LVLing up: Vegas Legion upset Seattle Surge to start CDL’s second stage

The Las Vegas Legion ended the first day of the Call of Duty League’s second stage season with a massive win in 3-2 fashion over the Seattle Surge on Friday night. 

After starting the regular season with four consecutive losses before their first victory, Vegas has been playing at a much higher level since the start of the Raleigh Major. While the team finished in the top six, their play picked up substantially at the LAN event, and it appears it has carried over into the new year. 

The series’ first map, Embassy Hardpoint, was up in the air until the final seconds when Seattle clinched the back-and-forth affair by a count of 250-241. Pred, who has blossomed into a legitimate MVP favorite, had his stamp all over this map with a 31-19 performance. His sophomore duo, Sib, was close behind with at 25-23. 

While Seattle is extremely reliable in the respawn game modes, Vegas hangs its hat on its Search and Destroy gameplay, and that showed in this series. The Legion knotted the series at a map apiece with an impressive 6-2 victory in the El Asilo SnD behind impressive performances from Prolute and TJHaLy. Both players posted 8-4 statlines, leading the lobby in kills and K/D ratio. 

With the series heading to Fortress Control, Pred once again showed why he has an argument for best player in the world. The second-year superstar posted an absurd 25-13 statline in just three rounds as the Surge would sweep the map 3-0. The elder statesman of Seattle, Accuracy, also had a fantastic map, posting a 22-17 statline to give Seattle the 2-1 lead in the series. 

Seattle had a chance to seal the match in the Mercado Hardpoint, but Vegas had other plans. Taking advantage of an unusually slow performance from Pred, the Legion clutched up behind a vintage performance from Clayster, who held a 1.27 K/D in the 250-216 victory. The Legion’s victory pushed the series to a decisive game five.  

In the series finale, Vegas’ veteran lineup came through in a big way. Clayster, who is the oldest player in the CDL, led the lobby in K/D with a 1.6, posting eight kills to only five deaths. Prolute and Temp were also huge in the Fortress SnD, putting up 1.25 and 1.33 K/Ds in the map, respectively.  

Vegas move to 1-0 in the current stage while Seattle fall to 0-1. The Legion are off until Jan. 21 when they take on the Boston Breach at 2pm CT, while the Surge will be back tomorrow to face the Atlanta FaZe at 5pm CT.