick to learn the patterns and tactics of their enemies over the weekend. The small changes they tailored to each team made all the difference on the final day. Their closing match against Splyce was a high-velocity sweep that echoed their championship winning streak of last season.
Next weekend will see Group Blue composed of FaZe Clan, Rise Nation, Evil Geniuses and Fnatic squaring off. The first match will begin April 28th at 4:00 pm ET on MLG.tv and in-game via Call of Duty: Advanced Warefare.
