OpTic Texas, Vancouver Surge reach final of CDL Championship

The Vancouver Surge and OpTic Texas advanced to Sunday's grand final of the $2 million Call of Duty League Championship in Kitchener, Ontario.

OpTic Texas swept the Boston Breach 3-0 in the winners-bracket final on Saturday. The Vancouver Surge won three matches on Saturday, working through the elimination rounds.

The top eight teams from the Call of Duty League's regular season qualified for the double-elimination event that caps the season's Black Ops 6 competition.

All matches are best-of-five until the best-of-nine grand final on Sunday. The championship team will earn $800,000.

OpTic Texas needed only three maps, beating Boston 250-73 on Vault Hardpoint, 6-1 on Protocol Search & Destroy and 3-2 on Hacienda Control. All four of OpTic Texas' players had positive kill-death differentials, led by American Mason "Mercules" Ramsay with 77 kills and a plus-34 K-D differential, and Canadian Brandon "Dashy" Otell with 61 kills and a plus-27.

The Vancouver Surge began the day with a 3-0 sweep of the Toronto Ultra in elimination round 2. Victories came on Vault Hardpoint (250-235), Protocol Search & Destroy (6-4) and Vault Control (3-0).

Travis "Neptune" McCloud of the United States led the way for the Surge with 75 kills and a plus-22 K-D differential.

Also in elimination round 2, the Miami Heretics swept the Atlanta FaZe 3-0, winning 250-233 on Skyline Hardpoint, 6-3 on Protocol Search & Destroy and 3-0 on Protocol Control.

David "RenKoR" Isern had 64 kills and a plus-16 K-D differential, and teammate Diego "SupeR" Escudero of the all-Spainish Heretics had 54 kills and a plus-15.

The Surge then met the Heretics in elimination round 3 and emerged with a dramatic 3-2 victory. Vancouver won 250-242 on Vault Hardpoint, suffered a 6-3 setback on Dealership Search & Destroy, won 3-1 on Protocol Control, fell 250-193 on Hacienda Hardpoint and triumphed 6-5 on Red Card Search & Destroy.

Three of the Heretics had positive K-D differentials, led by "RenKoR" Isern with 111 kills and a plus-36. None of the Surge players were in positives, with "Neptune" McCloud the best at 93 kills and 95 deaths.

Another battle loomed in the elimination final, where the Surge edged the Breach 3-2. Vancouver opened with a 250-235 win on Red Card Hardpoint, dropped a 6-2 outcome on Rewind Search & Destroy, then pulled ahead with a 3-0 victory on Vault Control. Boston evened the match with a 250-188 win on Skyline Hardpoint, but Red Card Search & Destroy was the Surge's game at 6-2.

McCloud delivered again with 98 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential. The Breach's Eric "Snoopy" Perez of Mexico had 102 kills and a plus-14.

Call of Duty League Championship prize pool

1. $800,000

2. $480,000

3. $320,000 -- Boston Breach

4. $160,000 -- Miami Heretics

5-6. $80,000 -- Toronto Ultra, Atlanta FaZe

7-8. $40,000 -- Los Angeles Thieves, Carolina Royal Ravens

--Field Level Media