- The Dallas Empire are the CDL Chicago Home Series Champions. They defeated the Atlanta FaZe to win the tournament. Here is everything you need to know about the CDL Chicago Home Series finals match.
CDL Chicago Home Series Winners – Dallas Empire
The CDL Chicago Home Series was the sixth esports tournament of the Call of Duty League. Eight teams competed for a prize pool of $100,000. This home series was the second online event in history due to COVID-19, and the league has taken extreme measures to protect not only the teams, but also the fans. These Home Series events draw thousands of fans and the arena can be jammed packed from top to bottom. Although certain parts of the US are scheduled to reopen, there’s no announcement from the Call of Duty League when live events will return. In the meantime, everyone can watch the action from the comfort of their own home.
The Semi-Finals included the Atlanta FaZe, Chicago Huntsmen and the Dallas Empire. Seattle Surge also made it to the semi-finals for the first time, and many fans were wondering how they were going to do against the FaZe since they only played the LAG who are considered one of the worst teams in the league; won both matches and then lost to the Dallas Empire in the qualifying rounds. The Empire were looking to finally beat the Chicago Huntsmen, who had their name in every tournament so far.
The Seattle Surge received some heat online for “grabbing easy points” according to some CDL players, however, they did look very good overall despite playing one of the worst teams in the CDL. The Atlanta FaZe would end up winning the semi-final series 3-1, however, the Surge looked excellent against one of the best teams in the league, and could have won the map Petra as it was very close. If they would have won that map, things could have gone a different route. Regardless of the Surge being eliminated, this was the best finish for them at a Home Series and many positives can be taken away from this.
The first Finals spot is secured by @ATLFaZe!
They take down @SeattleSurge 3-1 to end their Chicago Home Series run.#EZAF | #CDL2020 pic.twitter.com/xzO2m4ELyU
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 26, 2020
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In the second leg, the Empire were looking to get revenge against the Huntsmen who had their number for the entire CDL season. Dallas looked like they had a solid plan heading into this match and it showed as they won the first map convincingly, 250-165 on Hardpoint. The momentum continued as the Empire would win the next two maps, sweeping their opponents who have been a back pain to them since the start of the league.
Another CLASSIC interview with @Crimsix, watch the Instant Reaction presented by @PlayStation. #CDL2020 pic.twitter.com/Wc3G41treA
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 26, 2020
Everyone was looking at Crimsix’s post-game interview with Rich Campbell to see if he would trash talk the Huntsmen, but Crimsix kept it classy and didn’t want to put focus on that aspect of the day as he was heading into the finals again, and looking for the win against the talented Atlanta FaZe.
IT’S FINALS TIME.@ATLFaZe vs. @DallasEmpire
Don’t miss a second! 👀 https://t.co/ONwHGhI7Ve#EZAF | #BuildAnEmpire | #CDL2020 pic.twitter.com/LUHmMYc8g3— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 26, 2020
CDL Chicago Home Series Finals – Dallas Empire VS Atlanta FaZe
The Atlanta FaZe would face the Dallas Empire in the Chicago Home Series finals. Both teams will be in the finals for the second time in the Call of Duty League and looking for their first home series event win. The Mutineers lost to Atlanta FaZe in Atlanta, and the Rokkr lost to Dallas in the last event. It would finally come down to these two teams in the end, and both had similar stats heading into the final.
Players
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Atlanta FaZe
- Tyler Pharris – ABEZY
- Michael Szymaniak – MAJORMANIAK
- Chris Lehr – SIMP
- McArthur Jovel – CELLIUM
- Preston Greiner – PRIESTAHH
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Dallas Empire
- Ian Porter – C6 aka CRIMSIX
- James Eubanks – CLAYSTER
- Cuyler Garland – HUKE
- Anthony Cuevas – SHOTZZY
- Indervir Dhaliwal – ILLEY
First Match: Gun Runner – Hardpoint
Crimsix told Rich Campbell after the Huntsmen win that they had a plan for the Atlanta FaZe coming into the finals. Would that plan work out? Let’s find out.
As the match began, Shotzzy got first blood against aBeZy. Shotzzy, who has has a stellar performance throughout this tournament was perhaps giving a close peak as to what we were going to expect in these finals, a completely revived Dallas Empire squad. Atlanta drew the first points, holding down mid and takin charge. Empire took over the lead quickly and both teams were going back and forth in equal exchange of gun battles and ground control.
Towards the midway point of the match, Dallas broke through and took charge at the garage point where all fans would see are a screen lit up with kills all in favor of the Dallas Empire. The KD’s showed a compelling story of the FaZe struggling to take control of each hardpoint as all 3 out of 5 players were in a negative KD with low hardpoint times, while C6 was the only member on Empire with a negative KD. Everyone else was in the positive with an average of 45 seconds of hardpoint time. But Atlanta FaZe changed the momentum and started coming back, lead by Cellium. But it wasn’t enough for the FaZe as Empire took the match 250-222.
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Dallas Empire Win – 250-222 Hardpoint
A back-and-forth map 1 opens with @DallasEmpire securing the Hardpoint on Gun Runner 250-222 against @ATLFaZe.
SnD on St. Petro 👉 https://t.co/t2nSGYT2Ht#BuildAnEmpire | #CDL2020 pic.twitter.com/QKzv2y73xb
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 26, 2020
Second Match: St. Petrograd – Search and Destroy
The first map loss seemed to fuel the FaZe, and Priestahh said it best during a post-game interview with Rich Campbell. When Simp is put on the spot or given hype, he will perform unlike anyone else in the league. As soon as the second map started, Simp pulled out his sniper and got first blood on Shotzzy. But that seemed to be the only thing FaZe could get as they lose the first round. Dallas came back with a quick round 2 win and Clayster sealing the deal. Although they were up 2-0, Atlanta fought back to even things up and both teams would see an exchange of rounds before heading into the final round 11 in Search and Destroy.
The last round saw a 1v1 against Simp and Clayster, former teammates who have the up-most respect for each other. Clayster stated that he takes credit for finding Simp and bringing him on board. Since he did during the eUnited days, the won back to back championships together. But now is a different time and both were playing against each other, in a 1v1, in SnD, in the last round 11. It was a 1v 2 for Simp who also had to defuse the bomb. Illey managed to get the plant down, but Simp took him out leaving it a 1v1 against Clayster. As the two exchanged shots, Clayster almost had Simp who jumped out of the window before crawling back into the building where Clayster was hiding. SImp managed to surprised Clay to take him out and defused the bomb for a 6-5 series win. An incredible showing from the youngster.
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Atlanta FaZe Win – 6-5 Search and Destroy
It couldn’t be any closer after that R11 SnD but @ATLFaZe‘s @SimpXO clutches up on the 1v1!
We are now even at one apiece ➡️ https://t.co/t2nSGYT2Ht#EZAF | #CDL2020 pic.twitter.com/N2emn0XQaF
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 27, 2020
Third Match: Hackney Yard – Domination
Right off the start, FaZe rushed B side to try and capture it first, but the Empire were right there and managed to capture C and B to take the lead. The Empire were stuck in the back defending A and trying to bounce back against the hot Dallas Empire. No matter what FaZe were trying to do, Empire has all their angles covered and were holding down C and B throughout the entire first round.
In the second half of Domination, the same scenario played out where Dallas took A and B while FaZe could only hold onto C. Priestahh seemed to be having a hard time on this map as he was going 5-18 and couldn’t find anything to work. This was definitely a reason why FaZe wasn’t able to find any answers in this game. But FaZe eventually broke out and captured the B point after trying a couple of flanks to A. But that didn’t last too long as the Empire came back with strong performances from Empires two veterans, C6 and Clayster.
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Dallas Empire Win – 171-146 – Domination
Fourth Match: Gun Runner – Hardpoint
The fourth match was a do or die scenario for the Rokkr. They needed someone to turn up and lead the way, but it seemed that they were too far gone to make any sort of comeback and it showed on the final map. The Mutineers rushed the first hardpoint in mid, similarily like they did in the last match on B. The Mutineers took a 30-6 point lead, staying on top of their rotations and beating the Rokkr in every gun fight. Minnesota finally got things together and cut down the lead in at the 2nd hardpoint. But Florida was on top of every one of their rotations and getting to the next hardpoint first, making it very difficult for the Rokkr to establish any type of momentum.
At this point, the Minnesota Rokkr were rolling in negative KD while Florida were all in the positive. Towards the end of the match, the Mutineers were too far ahead for the Rokkr to come back. Fero was winning all the important gun battles while capturing the hardpoints with Maux. Both players were having a great match and helped the Mutineers record their first-ever event series win.
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Florida Mutineers Win – 250-115- Hardpoint
Fifth Match: St. Petrograd – Hardpoint
The Dallas Empire came out flying, capturing the first hardpoint, and going up 32-0. FaZe on the rotation were trying to climb back up but Dallas were too strong, locking down the FaZe in every part of the map. The entire Empire team were collectively winning the necessary gunfights they needed to do move ahead and lock down the hardpoints and FaZe were struggling to find the momentum throughout the match. At one point the Empire were almost up 100 points but FaZe quickly cut that back down to 50.
It didn’t seem to matter because no matter what the FaZe were doing, they weren’t able to make a breakthrough the team effort of the Empire. The Atlanta FaZe were able to cut down the lead by 26 points, and Majormaniak was having an incredible game going 27-18 at one point with almost a 1 minute time in the hardpoints. But despite some individual efforts on FaZe, the Empire were locked down and in sequence with all their moves to hold down the last hardpoint and win 250-200, beating the young Atlanta FaZe team.
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Dallas Empire Win – 250-200- Hardpoint
Dallas Empire Chicago Home Series Champions
The Dallas Empire won its second Call of Duty League home series event. After beating their arch-nemesis, the Chicago Huntsmen, the Dallas Empire were on a mission to capture 1st place and be the only team in the league to win two CDL Home Series titles. The entire team stood up and played their best, with some great moments from Shotzzy, ILLey, and Huke. Clayster and C6 came through with their experience, keeping the team together. Crimsix said that the Empire had a plan coming into the finals, and that every team has made the same mistake against FaZe. It looks like the team’s plan came through and that they figured out Atlanta’s game. Dallas is now considered the best team in the league, which is 180 degrees from where we saw them at the beginning of the year.
Dallas are your Chicago Home Series Winners.
Win number #2 on the board: Congratulations to @DallasEmpire, the WINNERS of the Chicago Home Series!@Crimsix@Clayster@Shotzzy@iLLeYYY@Huke#BuildAnEmpire | #CrownedVictorious | #CDL2020 pic.twitter.com/vW18bPjtri
— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 27, 2020
**Featured image source: @CODLeague Twitter
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