CDL Major I Qualifiers Recap through Week Two

(Gray News) - The Call of Duty League (CDL) started its 2025 season just before the holidays, with two weeks of qualifiers already completed. Fans got a brief glimpse at their favorite teams and can look forward to early January when the season will pick back up with the Minor I tournament. But how did their teams stack up before the three-week break?

The result of the Call of Duty League’s (CDL) first week of qualifiers was four undefeated teams, four teams at 1-1, and four winless teams. Luckily, the second week of qualifiers has added more variety to the standings. First and foremost, let’s look at who finally picked up their first win.

Atlanta FaZe, usually a favorite to win any match they are in, was the biggest surprise after week one. They were winless. FaZe’s first match of week two was on Saturday against the Carolina Royal Ravens, and they got swept. FaZe struggled in the Hardpoint and Search & Destroy (SnD) but showed some life in the Control on Vault. FaZe finally broke their losing streak on Sunday against the Vegas Falcons. FaZe looked confident and dominated the Hardpoints and the SnD. They just missed the mark on the Control but still won the series 3-1.

Cloud9 New York started the weekend strong and picked up their first win of the season on Friday in a match against RØKKR. The first two maps of the series were close, especially the map two SnD, which Cloud9 won in round 11. Cloud9 struggled on the Control, not winning a single round, but held it together on the map four Hardpoint to take the series 3-1. However, Cloud9 couldn’t hold onto their new momentum, as they were reverse-swept by the Royal Ravens on Sunday.

Cloud9 and FaZe now have a win in the 2025 season, unlike the Vegas Falcons and the Los Angeles Guerrillas M8, who remain in the winless category.

On the polar opposite side of the standings, three teams remain undefeated. The Royal Ravens sit atop the standings thanks to their 4-0 record and 12-4 map win record. The Los Angeles Thieves and Toronto Ultra are right behind them, also 4-0, but with 12-5 map win records, putting them in second and third place, respectively. The Minnesota RØKKR was a part of this group through week one but failed to win a singular match in week two. They now sit as the dividing line in the standings at 6th with a 2-2 record. Right above RØKKR, two teams sit with only one loss; just below them, two teams join Cloud9 and FaZe with only one win so far.

OpTic Texas and Boston Breach each have a 3-1 record. The Breach are just above OpTic in the standings, as they are the team that handed OpTic its only loss. Both teams won all their matches this past week, but the Breach were slightly shakier than OpTic. The Breach had to covert on map five in both matches, while OpTic only had one match reach map five.

On the other side of RØKKR, the Miami Heretics and Vancouver Surge join Cloud9 and FaZe at 1-3. The Heretics and Surge failed to win in week two after finishing week one 1-1. The Heretics took both matches to map five but couldn’t finish the fight. SnD seems to be the main culprit causing their woes, as they are 1-6 in the game mode this season. The Surge don’t seem to have any glaring flaws, but they struggle with consistency and putting all the pieces together.

Each team has three more qualifier matches to try to reach the winners' bracket in Major I. However, they will first compete in the Minor I tournament starting January 10th. All the matches are broadcast on the official CDL YouTube channel. You can also browse their replays of previous matches to see where your team triumphed or fell short while waiting for the holiday hiatus to end.

Gray Media is an investor in OpTic Gaming.