Atlanta FaZe Favored To Win Call of Duty League

The inaugural Call of Duty League regular season is officially over and 12 teams now make their way into the playoffs, with seeding based on regular-season performance.

How the Call of Duty League Playoffs Work

The 12 teams have been placed into a bracket based on their regular-season record, with the top eight seeds qualifying for the Winners Bracket while the remaining four sit in the Elimination Bracket.

A loss in the Winners Bracket will send a team into a matchup in the Elimination Bracket, while a loss there will see the team’s season end. In the Winners Bracket, the top two teams got a double bye while third and fourth got a single round bye.

The playoffs will consist of best-of-five matches in all but the Finals. The Finals will consist of a best-of-nine.

The playoffs commence on August 19 with Championship Weekend kicking off on August 29.

Call of Duty League Playoff Odds

Odds as of August 14 at Bodog

FaZe The Team To Beat

Ever since the opening weekend that saw them go 2-0, the Atlanta FaZe have sat atop the CDL. FaZe ended the season with a match record of 26-7 while going 86-46 in games. Atlanta found themselves in the Finals in six of the eight events they attended, never finishing below 3-4. Only two teams managed to beat the FaZe twice this season – the Florida Mutineers and Toronto Ultra.

Aside from all of that, two of the five members of FaZe have been nominated for the CDL MVP. Both Chris “Simp” Lehr and McArthur “Cellium” Jovel received one of five nominations for MVP. Simp has continued his ridiculous play from 2019 by posting a K/D of 1.16 on the season and set the record for most kills in a single game at 50. Cellium is just behind Simp in terms of K/D but has been extremely flexible and has played several roles to perfection.

All of this is a long way of saying: the Atlanta FaZe are the favorites to win the Call of Duty League.

Are the Ultra Peaking At The Right Time?

It was not long ago that the Toronto Ultra were an afterthought in the CDL. However, the team representing the Great White North may be hitting their stride at the best time. The Ultra finished 3-4 in their penultimate tournament of the season before beating the FaZe in the Finals of the last Home Series.

Over the course of those two tournaments, the Ultra are 6-1 with victories over the top three teams in the standings. Their performance over those events meant they climbed from 10 to 7 in the standings and have the luxury of playing in the Winners Bracket.

The Ultra will face off in the first round against the London Royal Ravens, a team that has been largely mediocre aside from an unexpected second place in Seattle. If the Ultra can handle the Ravens and get some momentum, it is possible that they could go on a miracle run, as we have seen many times in bracket-based esports.