The first week of the CWL Global Pro League has come to a close and with it, we’ve learned a lot. Week One featured North American teams EnVyUs and Cloud9, Splyce from Europe, and Mindfreak from the APAC region. Each team faced off against one another twice throughout the weekend with the top three placing teams moving onto Stage Two and the last place team facing Relegation.

1st Place – Team EnVyUs

Win/Loss – 5-1

Map Count – 16-7

Having a seemingly slow start that began with a 1-3 loss at the hands of Splyce on Friday, EnVy regained and started a warpath ending with them in the 1st place spot in Week One.

After their initial loss to Splyce, EnVy would not drop another series all weekend. On Friday, they took a hard fought 3-1 victory over Mindfreak. Saturday would see them steamroll Cloud9 3-0 and again beat MF 3-1. Surprisingly, their toughest match would come on Sunday where they fought tooth and nail to defeat a reenergized Cloud9 3-2, but revenge and their most meaningful matchup came against Splyce in the final match of the weekend.

To secure the 1st place seed, EnVy had to defeat Splyce 3-0, a feat in which no other team had been able to achieve. And just like that, EnVy proved their dominance and came out hot, beating the Europeans in the only 3-0 of the day. Every member of EnVy had a chance to shine throughout the weekend as they proved they are still one of the best teams in the game.

2nd Place – Splyce

Win/Loss – 5-1

Map Count – 15-7

The curse of Sunday evenings has followed Splyce all the way from CWL Birmingham. Having coasted through Friday and Saturday, Splyce stood in first place with a 4-0 record, having only dropped two maps. However, like last weekend, Sunday proved difficult for the Europeans as they struggled to defeat Mindfreak 3-2 and ultimately lost 0-3 to EnVy. Splyce only needed to win one map against EnVy to secure their 1st place seed but choked when the time came. They were handed their first Uplink loss of the weekend during this series after looking untouchable in the respawn game modes.

Although they failed to secure 1st place this weekend, Splyce still looks like a formidable foe heading into the Stage One Playoffs. With the 2nd place finish, they now will likely play OpTic Gaming, FaZe Clan, or eUnited in the first round of Playoffs, a position any team should be nervous of.

3rd Place – Mindfreak

Win/Loss – 1-5

Map Count – 10-15

Mindfreak surprised everyone this weekend, coming out tough against the European and North American teams. After boot camping in Atlanta for the last two weeks, the Australians were able to make some noise and upset Cloud9 for the 3rd place spot. On Friday they caused the first big upset as they steamrolled C9 with a 3-0 victory to start off their weekend. They then fell 1-3 to EnVy after putting up a great fight in all three game modes. Saturday was another hard fought day for Mindfreak, that ended with them falling 1-3 against Splyce and Envy.

On Sunday, Mindfreak managed to take Splyce to a game five where they ultimately lost and then did the same against Cloud9, however at that point they had already secured their 3rd place finish.

Throughout the weekend, the unorthodox Search and Destroy play style of the Aussies enabled them to secure a spot in Stage Two and help them avoid Relegation. If they can spend more time boot camping in the US, Mindfreak stands to improve and cause greater waves heading into CoD Champs.

4th Place – Cloud9

Win/Loss – 1-5

Map Count – 5-7

The struggles for Cloud9 continued as they entered Week One of the Global Pro League. The team has not been able to replicate their success at CWL Vegas back in December, and this weekend was no different.

After playing four matches over Friday and Saturday Cloud9, stood at a 0-4 record with a 0-12 map count. After choking multiple Hardpoint and S&D maps with significant leads, by the time Uplink rolled around they were so tilted the series was already over. The woes of weak mental strength plagued their weekend as they lost map after map. It was obvious by looking at the players they were not gelling, which reflected in their gameplay.

However, Sunday proved to the be a slightly different story. Needing to finish the day with a 2-0 record, Cloud9 would first play EnVy. But Cloud9 would fall 2-3 in a series they could have won at multiple points, cementing their 4th place finish. Miraculously, Cloud9 were able to defeat Mindfreak in a close fashion in their last match of the weekend, squeaking out at 3-2 victory. Unfortunately for them it was too little too late and now C9 will have to fight through Relegation for a spot in Stage Two. Many believe a roster change is on the horizon for this struggling squad.

Moving Forward

Week One of Stage One of the CWL Global Pro League proved to be a huge success for MLG and the CoD World League. More exciting matches are coming up within the next three weeks as we round out the Playoff spots and head towards CoD Champs!

Jack Waters is an avid Call of Duty Esports fan and wants to hear from YOU! Find him on Twitter.

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