Faze Outlast Empire, Win Stage 4 Major

Atlanta Faze secured their third Major victory of the year over Dallas Empire on Sunday. The Grand Finals went the distance, coming down to the 10th round of Search and Destroy in Game 9.

How We Got Here

Dallas Empire was the unexpected one of the pair to make it to the Major final. Dallas started the day off in the Elimination semi-final vs Optic Chicago, who they readily dispatched yet again this tournament, this time 3–1. Empire faced another rematch in the Elimination Finals in Toronto Ultra, who defeated them previously in the Winner’s semis.

It looked as though the Stage 4 Finals would be between the top seeds of Atlanta and Toronto after Ultra steamrolled Empire in their first two games. Dallas was blown off the map 250–69 in Game 1 on Checkmate, before Ultra posted a 6–2 SnD win on Standoff to go up 2–0 in the series.

Dallas somehow found the will to respond in Game 3, winning Garrison Control in part thanks to a huge 29–21 stat line out of Vivid. Empire squeaked out a 250–229 victory in Game 4 and all of a sudden the series was tied heading into a Moscow SnD. Yet again, Vivid came up big, dropping the most kills in the game with 12, while the GOAT himself in Crimsix led in the damage department.

Cammy had an easy opportunity in Round 9 with the game tied 4–4 to drop two Empire players and give his team a 2–1 player advantage but he stopped shooting a hair too early on the second player, allowing him to escape with his life before he was cleaned up by a third Dallas player. Insight was able to bring it to a 1v1, but had Cammy gotten the two-piece, Ultra had a prime chance to go up 5–4. Instead, Empire took the lead, clutched up in Round 10, and completed the reverse sweep over Toronto.

The Finals

Waiting for Empire was Faze who had gone 6–1 over their two matches thus far at the event. Dallas was hot coming in however with already 9 games of COD under their belt on the day and they took the first game of the series 250–202 on the back of Crimsix’s 25–14 performance.

Atlanta quickly responded with back-to-back wins, including a 6–4 SnD on Standoff and a 3–0 Control on Garrison. Simp was the best player for Faze in each game, going 27–11 in the third battle.

Dallas prevented the series from getting away from them in Game 4 on Moscow, as they won another closely-contested Hardpoint 250–216.

Empire had a beautiful team performance in Game 5 where their entire squad went positive in a 6–3 SnD win on Moscow. All four Faze players went negative as Empire took a 3–2 series lead.

Game 6 was a heavyweight bout between the two squads, with Shotzzy, Illey, and Cellium all posting more than 6000 damage. Shotzzy had a particularly great performance, going 33–18, but Dallas was hindered by Vivid who went 17–38 in the game. The teams traded rounds into the fifth and final of the game where Empire got the defense. However, in one of the quickest Round 5’s we’ve seen on the year, Faze slaughtered Dallas and captured both points in just over one minute.

Going into Game 7, the series was tied 3–3 with Express Search and Destroy up next. Crimsix turned back the clock to his Black Ops 2 days when the map was originally created, going 9–1 in a dominant 6–1 victory for Empire. Dallas now was only one map win away from taking the Major.

With their backs against the wall in a Apocalypse Hardpoint, Atlanta played some of their best Call of Duty of the year. Abezy went 32–12, Cellium went 24–12, and Simp dropped a 24–16 stat line while the entire Dallas roster combined to go 59–97. Faze easily secured the victory 250–98 to send the Grand Finals to a Game 9 for the first time all season.

Atlanta began the winner take all game by capturing five of the first seven rounds to take a commanding 5–2 lead. Dallas put together back-to-back rounds to bring it to a 5–4. But in Round 10, Empire bet on Faze going to site A, leaving B completely open, which Atlanta took full advantage of to plant the bomb and get into the perfect setup. Empire traded kills to get it to a 2 vs 2, but with under 20 seconds left to defuse, Shotzzy had to force a gunfight and was cut down, leaving Illey by himself to take down Arcitys, Abezy and deal with the bomb. It was too much to deal with, and Atlanta closed out the game, 6–4, winning the match and the Major.

The Tiny Terrors led the way in the Grand Finals, with Abezy posting a 1.24 K/D ratio and Simp with a 1.21 himself. The dynamic duo continues their reign atop Call of Duty eSports entering Stage 5. Cellium was named the Player of the Stage for his performance throughout the Major, posting a 1.18 overall K/D and a 1.25 K/D in Hardpoint. Faze remain the favorites going into the final stage of the season, and clinched the No. 1 seed at COD Champs with their victory.

The Call of Duty League will pick back up for Stage 5, beginning Thursday, July 1st.

Originally published at https://kurtiskendall.com.