Surge edge Cloud9 in back-and-forth battle in Stage 2 Major qualifying

The Vancouver Surge outlasted Cloud9 New York 3-2 on Sunday in qualifying action for the Call of Duty League's Stage 2 Major.

Vancouver grabbed an early lead by prevailing 250-181 on Vault Hardpoint, but it could never pull away from New York. Cloud9 took two of the next three maps to set up a winner-take-all meeting on Protocol, where the Surge cruised to a 6-1 victory while playing Search & Destroy.

Each of the 12 CDL teams will play seven qualifying matches through March 16, setting up seeding for the Stage 2 Major, slated for March 20-23 in Dallas.

In other action Sunday, the Los Angeles Thieves and Toronto Ultra each came away with a 3-1 win. Los Angeles beat the Vegas Falcons, while Toronto tackled the Carolina Royal Ravens.

The Minnesota Rokkr had no trouble getting past OpTic Texas, winning 3-0 by taking Skyline Hardpoint 250-226, Vault Search & Destroy 6-4 and Vault Control 3-2.

Week 2 of Stage 2 Major qualifying begins Friday with three matches:

--Minnesota Rokkr vs. Carolina Royal Ravens

--Miami Heretics vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas M8

--Vegas Falcons vs. Cloud9 New York

Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major qualifying standings (with match record and map differential):

T1. Los Angeles Thieves, 2-0, plus-5

T1. Minnesota Rokkr, 2-0, plus-5

T3. Boston Breach, 2-0, plus-3

T3. Vancouver Surge, 2-0, plus-3

5. Cloud9 New York, 1-1, plus-2

6. Atlanta FaZe, 1-1, plus-1

7. Toronto Ultra, 1-1, minus-1

8. Los Angeles Guerrillas M8, 0-1, minus-1

9. Miami Heretics, 0-1, minus-2

10. Vegas Falcons, 0-2, minus-4

11. Carolina Royal Ravens, 0-2, minus-5

12. OpTic Texas, 0-2, minus-6

--Field Level Media