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We were very sceptical about Los Angeles Guerrillas’ decision to replace Reece “Vivid” Drost with Martin “Chino” Chino, but he has proved us wrong thus far. The 23-year-old was on fire last weekend, although it wasn’t quite enough to get his team over the line against Dallas Empire.

Minnesota R?KKR are 1-2 heading into the Dallas Home Series, which is about where we expected them to be. While they lost against Florida Mutineers and Toronto Ultra, they picked up a 3-1 victory over the shaky Paris Legion.

On paper the R?KKR seem the stronger team, but we are leaning more towards LA Guerrillas, who are playing much better with Chino on board. This match could still go to five maps.

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OpTic Chicago are priced as $1.60 favourites over New York Subliners, which seems a bit low. The Green Wall are 2-1 this stage, defeating Seattle Surge and London Royal Ravens but losing 1-3 against Los Angeles Thieves.

The Subliners share the same 2-1 record, but their win over Atlanta FaZe suggests they might have found their long-lost form. The New York outfit entered Stage 3 after a shaky showing in the CDL Stage 2 Playoffs, but they’re clearly in better shape now.

In March, NY won this matchup 3-0. While we don’t expect another clean sweep, the Subliners have shown enough improvement for us to believe they can claim the win.

?Los Angeles Thieves have been an enigma since they entered the Call of Duty League, and they continue to surprise us with both good and bad performances. They’re technically the sixth-best team in the league with 110 CDL points, but they’re more than capable of losing to anyone.

The Seattle Surge are 11th in the regular-season standings, which hardly shows how good this team can be. While they did not impress during the Stage 2 Major, Seattle looked quite solid in their 1-3 loss to OpTic Chicago.

The Surge have the talent, but they don’t seem to know how to use it properly. Thieves, on the other hand, seem stronger on paper, but they’re inconsistent. This one is tough to call, but we don’t expect a one-sided affair.

?It’s extremely hard to trust the London Royal Ravens. Back in March they won their first two games of the season against the LA Guerrillas (3-0) and LA Thieves (3-1), and they even took down the Paris Legion (3-0) in the first round of the Stage 2 Major, but the Brits then suffered a 2-3 reverse-sweep to Thieves.

A while back it seemed like London were finding some heat, but they soon cooled down. However, you can’t really expect a team that continues to swap out players to look good.

OpTic Chicago have had their fair share of iffy showings this season, but this is still a top-four team. OpTic should be winning games like this with ease, and until we see some sort of stability from the Royal Ravens, we will continue to believe that London can lose to anyone.

?Last week, we got to see a huge shakeup in the Call of Duty League (CDL) with some of the strongest teams slipping against much weaker opponents. The list of upset results includes Dallas Empire’s pair of 2-3 losses against Minnesota R?KKR and OpTic Chicago.

Unlike the Empire, New York Subliners seem to be much more consistent with their performances. They bested Los Angeles Guerrillas (3-1), London Royal Ravens (3-1), and Toronto Ultra (3-1) to finish Group A in second place, right next to Atlanta FaZe.

These teams last met in February when the Empire reverse-swept the Subliners to win 3-2. While Dallas were the better team in the end that day, they were a bit lucky to not get swept 0-3. We would normally side with the Empire because they tend to perform better in high-pressure games, but at these odds you either take the Subliners or don’t bet at all.

?Toronto Ultra finished the group stage in third place thanks to big wins against LA Guerrillas (3-2) and London Royal Ravens (3-0). Although they still have a lot more to prove, the Canadian franchise is playing much better since it decided to bench Anthony “Methodz” Zinni.

The standout performer for the Ultra last week was Cameron “Cammy” McKilligan. As long as he can keep playing with the same fire, Toronto will be hard to beat. The only issue we have with the Ultra is their shaky showings on Control, but outside of that, this is a team to keep an eye on.

OpTic Chicago might be the better team on paper, but looking at the recent results in the Call of Duty League, it seems like the skill gap between the top and bottom teams is not big, which is largely due to the meta shift and teams figuring out how to counter one another. This might be a hot take, but with the Ultra’s improvement and the way OpTic have been losing their games, we believe the underdogs have a solid chance to upset the Green Wall.

?Dallas Empire enter the LA Guerrillas Home Series off a 2-3 loss against Minnesota R?KKR, having previously beaten Paris Legion (3-1) and Seattle Surge (3-2). The latest CoD betting odds price the Empire as favourites, which seems fair even though they will face a team that is known for causing problems to the top dogs.

While backing the outsiders might seem like an appealing option given how many upsets there have been this CDL season, we don’t believe this is a spot where you would take the Mutineers over Dallas. Florida might have beaten OpTic Chicago, but we wouldn’t overreact to that result.

The Empire’s only loss so far in this stage came against the surging Minnesota, and even that was a close 2-3 series, so they’re still one of the top-performing teams in Group B. Expect a 3-1 win for Dallas.

The almighty Green Wall did not look all that mighty last week when they failed to win a single map in their losses to Minnesota R?KKR and Florida Mutineers. In OpTic Chicago’s defence, the R?KKR looked extremely good and went on to beat Dallas Empire 3-2 a few days later, whereas the Mutineers are known to do well against the top teams.

Seattle Surge enter this match off a crisp 3-0 sweep of Paris Legion on Sunday, marking their second win of the stage after a 3-1 victory over Florida on day one. We noted in our previous CDL betting preview that Seattle should improve sooner rather than later, and it seems like that’s exactly what has happened. The whole Surge squad stepped up over the weekend, but especially Peirce “Gunless” Hillman.

It’s hard to say how this match will go, and it all comes down to how much you value the recent results of these sides. Are OpTic really as bad as their last two series suggest? And does the 3-0 sweep of the Legion mean Seattle are no longer one of the weakest team in the league? Either way, the Surge have shown enough for us to believe they can take the series.

?Dallas Empire enter Week 2 of CDL 2021 off a very interesting series against Seattle Surge where they held a 2-0 lead but ended up almost losing as $1.14 favourites. Although Seattle deserve a lot of praise for their performance that day, we weren’t too impressed with Dallas, who seemed very sloppy and uncoordinated.

Based on what we have seen from the Empire, it very hard to be overly optimistic about them going forward. They’re arguably still the second-best team in Group B, but there is a world where they finish behind either Seattle or Paris Legion, who enter this match off a 3-0 victory against Minnesota R?KKR and a solid showing in their 1-3 loss to OpTic.

Dallas should win games like this solely because they field better individual talent, but we are not sold on their consistency. Unless they improve and show a bit more in this match, Paris could upset the reigning CDL champions. A modest bet on the Legion to win is worth considering, but we are satisfied with the odds on the +1.5 handicap.

?Minnesota R?KKR are 0-2 with two 0-3 losses against Paris Legion and Florida Mutineers, which is not too convincing when they haven’t faced any of the top teams yet. With all due respect, Minnesota are playing like the worst team in the league, and we don’t see them improving without making roster changes.

One thing going for the R?KKR is that they looked good during Stage 1 when they beat Dallas Empire, Seattle Surge and London Royal Ravens, but even those results get quickly overshadowed by how poorly they’ve performed of late.

OpTic Chicago look set to win Group B, although they still need to overcome Dallas and the giant-killing Florida Mutineers. However, with the way they have been playing, OpTic shouldn’t be too concerned with either of the two matchups. And they definitely shouldn’t be scared of facing Minnesota.

?Just a few weeks back it seemed like OpTic Chicago would win the Stage 1 Major, but things didn’t go as planned for the veteran lineup. After demolishing New York Subliners (3-0) and suffering a narrow 2-3 loss against Dallas Empire, OpTic came back swinging and took down Los Angeles Thieves (3-1), only to get schooled by Subliners, who won the rematch and eliminated OpTic from the tournament in fourth place.

Paris Legion’s run through the CDL Major was short-lived, as they did not make it further than their opening bout against Florida Mutineers (1-3), which makes it hard to be overly optimistic about the French team heading into CDL Stage 2. The Legion even struggled in their last meeting with OpTic (0-3), although they deserve some praise for forcing OpTic to 10 rounds on S&D (4-6) and to five rounds on Control (2-3).

OpTic perform well enough on respawn, but they need to improve their S&D, which is one game mode where Paris can potentially steal a point. This feels like an easy win for OpTic, but we don’t believe they will come out unharmed.

?Both sides field very competitive rosters, but out of the two, it’s Florida Mutineers who seem to have a higher ceiling. They’re already a very good team that needs just a little bit more polishing, namely on the respawns.

At the same time, we would not count out Minnesota R?KKR either, as they are another one of the teams that have the potential to rise out of mid-table. At the moment, however, the R?KKR seem a bit slow and the new QBZ meta doesn’t seem to suit them.

It’s only a matter of time before things start to come together for the R?KKR, and with the way Preston “Priestahh” Greiner has been playing, they are bound to improve. Whether or not the Minnesota squad can defeat the Mutineers, however, is another question.

?You don’t need to overcomplicate things for this match, since the CoD esports betting odds paint a clear enough picture of how things should play out. Although we believe Group B has the potential to see a few more upsets than usual, we have to come to terms with the fact that Seattle Surge are playing poor CoD of late, whereas Dallas Empire are expected to end the group at the top, next to OpTic Chicago.

Seattle are, in a way, similar to the Minnesota squad, as they have the talent and potential to improve but are not looking too sharp at the moment. We might see the Surge rise up later in the season when they figure some things out, but as it stands now, we hold them in low regard.

?Los Angeles Guerrillas enter the LA derby off a shock 3-2 victory against Toronto Ultra. While that might sound like a great result, the Ultra looked a bit off that day and so we aren’t putting too much weight on the outcome. The Guerrillas’ only other win of the regular season happened during the opening week when they edged past Paris Legion 3-2.

Los Angeles Thieves’ perfect run came to an abrupt stop on Sunday when they lost 3-0 to the reigning CDL champions, Dallas Empire. Despite failing to win a single map, the Thieves held on well and came close to winning on Hardpoint (212-250) and Search & Destroy (5-6), so it’s not like they got stomped.

Although the Guerrillas deserve some praise for making it into the Stage 1 playoffs, we don’t believe they have what it takes to compete with the Thieves. This should end in a straightforward victory for Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag’s squad, who shouldn’t drop more than one map.

?OpTic Chicago ended the CDL Stage 1 regular season with a 4-1 record and a 80% map win rate, which is better than New York Subliners’ 3-2 record and 11-7 map differential. That said, the Green Wall were placed in a weaker group, so their marginally better record holds little to no value.

When we talk about the Subliners as underdogs, we have to remember this squad might have swept Dallas Empire if not for a shocking collapse in the third map of the series, while their only other loss of the season came against LA Thieves. This team is driven by incredible individual performances from Makenzie “Mack” Kelley, Conor “Diamondcon” Johst and James “Clayster” Eubanks, and as long as they can continue showing what they have up to now, the Subliners will be a very scary team to face.

OpTic might be the better team in the eyes of many Call of Duty esports fans, but that is largely due to public perception and the organisation’s past success rather than what they have produced on the battlefield so far this season. This match will be much closer than expected, and we like the Subliners to get it done.