Royal Ravens knock Thieves from unbeaten ranks at CDL Major 3 qualifying

The Carolina Royal Ravens rallied from a loss in the opening map to hand the Los Angeles Thieves their first match defeat 3-2 in qualifying for the Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major on Saturday.

Three of the four matches on Day 2 of the third and final week were 3-2 decisions. First-place OpTic Texas downed FaZe Vegas to remain unbeaten, and Boston Breach recorded their first win by edging G2 Minnesota by the one-map margin. In the other match, the Riyadh Falcons topped winless Cloud9 New York 3-1.

The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the third major of the season, to be held May 15-17 as part of the DreamHack Atlanta event.

On Saturday, the Carolina Royal Ravens fell 250-197 on Gridlock Hardpoint to open their match against the Los Angeles Thieves. Carolina drew even with a 6-4 victory on Raid Search and Destroy, then lost again, this time on Exposure Overload, 5-3.

But the Royal Ravens captured the last two maps, Colossus Hardpoint (250-210) and Fringe Search and Destroy (6-4) to win the match 3-2 and blemish Los Angeles' overall record at 3-1.

Carolina's Logan "Lurqxx" Brown of the United States was selected the match MVP with 95 kills and a plus-7 kill-death differential.

OpTic Texas had to battle past FaZe Vegas 3-2 despite a fast start. Texas won 250-243 on Den Hardpoint and 6-4 on Gridlock Search and Destroy. Vegas rallied with victories on Scar Overload (4-2) and Gridlock Hardpoint (250-183) before OpTic closed it out with a 6-2 win on Plaza Search and Destroy.

Optic's Mason "Mercules" Ramsey of the United States was the match MVP with 104 kills and a plus-8 K-D differential.

Boston Breach also started strong against G2 Minnesota, winning 250-247 on Scar Hardpoint and 6-4 on Fringe Search and Destroy. But Minnesota responded with victories on Den Overload (5-1) and Den Hardpoint (250-157) to force a fifth map. Boston emerged with a 6-4 triumph on Scar Search and Destroy for the 3-2 victory.

Breach's Byron "Nastie" Plumridge of the United Kingdom was match MVP with 97 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential.

The Riyadh Falcons didn't have to go to a fifth map, but they didn't make it easy by dropping the opening map to Cloud9 New York, 250-197 on Gridlock Hardpoint. The Falcons then reeled off victories on Raid Search and Destroy (6-4), Exposure Overload (6-1) and Den Hardpoint (250-197) for the 3-1 victory.

Riyadh's Amer "Pred" Zuibeari of Australia was match MVP with 87 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential.

Sunday's schedule, Day 3 of Week 3

--Paris Gentle Mates vs. Miami Heretics

--Los Angeles Thieves vs. G2 Minnesota

--Toronto KOI vs. Cloud9 New York

Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major qualifying, with match record and map differential

1. OpTic Texas 5-0, 15-6

T2. Los Angeles Thieves, 3-1, 11-5

T2. Toronto KOI, 3-1, 11-5

4. Paris Gentle Mates, 3-1, 9-7

5. FaZe Vegas, 3-2, 12-9

6. Riyadh Falcons, 3-2, 11-9

7. Vancouver Surge, 2-3, 8-11

8. Carolina Royal Ravens, 2-3, 11-12

9. G2 Minnesota, 1-3, 6-9

10. Miami Heretics, 1-3, 5-10

11. Boston Breach, 1-4, 7-14

12. Cloud9 New York, 0-4, 3-12

--Field Level Media