CWL Las Vegas 2018 Recap - An Explosive Start to Black Ops 4

Earlier this month, the CWL 2018-19 season for Black Ops 4 commenced with the first Major LAN event, being CWL Las Vegas. The city of fortune produced an incredible event, not just for the players and audience involved, but for Call of Duty in general. Climaxing at a staggering 200,000 views during the grand final, when OpTic redeemed their poor WWII performance, viewership was the highest it's ever been for a Call of Duty event. Progression towards becoming a more notorious esport is on the horizon. For now, let's just focus on this incredible event and discuss all the details. 

Group Stage 

What truly makes a phenomenal event is the unnerving notion of not being knowing the final result of any match-up. Since no statistics were on the board, (though they would have been thrown out the window anyway) all the players were keen to impress at the first event of the season, starting with group play. Across the 4 pools, I'll safely say that only 1 went according to the numbers, since the open bracket teams from a selection of 272, have had an unparallel effect within the group stage. 

Pool A consisted of eUnited, 100T, Team Reciprocity and Mindfreak, later to be joined by the Open Bracket team in Team Sween. With 100Thieves acting as the perceived favourite, they started out the event demonstrating their prevalent weaknesses in SnD and Hardpoint; a recurring theme for their disappointing lifetime at the event. These weaknesses were heavily outlined by eUnited, the team set for second place, now rising to the top of the group. Meanwhile, Mindfreak and Team Reciprocity were stuck at the bottom. What effect would Team Sween have? Well, the favourite British team, having upset frequently in the past years, came in swinging, immediately throwing 100T into the jaws of the Losers' Bracket. Nobody expected such an outcome, especially NadeshoT. To foreshadow the disappointment, the supposed 'all-star' team would pack their bags with a Top 16 placement. Team Sween and eUnited, on the other hand, would make it much further. 

While Pool A housed the worst disappointment of the event, there are plenty more awaiting the light of scrutiny. Evil Geniuses, Luminosity Gaming, Red Reserve, Heretics KFC and UYU were collected into the second pool, Pool B, for a little bit of fun. The three-way contention between EG, LG and RR would have placed the boys in blue at a certain third place finish, that is, if Red Reserve had bothered to practice more before the event. The brits placed a dismal 4th in the group, beneath UYU and above Heretics KFC on maps. Any negative connotations are from the fact that I listed this team as a sort of favourite, being heavily disappointed. Meanwhile, Luminosity defied doubters with a strong second place finish underneath the newly formed Evil Geniuses roster. Main takeaways; Red Reserve were not as prepared as they were made out to be, finishing Top 16, while Evil Geniuses benefitted from their continuous online practice. However, poor practice doesn't make perfect as we'll find out in Pool C. 

Last year's Champs; in the form of Aches, SiLLy, Apathy and Assault picked up the young gun Huke ahead of the new season, ready to defend their position on the top. Unfortunately for them, CWL Vegas 2018 would leave any Team Envy fans shaking their hands; they placed last in their group stage, beneath Mazer Gaming. Also in Pool C, were Lightning Pandas and FaZe Clan; both contending for first place. However, the Open Bracket team in Str8 Rippin would happily rip apart these expectations as they fought for second place, denying FaZe Clan entry and instead directing them to the Losers' Bracket. FaZe would go ahead to clinch an honestly rubbish Top 24 placing, at the hands of Team Reciprocity, worse than Team Envy who placed below them. FaZe and Team Envy especially, being world champs, seriously need to get their 'stuff' together for future events. 

The final pool, being the most straightforward one, saw green bricks pilled uniformly to form a proudly reinstated wall; OpTic Gaming back on form, back on top of the group too. They'd lose 1 map to their toughest competition, Splyce, who'd be back for more later on in the event. The name of Dashyy was immediately thrown around like a volleyball for the MVP right after the first series, only to continue up to Sunday - solidifying his current reputation. Splyce did in fact finish second, with a strong international roster, while G2 Esports dropped to a staggering last place to give way to Pittsburgh Knights and Excelerate Gaming. OpTic quickly made a statement; Scump, Crimsix and Karma were hungry, and they'd brought some young guns to help too.