CDL Paris Day 2 recap & highlights: OpTic humiliated, playoff bracket set

After the first four matches on Friday set the table for the weekend at CDL Paris, Day 2 saw four of the eight competing teams get knocked out, leaving just half of the field left standing.

Florida Mutineers, Atlanta FaZe, New York Subliners, and Dallas Empire all did what they had to do to make it to the semifinals, which means OpTic Gaming Los Angeles, Paris Legion, Toronto Ultra, and London Royal Ravens all had their CDL Paris dreams end prematurely.

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Group A

Florida Mutineers 3-1 Dallas Empire

It appears that Mutineers haven’t run out of the momentum they got from winning CDL Minnesota, getting their second straight victory over Empire in as many weeks and advancing to the semis.

• Read More: CDL Paris Day 1 recap & highlights

Fero’s stellar play got them comfortable wins on Gun Runner Hardpoint (250-169) and Rammaza Search & Destroy (6-1) to go up 2-0 early, and even though Dallas sneaked a 160-158 win on Hackney Yard Domination, Florida were able to seal things with a late 250-240 comeback clincher on Azhir Cave HP.

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London Royal Ravens 3-1 Paris Legion

An all-European affair marked the first knockout match of Group A, and it was the Royal Ravens who got the best of their neighbors, knocking them out of their own Home Series.

It was tied at 1-1 after London won Azhir Cave HP 250-150 and Paris answered with a narrow 6-5 victory on St. Petrograd S&D, but wins on Hackney Yard Dom (164-156) and Hackney Yard HP (250-183) gave Royal Ravens the series and a ticket to the next round.

The loss was the Legion’s eighth in a row and 12th out of the last 14, with their last victory coming against Seattle Surge all the way back at CDL Dallas in early April.

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Dallas Empire 3-0 London Royal Ravens

Empire pulled the double of Royal Ravens this weekend, as this was a rematch of their Friday series that saw Dallas win 3-2. This time, things were a bit more one-sided as they pulled out three maps in a row to send London packing.

Wins on Rammaza HP (250-131), Gun Runner S&D (6-4), and Gun Runner Domination (171-131) were all they needed to advance to their sixth straight semifinal appearance.

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It was an interesting series, to say the least, as the second map was replayed from round 10 due to what was most likely an issue with connection lag. Empire, who were up 5-4 at the time, won the replay, essentially winning the S&D 6-4 twice, even though the first one didn’t count.

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Group B

Atlanta FaZe 3-2 New York Subliners

The FaZe vs Subliners matchup has yielded some of the best series we’ve seen this season, and this Group A final didn’t disappoint, going to a third-straight game five between these two teams.

After Atlanta got off to a hot start, winning 250-162 on Gun Runner HP and 6-1 on Gun Runner S&D, New York roared back with victories on Hackney Yard Dom (159-144) and St. Petrograd HP (250-204), putting themselves on the brink of a huge reverse sweep.

However, despite going down early in the game five Arklov Peak S&D, FaZe mounted a comeback that saw them win 6-4 and take the series – their seventh game five victory in a row and second already this weekend.

Putting the finishing touches was Atlanta’s star-man Simp, who pulled off a rare assassination on an unsuspected ZooMaa to wrap up the final round.

Toronto Ultra 3-0 OpTic Gaming Los Angeles

These two teams might be the most inconsistent in the league right now, and they proved that yet again with perhaps the most one-sided series we’ve seen this season.

It was pure domination from start to finish; Ultra outslayed OpTic by a whopping 56 kills in their 250-49 win on Hackney Yard HP, and the next two maps followed suit – 6-3 on Rammaza S&D and 165-150 on Gun Runner Domination.

OGLA, who had finally begun turning their season around in recent weeks, shipped in their worst performance of the year and got knocked out in the first round after back-to-back semifinal appearances.

New York Subliners 3-1 Toronto Ultra

Unfortunately for Ultra, all their momentum from their demolishing of OpTic Gaming didn’t last, as Subliners put the clamps down on the series to book their ticket to a third-straight semifinals appearance.

It was a good start for Toronto, going up 1-0 after a 250-200 win on Rammaza, but New York won the next three maps to seal the series victory – 6-2 on Rammaza S&D, 160-153 on Gun Runner Domination, and 250-229 on Gun Runner HP.

It was another tough weekend for the Ultra, who have now lost five of their last six matches after making it to the first and only semis back at CDL Florida in early May. However, the one big silver lining was the play of CleanX, the Danish rookie who they promoted in place of Classic prior to this event.

He put one several great performances throughout all three of their matches, including a superstar-level 11-kill streak against Subliners in the first Hardpoint.

Looking ahead to Championship Sunday

The table is now set for what should be an electric Championship Sunday on Day 3 of the Paris Home Series. Group A winners and defending champions Florida Mutineers will look to make their second straight grand final and fourth overall as they take on New York Subliners, who are still looking for their first finals entry.

• Read More: Karma claims MW is giving CoD pros “false hope”

On the other side, Atlanta FaZe will face Dallas Empire yet again – a powerhouse matchup between two teams who are both in their sixth semifinal already this season. This is the fifth time they’ll be playing each other and FaZe currently lead the season series 3-1.

The action kicks off at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM BST, a little earlier than usual due to the CDL wanting to accommodate European viewers since this is technically an EU event.

CDL Paris brackets & schedule

Day 3 Schedule

Group A Bracket

Group B Bracket

Playoff Bracket

Remember, you can keep up with all of the Call of Duty action and watch these matches live via our Paris Home Series hub, which includes streams, updated scores, brackets, and more.

Also, make sure to check out the CDL Paris final placements to see where each eliminated team finished in the standings and how many CDL Points they earned.