Since winning the Call of Duty World League New Orleans Open in January, Team Kaliber have failed to make it to another grand finals—until today.
With a 3-1 win over Rise Nation at the CWL Pro League Stage Two Playoffs, Team Kaliber secured their first top two finish since January 14 when they defeated Luminosity to move into the CWL New Orleans grand finals.
Today’s series didn’t start off too great for Team Kaliber, though. Rise took the first map, London Docks Hardpoint, by 41 points thanks to a strong slaying performance by several players, including captain Daniel “Loony” Loza.
The teams fought in a back-and-forth Valkyrie Search and Destroy in game two, but Team Kaliber came out on top thanks to 10-kill games by both Kenny Williams and Maurice “Fero” Henriquez. The third game, Ardennes Forest CTF, was another result of Kenny’s incredible slaying—his game-high 26 kills led Team Kaliber to the 3-1 win.
And the last game was all Team Kaliber. Despite Kenny not leading the way in kills, Rise stood no chance on Gibraltar Hardpoint. A complete team effort was more than enough for Team Kaliber to overcome the arguable best team in the world.
This loss pushed Rise into the losers bracket, where they’ll take on Red Reserve. The Europeans have failed to defeat Rise in the past, most notably in the CWL Anaheim grand finals, where Red fell in the second final series.
Team Kaliber will play the winner of Red Reserve vs. Rise Nation in the grand finals later today, hoping to add a third WWII championship to their trophy case and head into the CWL Championship with much-needed momentum.
