Seattle Surge Win CDL Major 3

Seattle Surge have won Call of Duty League (CDL) Major 3 on Sunday, June 5. The Kings of the North claimed the organization’s first CoD Major title by beating the former champions, Atlanta FaZe (5-3) in the grand finals.

Seattle Surge haven’t had the best start to the 2022 CDL season, and until recently, the team wasn’t even considered one of the CDL Championship contenders. Admittedly, the Surge made the finals of the CDL Kickoff Classic in January, but success has been hard to come by for the Seattle squad since then.

The Surge struggled to deliver in the season’s first stage, as they could only manage a fifth-place finish in CDL Major 1 qualifiers. And they haven’t achieved much more at the Major either, placing ninth-12th after losing their opening series against OpTic Chicago and Paris Legion.

Unconvincing performances continued into the second stage, as Seattle Surge placed eighth in the CDL Major 2 qualifiers. However, they did show a bit more at the Major, reaching the third round, where they got eliminated by the eventual champions, Los Angeles Guerrillas.

Following a short break, Seattle Surge attended CDL Pro-Am, where they crashed out very early. The team couldn’t even make it out of the group stage and ended the tournament in 13th-16th place.

However, after months of producing uninspiring results, Seattle Surge finally found their groove and finished third in the CDL Major 3 qualifiers. With that, the Surge locked in a top seed for the third Major, where they did not disappoint.

Seattle Surge kicked off CDL Major 3 with a match against the CDL Pro-Am champions New York Sublibers, who the Surge defeated 3-2 in a closely contested bout. They kept the wind in their sails and eliminated Florida Mutineers (3-1), who had defeated OpTic Texas (3-2) in the opening round.

By winning two series, Seattle Surge made the Winners bracket finals, where they faced the reigning CDL champions, Atlanta FaZe. And even though many expected Surge to stumble against the former champs, the underdogs proved everyone wrong and edged past FaZe with 3-2 after trailing 0-2.

In the CDL Major 3 finals, Seattle Surge would play a rematch against FaZe, who had defeated Toronto Ultra in the lower bracket finals. And just like in their first meeting just a day prior, Seattle Surge disposed of FaZe.

Atlanta FaZe have attended all Majors throughout CoD: Vanguard, but they have yet to win a single trophy this season. And that wouldn’t change on Sunday when they were set to face the surprise finalists, Seattle Surge.

The first meeting between Suirtge and FaZe saw FaZe take a 2-0 lead before choking and allowing Seattle Surge to reverse-sweep them. This time out, the match looked much different.

Seattle Surge came flying out of the gates and won Bocage Hardpoint and Search & Destroy and Tuscan Control, claiming a 3-0 lead in the grand finals. At this point, FaZe woke up and brought it back, winning the Berlin-Hardpoint with 250-212 and won the second round to get the match within striking distance.

But it was too late, too little, as FaZe’s comeback was rather short-lived. FaZe lost the Berlin Control, which saw the Surge reach match point and re-gain the lost momentum.

Yet even then. FaZe found it in themselves to score another map by winning Tuscan Search & Destroy to bring the series to 4-3, but they couldn’t close it out. Seattle Surge stepped up on Tuscan Hardpoint and won with a convincing 250-196 to seal the deal and hoist the organization’s first trophy.

By winning CDL Major 3, Seattle Surge pocketed $200,000 in tournament winnings and 65 CDL Points. With that, the Surge are now ranked third in the CDL season standings, with 160 points, 65 short of OpTic Texas in second, and 90 behind the current leaders, Atlanta FaZe.