This article is part of our Call of Duty Recap series.
Another event, another win for OpTic Gaming, who beat eUnited in a thrilling Grand Final to claim the $80,000 first-place prize. That's now back-to-back major tournament wins for OpTic Gaming, having conquered ESWC Paris earlier and now MLG Dallas this past weekend. Taking into account its second-place finish at MLG Atlanta, OpTic Gaming has now reached the Grand Finals in three consecutive major tournaments and appears to be in top form. Here's some other takeaways from CWL Dallas.
"eUnited" We Stand
OpTic Gaming's nearly two-month dominance may be impressive, but it pales in comparison to the meteoric rise of eUnited, at least when it comes to storylines. eUnited vaulted from online warrior to serious contender by virtue of winning CWL Atlanta last month, knocking off OpTic Gaming en route to the crown. But a disappointing performance the following week at ESWC Paris, where eUnited was forced to crawl through the open bracket, left many people questioning whether the run at Atlanta was merely a fluke.
Needless to say, those questions should be put to rest, as eUnited put together a tremendous performance throughout the weekend, culminating in a losers-bracket grand-final run. A 7-3 record throughout pool play and a championship bracket is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering the team appeared to get stronger as the tournament wore on, beating EnVyUs, Splyce, and FaZe Clan by a 9-1 total map count leading up to its championship match against OpTic Gaming. At times it feels as if eUnited plays down to its competition, a problem that could surface its ugly head in what figures to be an unforgiving CWL Global Pro League, but its record against the best teams in competitive Call of Duty is undeniable. That alone should put eUnited in prime position for another major tournament win before the end of the year.
Qualification for CWL Pro League Confirmed
CWL Dallas may have had a $200,000 prize pool, but the real prize was in the Pro Points, as qualification for Stage 1 of the CWL Global Pro League ended upon the conclusion of the tournament. Nine teams from North America, six from Europe and one from the ANZ region qualified for the global LAN league, with the "regular season" taking place over a series of four weekends beginning on April 20. Considering a $700,000 prize pool and the chance to earn direct qualification to the Call of Duty World Championships are just some of the benefits of qualifying for Stage 1, the race for the final few spots became almost as interesting as who won the tournament.
Sitting on the cusp of missing qualification, Cloud9 needed a memorable run at CWL Dallas in order to cement its spot in the CWL Global Pro League, and boy did it make the best of it, finishing in 9-12th place after back-to-back poor showings at CWL Atlanta and ESWC Paris. Buoyed by a strong performance in Group B, finishing with a 3-1 record, Cloud9 managed to earn its spot thanks to sterling efforts by Patrick "Aches" Price and Adam "Assault" Garcia.
Evil Geniuses also enjoyed a surprising run through the open bracket to qualify for the CWL Global Pro League, knocking off Gosu Crew on the final day of CWL Dallas to earn enough Pro Points to qualify ahead of it for the tournament.
Joining those two teams from the North American region would be OpTic Gaming, eUnited, FaZe Clan, Team EnVyUs, Rise Nation, Luminosity Gaming, Enigma6 and Evil Geniuses, while Splyce, Red Reserve, Millenium, Fnatic, eLevate, and Epsilon Gaming would earn their qualification through the European region. Mindfreak secured the lone spot from the ANZ region.
Green Wall Solidified
It's not too often that the reigning champion and popular North American Call of Duty franchise is relegated to an afterthought following a major tournament, but that should be considered more of a compliment to its recent success than anything else. There's no hotter team in competitive Call of Duty than OpTic Gaming, and its recent stretch of dominance brings back memories of its prolonged string of wins in Call of Duty: Black Ops III last season. As was the case last year, the greatest enemy to the success of the Green Wall may just be itself, as it only slipped from the top of the competitive mantel after a lack of motivation and preparation allowed other teams to crawl into the picture. So long as Seth "Scump" Abner and the rest of OpTic Gaming remain invested and motivated, the Green Wall's CWL Dallas win shouldn't be the last one in 2017.
