Carolina Royal Ravens and Los Angeles Thieves both had a good run at CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major, finishing fourth and second, respectively. It was a good tournament for the Royal Ravens; however, they are not quite up there with the top squads such as LA Thieves.

After a very shaky run though the qualifiers, Los Angeles Thieves came one map short of winning Major 1. The Thieves were bound to find traction sooner or later, and now that we know what they are capable of, the only question is whether Thomas “Scrappy” Ernst and co. can perform as well online as they did on LAN.

Carolina Royal Ravens are a good team, but as seen in their last meeting, they do not have the firepower to match Los Angeles Thieves.

Vegas Falcons are so far behind the rest of the CDL in all areas that even these monster odds offer no value. They are 0-9 with a 4-27 map record, which sits them firmly in 12th place with no CDL points to their name.

The Falcons welcomed back Fahad “WXSL” Alkahtani before the start of the second stage — which is a good move, but not enough for Vegas to start contesting top spots.

Boston Breach have produced a mixed bag of results over the last two months. More recently, their slaying has been lacking, which could leave them vulnerable to an upset.

While it is unlikely Vegas Falcons will defeat the Breach, $2.20 for the underdogs to steal one map is a very good offer.

Vancouver Surge had their moment in the final stretch of CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major Qualifiers, but they got stomped by Toronto Ultra and Minnesota R?KKR in Spain, highlighting their main issue — lack of firepower.

With roster changes on the horizon, the Surge seem to know they need to improve in some areas, but that will not be enough to stop the surging Atlanta FaZe.

FaZe have been cruising since the second week of CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major Qualifiers and are on a 12-game winning streak. Their Hardpoint is not perfect and needs some work, but that was only noticeable in FaZe’s clashes with LA Thieves.

Top CoD betting sites have Atlanta FaZe priced as massive favourites and even at this number, it sounds fair. This is FaZe’s game to lose.

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Boston Breach are 4-2 from their last six outings, with their two losses coming against OpTic Texas and Atlanta FaZe. That run also includes a solid five-map victory against Los Angeles Thieves and a 3-1 win against Carolina Royal Ravens.

The Breach have been performing better than expected and look ready to make some noise in Spain. While they are unlikely to win the whole thing, Eric “Snoopy” Pérez and co. should do fine against any squad except for the top contenders.

Atlanta FaZe have won eight straight games leading to CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major, including a 3-0 sweep of Boston Breach. While online results should not indicate how the teams will do on LAN, FaZe have already proved they can perform offline just as well as online.

Vancouver Surge picked up two excellent wins against Carolina Royal Ravens and Minnesota R?KKR in the week leading up to CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major. Most of that was thanks to Jovan “04” Rodriguez, and if his terrific form continues, the Surge might surprise many.

Toronto Ultra are priced as favourites with the best CoD betting sites. They have looked a bit iffy of late, however, especially in their loss to OpTic Texas on Sunday.

Ultra are better on Hardpoint and Search & Destroy, but only marginally on the former, and they are not that efficient on Control (50% win rate). While this is Toronto’s game to lose, Vancouver Surge have shown enough improvement to believe they can force a close game.

Carolina Royal Ravens ended their losing streak on Sunday, when they edged past Miami Heretics, following three losses against Atlanta FaZe, Boston Breach, and Vancouver Surge. It was not the cleanest performance from the Royal Ravens, but they appear to be improving.

Los Angeles Thieves are not in the best form either. While still one of the most stacked CoD esports teams in the league, LA Thieves have been extremely disappointing of late.

This is the best time to face Los Angeles Thieves, and even though they might do better on LAN, they do not deserve to be priced as $1.20 favourites against the Royal Ravens.

OpTic Texas are 8-1 from their last nine outings. The only defeat in that run came against Carolina Royal Ravens during CDL 2025 Stage 1 Minor, while they posted two victories against LA Thieves and Toronto Ultra in the final stage of the qualifiers.

OpTic and their chief rivals, Atlanta FaZe, are in a tier of their own. And while it is unclear how OpTic will do on LAN, this roster is experienced enough to not doubt in their chances to go all the way.

Miami Heretics secured a spot in the upper bracket with a 2-5 record, which only highlights how big of a gap there is between the top squads and the rest. While the Heretics did force LA Thieves and the Royal Ravens to five maps in the final week of the qualifiers, neither of those teams is in good form, and it is hard to see Miami competing with OpTic.

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Despite their recent struggles and underwhelming performances across all game modes, namely Hardpoint, the top CoD betting sites have Los Angeles Thieves priced as favourites to defeat Boston Breach. There are reasons to believe Boston Breach can push them to their limits.

Boston Breach have a much deeper map pool on Hardpoint, and they are pretty effective on Red Card (66.7% win rate), which is LA Thieves’ best map. Search & Destroy looks like a coin flip as neither team has a deep map pool, and you can give LA Thieves a slight edge on Control.

If we go off statistics alone, Los Angeles Thieves are the better team, but only marginally. And considering how shaky they’ve looked recently, this match is closer to a coin flip than what the odds suggest.

Atlanta FaZe will face off against Cloud9 New York for the first time in the 2025 CDL season in what should be a very straightforward match.

Cloud9 have not been playing well and do not seem to excel in anything. They are decent, but nothing more than that—and that will not be enough to derail the surging FaZe.

With the players on this roster, some improvement is to be expected. But ahead of this match, it is hard to make a case for Cloud9 New York as a serious threat for FaZe, who should not be dropping more than one map.

Toronto Ultra have a perfect record in CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major Qualifiers, with a +10 map differential. OpTic Texas are close behind, with a 5-1 series record and +8 differential.

Besides posting similar results, the two teams also have similar map pools. OpTic are slightly better than Ultra on Hardpoint with an 11-5 record to Ultra’s 8-5, whereas Tobias “CleanX” J?nsson and co. have a better win rate on Search & Destroy (81.2%) than OpTic Texas (57.1%).

While Toronto Ultra should win Search & Destroy, they are unlikely to take Control off OpTic unless we see Protocol. As a better team on respawns, OpTic are deserving favourites, but there is a good chance this goes to game five, in which case Ultra should close it out.

Esports betting tips

Los Angeles Guerrillas are not expected to do well when they face off against Toronto Ultra in the final week of CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major Qualifiers. Although neither team performed well at the Minor, Ultra are 4-0, while the Guerrillas are 0-4 in Major 1 Qualifiers.

On paper, this should be a Toronto Ultra blowout, but Jamie “Insight” Craven and co. are not consistent enough to believe that will happen. They looked very shaky in their last two games, against Miami Heretics and Minnesota R?KKR, whereas LAGM showed some good things in their recent two, despite losing both against OpTic Texas and R?KKR.

Toronto Ultra are still the better team and should come out ahead. However, this looks like another scrappy five-game series, which the two squads have produced plenty of this season.

Los Angeles Thieves and OpTic Texas promise an exciting affair as two CDL titans clash for the first time in 2025. Both squads have performed well so far this season, yet neither have reached their full potential yet.

LA Thieves have a better record heading into the third week of CDL 2025 Stage 1 Major Qualifiers, but they do not have Brandon “Dashy” Otell. OpTic’s star is by far the best player in the league, ranking top-five across all metrics, including K/D (1.19) and Slayer Rating (96.97)—the first and second-highest in the league.

Moreover, the Thieves’ Hardpoint is not that good, which makes them vulnerable, especially against an elite team like OpTic.
This looks closer to a coin flip than what the odds on the top CoD betting sites suggest. Take the underdogs at plus money.

Minnesota exited CDL 2025 Minor 1 with three game fives. They beat Los Angeles Guerrillas M80 and Toronto Ultra but lost to Atlanta FaZe, who they will meet again on Sunday.

Considering R?KKR forced FaZe to game five last weekend, it is fair to expect them to do it again, but that does not seem likely. R?KKR are playing very sloppy, and while they have decent results to their name, there is more to their close games than meets the eye.

Atlanta FaZe have not had the best start to the season, going 1-3 across the first two weeks of the CDL 2025 Stage Major 1 Qualifiers. But they showed their true colours at Minor 1, and if their run to the trophy is any indication, FaZe are back and should not struggle against Minnesota R?KKR.

Esports betting tips

Miami Heretics did not perform well on LAN last year, with a 3-10 record, and they were 14-14 online. Consistency was a major issue, and it led to some roster changes, including the arrival of Diego “SupeR” Escudero, David “RenKoR” Isern, and coach Gonzalo “Sikotik” Galán.

It is unclear whether the new-look lineup will manage to find more stability, but the Heretics have some upside, as long as they manage to improve on respawns and continue to post solid results on Search & Destroy.

Vegas Falcons’ lineup consists of former Call of Duty Challengers players who will likely struggle on respawns, but they have shown good things on Search & Destroy during the Esports World Cup. So, while their ceiling is lower, the Falcons match up well with Heretics.

Minnesota R?KKR’s new roster has a lot of firepower, although they lack strong leadership, which could become a problem later. On the other side, with Daniel “Loony” Loza as head coach, the R?KKR’s ceiling is very high.

Boston Breach, like R?KKR, freshened up their lineup after their shaky run through the 2024 Call of Duty League season. But even with the new signings, the Breach have some issues, mainly iffy firepower, which will show in respawns.

This is a winnable match for both teams and close to a coin flip, so we will gladly side with the underdogs at plus money.

Vancouver Surge enter the 2025 season with a much different roster compared to 2024, featuring two new pickups, Charlie “Hicksy” Hicks and Byron “Nastie” Plumridge. The core made the Esports World Cup 2024 semifinals, so there is some potential, but the Surge could struggle with their firepower this season.

This is where Jovan “04” Rodriguez will play a significant factor for the squad, who besides questionable firepower, have the tools to fight for a strong placement this year.

Like last season, the Surge could struggle against CDL’s top teams, which explains why they are priced as underdogs with the best Call of Duty betting sites. However, at this price and so early into the season, it is worth taking a shot with the underdogs.

Los Angeles Thieves replaced their entire lineup after a disappointing fourth-place finish in the CDL Championship 2024 and acquired Dylan “Envoy” Hannon, Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez, and Thomas “Scrappy” Ernst. While we have not seen the Thieves play yet, this is a very stacked lineup which should compete for a podium finish this season.

Cloud9 New York created an interesting roster, with players who competed together before, creating a powerful synergy with plenty of talent to bite at the heels of the top squads. Whether the project will work out remains to be seen, but it is also hard to say whether LA Thieves will perform as well as expected, especially so early.

Regardless of Thieves’ higher ceiling, Cloud9 New York can keep it close.

Esports betting tips

Seattle Surge and Las Vegas Legion last met in the second week of Call of Duty League 2024 Major 4 Qualifiers, when Las Vegas won on map five. It was a chaotic game, with the teams going back and forth until the Legion closed out the series with 6-4 on Search & Destroy – 6 Star.

Across their final games of the qualifiers last week, both squads looked shaky, struggling to find traction before heading to Burbank. And considering neither is particularly efficient on LAN, we can expect another closely contested game.

A bet on over 4.5 maps isn’t a terrible choice, but we prefer Las Vegas Legion at outsider odds.

Toronto Ultra are the second favourites to win CDL 2024 Major 4 with Call of Duty betting sites, and that’s not surprising considering how dominant they were in the qualifiers. They lost their first game against Seattle Surge but then collected six victories, including a 3-2 win against Atlanta FaZe and a 3-0 sweep of OpTic Texas.

Los Angeles Guerrillas barely finished the qualifiers inside the top eight, scraping in with a 3-4 record thanks to the complete collapse of Las Vegas Legion in the third week. This was also the Guerrillas’ tied-best placement in an online stage this season, which says a lot about where they stand.

There’s not a single reason to believe Toronto Ultra can lose this game. They’re consistent, efficient in beating lesser teams, and have already beaten Los Angeles Guerrillas three times since January.

New York Subliners ended CDL 2024 Major 4 Qualifiers with a disappointing 4-3 record, which includes a 2-3 loss to Atlanta FaZe in the opening week. On paper, the Subliners held on well in that match, but it’s important to note that FaZe didn’t perform like themselves on that day.

Since then, the Subliners have looked somewhat shaky, especially towards the end of the qualifiers, with a close five-game victory against Minnesota R?KKR and a loss against Los Angeles Thieves.

Atlanta FaZe had a slow start to CDL 2024 Major 4 Qualifiers, but they quickly found their rhythm and showed much cleaner performances in the final four games of the stage. Their Control still needs a lot more work, and it could be a weak spot New York will take advantage of.

So, while we can give the Subliners a map, anything more seems unlikely.

In what should be the closest game of the day, Los Angeles Thieves meet Miami Heretics for the fourth time this season. Two of those clashes ended in favour of Miami, but the Thieves won the only LAN match between the two.

Both sides won four games during CDL 2024 Major 4 Qualifiers and performed similarly well. But the Heretics had a tougher schedule, and their only three defeats came against OpTic Texas, Toronto Ultra, and Atlanta FaZe.

This should be a competitive series, and even though Los Angeles Thieves deserve some recognition for their solid showing at the last LAN, Miami Heretics shouldn’t be priced as underdogs.

Esports betting tips

Seattle Surge suffered their second loss of Call of Duty League 2024 Major 4 last Sunday against Las Vegas Legion. In contrast, the Miami Heretics picked up their third victory of the stage against the Carolina Royal Ravens in a fairly one-sided series.

Both teams are 3-2 heading into this match, and they’ve both had their moments over the last three weeks. The Seattle Surge have shown higher highs, whereas Miami Heretics have seemed more stable with dominant wins against weaker teams and tough losses against superior squads.

The last two meetings between Seattle Surge and Miami Heretics extended to five maps, and considering their form, there’s a good chance we’ll see another close affair.

Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra are guaranteed a top-eight finish this online stage, but there’s still pride on the line as the two CDL title contenders clash for the sixth time this season.

Of the five meetings, Toronto Ultra have won all but one — during CDL 2024 Major 3 Qualifiers — which includes a close 3-2 victory in the winners’ finals at the previous Call of Duty League Major. So not only have Toronto Ultra beaten FaZe online, but they’ve also proven to be the better team on LAN.

Even though Toronto Ultra have not accomplished as much as FaZe this season, they’re one of the few teams that can cause Atlanta FaZe problems. Admittedly, FaZe have looked much more potent over the last three weeks of CDL 2024 Major 4 Qualifiers, but this doesn’t justify them being priced as such big favourites. Value is with Toronto Ultra.

Las Vegas Legion have been very up and down so far in this online stage. They lost against Toronto Ultra in the first week, then picked up three wins against New York Subliners, OpTic Texas, and Seattle Surge, but lost their most recent outing against Los Angeles Guerrillas.

This confirms what was already known: the Legion are highly volatile, although capable of causing upsets.

The Los Angeles Thieves have not been as inconsistent with their showings. They have beaten teams they were expected to but also crumbled against Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra last week — although the Thieves showed some resistance, namely on Hardpoint and Control maps.

Las Vegas Legion have shown high highs this online stage, but they’re not to be trusted when expected to do well. They’re also 0-2 down in the head-to-head with Los Angeles Thieves, which makes backing Daniel “Ghosty” Rothe and co. an easy choice.

Esports betting tips

Boston Breach are by far the worst-performing team in the Call of Duty League (CDL). They’re on a streak of 10 consecutive losses and have not won a match since March. Over that stretch, Boston Breach have managed to force their opponents to five maps in seven series but that doesn’t mean they were ever close to winning a game.

Seattle Surge are doing quite well and on a opposite trajectory to the Breach. Surge have won four of their last five series, which includes two against Toronto Ultra and Minnesota R?KKR in the first week of the qualifiers.
There’s not much to analyse here. Even though Seattle Surge are not one of the top title contenders, they’re significantly stronger than Boston Breach, who don’t seem capable of beating anyone.

New York Subliners had a weird run through the first week of CDL 2024 Major 4 Qualifiers. They barely made it past Carolina Royal Ravens and then had a shaky showing against Atlanta FaZe on Sunday.

Las Vegas Legion ended last week with a 0-3 loss to Toronto Ultra and a surprise 3-2 victory against OpTic Texas. The Legion are now 2-2 with their newest addition, Giancarlos “oJohnny” Carrasco, and have shown some improvement – but still have a long way to go.

New York Subliners are the better team with a much higher ceiling than the Legion. But they’ve not looked as polished and unless they step up, we could be in for a competitive game on Saturday.

Los Angeles Thieves had to grind out a game-five victory against Los Angeles Guerrillas in their opening CDL 2024 Major 4 Week 1 match. But then found more success against Boston Breach, who they swept aside without any issues.

Carolina Royal Ravens lost both of their matches last week against Los Angeles Guerrillas and New York Subliners, which isn’t too inspiring. They looked terrible against the Guerrillas and didn’t show much more against the New York Subliners – putting them in a questionable spot ahead of a very tough schedule.

Los Angeles Thieves already beat Carolina Royal Ravens twice this season, both times on map five. This time, it should be no different, but considering how shaky the Royal Ravens looked last week, the Los Angeles Thieves should be able to win with a bit more to spare.

Esports betting tips

Los Angeles Thieves finished the Call of Duty League 2024 Major 3 Qualifiers in fourth place and looked set to make a splash on LAN. But the Thieves failed to make it far in Toronto, suffering an early second-round exit against Miami Heretics.

Losing to Heretics isn’t that worrying, but the Thieves also had an iffy showing against Boston Breach in round one, suggesting they might not be as good as they seemed a few weeks back.

Los Angeles Guerrillas are not as much of an enigma. While you could rank them above Boston Breach, anything more is too optimistic. Still, the Guerrillas are much more efficient online and are 3-1 up in the head-to-head against the Thieves, who haven’t shown enough recently to earn the tag of $1.30 favourites.

Toronto Ultra are the clear third-best team in the league, behind Atlanta FaZe and OpTic Texas. They had some distinct issues over the first three stages of the season, namely with Search & Destroy, but even that doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore.

In CDL 2024 Major 3, Toronto Ultra managed to grind out some great wins on Search & Destroy and showed great consistency on respawns, earning them a silver medal and a ticket to the CDL Championship.

Las Vegas Legion exited CDL 2024 Major 3 in the first round, which marked their worst LAN result of the season, but that was expected after what they showed in the qualifying stage.

Legion took a map in two of their three meetings with Ultra this season, but they’re now in worse form, whereas Toronto Ultra are improving. A 3-0 sweep seems likely.

Miami Heretics placed fifth-sixth at CDL Major 3, which is a massive improvement on their consecutive 9th-12th finishes in the first two LAN events. That result didn’t come easy, but Miami Heretics earned it with solid performances against the Las Vegas Legion and Los Angeles Thieves.

Their only loss of CDL 2024 Major 3 came against OpTic Texas, who beat them 3-1 in the third round of the lower bracket. That doesn’t sound too inspiring ahead of this fixture, but we can’t ignore Miami Heretics’ recent improvement.

By winning CDL 2024 Major 3, OpTic Texas earned the tag as the strongest CoD team in the league. They’re still 20 points short of catching up to FaZe in the season standings, yet their improvement since the second stage is noticeable.

It’s very difficult to doubt OpTic Texas and their chances to defeat Miami Heretics. Still, there’s a very good chance they drop a map — as OpTic typically do online.

Esports betting tips

Toronto Ultra picked up their fourth victory of the qualifiers on Sunday when they swept Minnesota R?KKR. With a 4-1 record, Toronto Ultra are guaranteed a spot in the upper bracket of the playoffs, but they still have a lot of work to do to compete for the trophy.

Search & Destroy isn’t Ultra’s strong suit, as seen in their last two series. But their respawns have been pretty solid, so it’s hard to find any significant reasons to doubt Ultra when faced with a weaker opponent.

Boston Breach are 0-5, and that’s a fair representation of where they stand. They forced OpTic Texas to five maps at the start of CDL 2024 Major 3 Qualifiers Week 4. Still, that minor accomplishment means very little after seeing Breach struggle against LA Thieves, LA Guerrillas, Minnesota R?KKR, and even Miami Heretics.

Had Boston Breach shown a bit more, they would be a solid bet to take a map from Toronto Ultra, but their form is concerning and individually, they can’t compare to the favourites.

Los Angeles Thieves won against Boston Breach on Sunday with a fairly convincing display. They dropped Control, and the Highrise – Search & Destroy score (6-5) doesn’t paint the whole picture. Overall, the Thieves performed well, but also highlighted their main weakness.

Los Angeles Thieves are 1-4 on Control this split, and they have consistently underperformed in game five. These are two big reasons Los Angeles Thieves can’t compete for the title.

Seattle Surge will look to capitalise on that, but there are some questions about this team following an abysmal performance against Miami Heretics. Team work-wise, Seattle Surge have looked great throughout this entire split, but their recent performance leaves a lot to be desired.

Los Angeles Thieves should be considered as better team of the two, but they’ve looked flawed enough to believe they can slip against Seattle Surge. Even though Surge didn’t amaze with what they showed against Miami Heretics, they’re still a capable team and a solid outsider pick.

Esports betting tips