Several well-known European Call of Duty players have won the biggest amateur event of the year.
The Bhoys—Ben Bance, Sean “Seany” O’Connor, Shea “QwiKeR” Sweeney, Byron “Nastie” Plumridge, and Sam “Chain” Dineley—beat Team WaR today to win the 2019 CWL Amateur Finals in Miami.
These two teams squared off in the winners bracket finals yesterday, too. The Bhoys won that matchup 3-1 to send WaR down to the losers bracket. But WaR—Joshua-Lee “Joshh” Sheppard, David “Dqvee” Davies, Stephen “Vortex” Allen, Adam “Defrag” Mathews, and Adam “Peatie” Peate—beat Mazer Gaming in the losers bracket finals to set up a rematch with The Bhoys in the grand finals.
The Bhoys started this showdown with a hard-fought 250-231 win on Arsenal Hardpoint. WaR immediately responded, however, by taking Arsenal Search and Destroy 6-3.
Bance and crew then made quick work of WaR in map three, Frequency Control, to move one game away from winning the amateur event. But Dqvee led WaR to a 250-168 win on Frequency Hardpoint to force a decisive game five. And Defrag’s 10-kill performance on Payload Search and Destroy gave WaR the 6-3 map win and 3-2 series victory to reset the bracket in the grand finals.
The second best-of-five series started on Frequency Hardpoint, a map that WaR just beat The Bhoys on less than an hour prior. And WaR won it again, using a late comeback to take the 250-247 victory. But unlike their previous matchup, The Bhoys won Payload Search and Destroy 6-3 to tie up the series.
The back-and-forth style of this grand final continued on Seaside Control, which WaR won 3-1 to take a 2-1 series lead. The Bhoys answered back on Arsenal Hardpoint, however, winning 250-102 to force another game five. QwiKeR then led the charge on Arsenal Search and Destroy to help The Bhoys secure the 6-3 map five win and 3-2 victory in the second series of this intense grand final showdown.
The Bhoys will take home $60,000 for coming in first place at the CWL Amateur Finals, while second-place WaR earn $36,000. Several fans expected Mindfreak to win this weekend’s amateur event, but the Australians surprisingly struggled in Miami and failed to earn a spot in the 2019 Call of Duty World League Championship.
The Bhoys and WaR are among the 16 teams that qualified for the biggest event of the year, though. CoD Champs 2019 in Los Angeles will feature a $2 million prize pool and is set to begin on Aug. 14.
Published: Jul 21, 2019 12:13 pm