Call of Duty World League Birmingham Recap – Powered by KontrolFreek®
This recap is brought to you by our partners at KontrolFreek®. Use code “INTEL” for 10% off your next purchase.
The fourth CWL event of the 2018 season was this weekend, as over 160 teams went to Birmingham, UK for the Call of Duty World League, presented by PlayStation 4 Birmingham Open event featuring a $200,000 prize pool.
After three days of Call of Duty: WWII action, Luminosity took the crown and secured the lion share of the $200,000 prize pool.
Pool Play:
On Friday, the open bracket play concluded with the top 4 open bracket teams making their way into Group Play: Cyclone was placed in Group A; Enigma6 was in Group B; Team Heretics was in Group C; and Vast Esports was in Group D.
OpTic Gaming, eUnited, Splyce, and Team Kaliber all finished first in their pools after the pool play was completed. The top two teams from each group were then placed into the Winners, and the lower two teams from each group were placed in the Losers Bracket.
Bracket Play:
The winners bracket was set after the pool play matches. In the first quarterfinals match, CWL Atlanta Champions Rise Nation defeated Team EnVyUs with a quick 3-0 win. OpTic Gaming and Luminosity both advanced taking down their respective opponents 3-0. The Splyce and FaZe game was a nail bitter, going all the way to the final game 5. In the last match, Splyce emerged victories to continue in the open bracket.
In the winners semifinals matches, Rise Nation continued their dominant streak, sending EU’s Splyce to the losers bracket. OpTic Gaming continued to struggle against Luminosity, as Luminosity was able to secure a 3-2 series win to advance to the winners bracket finals.
The Winners Bracket Finals match up was Luminosity vs. Rise Nation. Luminosity got their revenge from CWL Atlanta and sent Rise Nation to the losers bracket and secured their spot in the Grand Finals.
Loser’s Bracket:
The losers bracket saw some impressive runs from some teams, including Reckless. Reckless was able to take down the CWL New Orleans Champions Team Kaliber in 3-2 and eliminate them from CWL Birmingham. FaZe Clan also was knocked out in losers round 4, by Censor and the Lightning Pandas team. Lightning Pandas losers bracket run came to an end, when Team EnVyUs took them down 3-2. The el Classico match between OpTic Gaming and Team EnVyUs say OpTic eliminate EnVyUs in the 3-1 win. OpTic advanced to the semifinals to face EU team Splyce.
The losers semifinals was an intense, back and forth series between OpTic Gaming vs. Splyce. Splyce was able to clutch up in the final Game 5, Round 11 to eliminate OpTic Gaming from CWL Birmingham and advance to the losers bracket finals to play Rise Nation. In all Call of Duty: WWII events, OpTic Gaming has been eliminated by an European team in the losers bracket.
In the losers bracket finals, Splyce went head to head against CWL Atlanta Champions Rise Nation. Splyce won the series 3-1 and advanced to the Grand Finals to face off against Luminosity.
Grand Finals:
The Grand Finals saw North America’s Luminosity go head to head against Europe’s Splyce. Splyce came out strong in Game 1 Hardpoint with a 250-60 win, and they continued to shine in their EU home turf, as they forced a second best of five series winning the first series 3-1.
In the second best of 5, Splyce’s momentum came to an end. Luminosity clutched up, took the series 3-1, and secured first place at CWL Birmingham! This is Luminosity’s first event win of the WWII season.
Next CWL Open Event: CWL Seattle
The next Call of Duty World League, presented by PlayStation 4 2018 Open Event will be CWL Seattle, live April 20-22, which features a $200,000 prize pool. Spectator Passes are available at MLG.com.
Stay tuned for the latest Call of Duty World League news by following us on Twitter!