CDL Stage 5 Major LAN Preview and Predictions: Will OpTic Chicago Win?

The Call of Duty League has only two events left in the current 2021 season. The first to arrive is the CDL Stage 5 Major. The fifth stage of the season is nearing its end and, with it, the conclusion of the regular season. By far, this is the most important and exciting tournament to date. 

The CDL Stage 5 Major tournament will begin on Thursday, August 29, and run through Sunday, August 1, where the fifth and final Major winner of the year will be determined. It has all come down to this and it is now time to see the fruition of the 12 teams’ hard work throughout the season. 

Though there are still the playoffs and championship to look forward to later this summer, the CDL Stage 5 Major is almost the biggest event in the 2021 season. It will also mark only the second LAN event of the year thus far, so we further expect some crazy results from it, at least more so than the slightly predictable Stage 4 Major event last month. 

Players interested in watching all of the action live, which we highly recommend, can check it out in the usual spots of the official website for the league or simply the CDL YouTube channel. All of the tournament matches in LAN will be shown live as they happen or watched after the fact on YouTube if you miss any of them. 

Better yet, this is not only the second LAN event but the return of fans, which will amp up the experience. The Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is going to be the venue for the event. You can purchase tickets right now to get into the stands for the first time in a very long time. 

With fans there in attendance, this will finally feel like a real Call of Duty esports experience once again. Everything will be in place for this event to be as crazy and exciting as it should be. Keep in mind that there will be venue regulations given the pandemic situation, like masks required inside the premises at all times (with or without vaccination). 

With the CDL Stage 5 Major here with teams ready to head into the stadium and fans ready to cheer their favorite organizations and players on, the stage is set for the most anticipated event in a very long time. But before we jump into the match preview and my predictions for the event, it is very important now more than ever to look at the current standings. 

The Call of Duty League standings has never been this important as of now, as the final event standing between the 12 teams and the playoffs is just this Stage 5 Major. This is the final opportunity to earn points and money before then, meaning what happens here is it. 

There are no more points available after this. The Major will determine the final placements for the playoffs. However, it is worth mentioning a couple of factors, like the fact that Atlanta FaZe is already guaranteed the number one spot and, therefore, a one-round bye at playoffs. 

Furthermore, the bottom four teams in the current standings have no chance of earning enough points to get into the playoffs, even if one of them wins the Stage 5 tournament. The top eight teams that will be at the playoffs have been determined already. 

With that said, here are the Call of Duty League current standings as of the end of the Seattle Surge Home Series that happened last week:

• Atlanta FaZe: 505 points
• Dallas Empire: 360
• Toronto Ultra: 355
• New York Subliners: 320
• OpTic Chicago: 310
• Minnesota Rokkr: 230
• Los Angeles Thieves: 210
• Florida Mutineers: 200
• London Royal Ravens: 100
• Paris Legion: 100
• Los Angeles Guerrillas: 100
• Seattle Surge: 90

What is important now is for the second through eighth-placed teams currently in the Stage 5 Major. While Atlanta fills one top spot, there is still room for one more team to come in and take the second-place slot and earn themselves a one-round bye. 

Also, the number seven and eight teams on the list will start the playoffs in the bottom bracket, already at a severe disadvantage compared to everyone else. They will not lose a single match and have to play perfect COD to win the championship. Thus, the battle for second and sixth will ensue in the upcoming CDL Stage 5 Major. 

At the time of writing this, unlike the Home Series, only the first day and part of the second day have been determined. As such, we only really know the exact matches for the CDL Stage 5 Major. With that said, I will try to give my predictions for how the tournament will play out. 

The first day will begin with the bottom bracket matches where a single loss means elimination and no more chances to earn points or cash. Kicking off the event, we have Paris Legion taking on Seattle Surge. This is a great start to the Stage 5 Major as we have two teams at the bottom who have shown some signs of life lately. 

With Seattle’s previously solid run at the Stage 4 Major with the return to LAN and Paris Legion recently taking down the LA Thieves, I expect this to be a fun bout. While you could argue they have little to fight for here, there is still prize money on the line in the tournament and the possibility of performing well enough here to prove that the players deserve a better team next season. 

As such, I expect the Legion and Surge to give it their all with a rather close battle. That said, I have to make a pick for my prediction and, though they are the so-called “worse team,” I’m going to pick Seattle given Octane’s talent and their seemingly better performance at LAN. 

That will eliminate Paris Legion and effectively end their season. After that, we will have the second match with the LA Guerrillas versus the New York Subliners. The former did decently well at the last Major, eliminating the then struggling Thieves, while New York did terribly without Asim. 

In this case, though, it is a different story. Like with the first match, the Guerrillas have little to gain here, while New York has everything to lose in this tournament. Without Clayster, they have to prove themselves and show that they have a place still in this league. 

I, and potentially much of the community, would be devastated if the Subliners lost this match because they need to. Without a doubt, it is not a question of can they, but the Subliners have to win this if they have any hope of possibly doing decently well at the playoffs. This should result in the Guerrillas being eliminated. 

The third match of the first day will take us to the winners bracket for the Minnesota Rokkr versus the Atlanta FaZe, which could be an interesting match. I like both teams and expect this to be a little bit more fun than you would normally expect. 

Rokkr is seemingly at the top of their game in the 2021 season right now, while Atlanta is not the untouchable team they once were. However, I do not think this means that Atlanta is struggling or even on a decline; I think it is because they have remained steadfast in their skill all season long and teams are just now catching up to them at the last minute. 

With that being the case, this is the best chance for an upset and Rokkr to win against Atlanta for the first time, which would be amazing for Priestahh and MajorManiak, in particular, who was dropped from Atlanta last season. I think a Rokkr win would be wild here, but I’m not convinced just yet. I’m taking the safer route and giving this one to Atlanta. 

The next winners bracket match will feature the LA Thieves taking on the Toronto Ultra. The Thieves are still basically the newest team in the league, while Toronto is one of the most unbending to date, much like Atlanta. Even more than the last match, though, I think this has more of a chance of an upset. 

I think the Thieves can win against Toronto, but I’m not sure. I still think Toronto has the best teamwork in the league. That is something that the Thieves still need to work on some. As such, I’m taking the safe bet again and handing this to Toronto. This will move both Minnesota and Thieves to the bottom bracket for the second day. 

It is solely based on my predictions from here on out, so I will be sure to keep it brief. If you disagree with me, I highly recommend you post your predictions on the official league site as you have a chance to win some awesome prizes if you top the leaderboard by being most correct. 

Based on my predictions from the first day, day two should feature four matches, starting with the bottom bracket. London is the first of the teams here that have a one-round bye. They could be taking on the Seattle Surge in this case. 

While I like some of the performances we’ve seen from players like Afro lately, I think that we will get a repeat of the last LAN with Seattle winning this match, but it will likely be closer than before. This will eliminate London and continue Seattle’s run. 

The next match will have the other one-round bye bottom team, Florida Mutineers, battling against the New York Subliners. I expect this to be a really fun match and a potentially close one. There is a chance for Florida to destroy New York, but as the first of my riskier choices, I’m giving this one to the Subliners, who I believe will show that they are still here. 

From there, we come to the winners bracket where the Group A winner OpTic Chicago will take on Toronto Ultra. This is an exciting match, too, as I cannot wait to see how these two teams stack up these days. In the end, though, I think it will be potentially close, but I’m giving it to Toronto.

On the other side, Group B winner Dallas Empire will take on Atlanta FaZe. Honestly, this match could go either way, honestly with the Empire where it is at LAN, but I’m handing this one to Atlanta in a narrow win. 

The third day would lead to the LA Thieves’ bottom bracket match versus the New York Subliners in a long-awaited rematch. Their match in Stage 5 was wild, and I look forward to this rematch. 

It could go either way, honestly, but you could argue that the Thieves have the advantage here with their time to come together and the lack of Clay. However, I’m going to hand this rematch to the Subliners in a narrow win to eliminate the Thieves and continue their Cinderella-like run. 

Then we go to the Rokkr versus the Surge. I do not have much to say here other than congrats to Seattle on the possible run they will have had, as I think Minnesota will win this one in one of the few blowouts of the Major thus far. 

This will lead to more elimination matches next, with the Empire taking on the Subliners. Though we would go crazy with an upset here, I’m handing this one to Dallas in likely a sweep or close to it to eliminate the Subliners. 

This will then head to the final elimination match of the day with OpTic Chicago and Minnesota Rokkr. Chicago can start to make a comeback here. Some in the community believe that this team could win their first Major.

That is something that I cannot deny as there is a better possibility than ever before that Chicago will win their first Major, but I’m here to get a little wild. It is time for my riskiest prediction yet, but I think that OpTic and Minnesota will have another close Major match, with Rokkr coming out on top. 

After that, there is only one match left on this insanely packed Saturday with the winners finals of Toronto and Atlanta. These two top teams have fought so many times, but this time I think that Toronto will win, though it could honestly go either way. 

This means the fourth day will be four teams: Dallas Empire, Minnesota Rokkr, Toronto Ultra, and Atlanta FaZe. First up is an elimination match with Dallas and Minnesota. This is the end of my riskier assessments as Dallas should win this match, probably pretty easily. 

From there, we come to the eliminations finals with Atlanta and Dallas or Toronto and Dallas. Either way, though, I think it has the same result of Dallas losing. Though Dallas beat Toronto recently, I think Ultra would win against Dallas. 

In my prediction, though, I think Atlanta will beat Dallas in this case. This will lead to yet another grand finals of Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra. No matter how it shakes out beforehand, this is the ultimate ending that I think will happen realistically, though I do hope as a fan for a new face like Chicago or a surprise like Minnesota, instead.

The best of nine should be a fun one and potentially pretty close, but I think the winner, in the end, will be Toronto for their second Major win in only their second appearance there as well. I think this would be a wild win since it would probably cement them as the second-placed team in the league in the end and make for a wild playoffs. But I could also be wrong, so we will have to wait and see. 

Source: https://www.esportstalk.com/blog/cdl-stage-5-major-lan-preview-predictions-will-optic-chicago-win/