Heretics snag opening win at CDL's Stage 1 Major

The Miami Heretics eked out a 3-2 win over OpTic Texas as the Call of Duty League Stage 1 Major got underway on Thursday in Madrid.

In the other upper-bracket quarterfinals, the Los Angeles Thieves defeated the Carolina Royal Ravens 3-1, the Toronto Ultra swept the Vancouver Surge 3-0 and the Atlanta FaZe trounced the Boston Breach 3-0.

The 12 Call of Duty League teams are competing in the Stage 1 Major, with the seeding determined by four weeks of qualifying matches. The top eight teams from qualifying landed in the upper bracket of the double-elimination tournament, while the bottom four start were assigned to the lower bracket.

All matches are best-of-five until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-seven.

On Thursday, the Heretics opened with a 250-193 win on Vault Hardpoint before OpTic took Red Card Search and Destroy 6-1 and Hacienda Control 3-0. Miami barely extended the series with a 250-247 triumph on Skyline Hardpoint, then wrapped up the victory by taking Hacienda Search and Destroy 6-2.

After the Thieves strolled to a 250-47 rout on Hacienda Hardpoint, the Royal Ravens replied with a 6-4 win on Red Card Search and Destroy. Los Angeles sealed the match by claiming Hacienda Control 3-2 and Skyline Hardpoint 250-66.

The Ultra downed the Surge 250-146 on Skyline Hardpoint, 6-5 on Hacienda Search and Destroy and 3-1 on Protocol Control.

The FaZe beat the Breach 250-128 on Red Card Hardpoint, 6-4 on Red Card Search and Destroy and 3-0 on Protocol Control.

Five matches are scheduled for Friday.

--Lower-bracket Round 1: OpTic Texas vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas M8

--Lower-bracket Round 1: Carolina Royal Ravens vs. Vegas Falcons

--Lower-bracket Round 1: Vancouver Surge vs. Minnesota Rokkr

--Lower-bracket Round 1: Boston Breach vs. Cloud9 New York

--Lower-bracket Round 2: Winner of Optic/Guerrillas vs. winner of Royal Ravens/Falcons

Five more matches are scheduled for Saturday.

--Upper-bracket semifinal: Miami Heretics vs. Los Angeles Thieves

--Upper-bracket semifinal: Toronto Ultra vs. Atlanta FaZe

--Lower-bracket Round 2: Winner of Surge/Rokkr vs. winner of Breach/Cloud9

--Lower-bracket quarterfinal: Teams TBD

--Lower bracket quarterfinal: Teams TBD

The Stage 1 Major is the first of four to be contested in the CDL season. OpTic Texas will host the Stage 2 Major at Dallas in late March; the Miami Heretics will host the Stage 3 Major at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in late April; and the Stage 4 Major will be part of DreamHack Dallas in late May.

--Field Level Media