Thieves, FaZe head to upper-bracket final at Stage 1 Major

The Los Angeles Thieves and Atlanta FaZe cruised to 3-0 sweeps on Saturday to set up a battle in the upper-bracket final of the Call of Duty League's Stage 1 Major in Madrid.

Los Angeles took Skyline Hardpoint 250-236, Red Card Search & Destroy 6-4 and Protocol Control 3-2 to crush the Miami Heretics. Atlanta was also challenged on each map, but it still managed to get by the Toronto Ultra thanks to victories on Vault Hardpoint (237-236), Protocol Search & Destroy (6-3) and Hacienda Control (3-1).

The 12 Call of Duty League teams began play in the Stage 1 Major on Thursday, 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 were assigned to the lower bracket.

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

The lower-bracket quarterfinals were also contested on Saturday, with the Carolina Royal Ravens edging Toronto 3-2 and Miami beating the Minnesota Rokkr by the same score.

Carolina quickly went up 2-0 before dropping Vault Control 3-2 and Hacienda Hardpoint 250-209. However, the Royal Ravens snuffed the Ultra's rally by way of a 6-4 win on Protocol Search & Destroy.

The Heretics got going with a 250-187 victory on Skyline Hardpoint before alternating losses and wins over the next three maps. When it came down to the decisive fifth map, Red Card Search & Destroy, Miami edged Minnesota 6-5.

The Rokkr ousted Cloud9 New York 3-1 in Round 2 of the lower bracket ahead of their meeting with the Heretics.

The Stage 1 Major is set to conclude Sunday with four matches:

-- Los Angeles Thieves vs. Atlanta FaZe (upper-bracket final)

--Carolina Royals Ravens vs. Miami Heretics (lower-bracket semifinal)

--Loser of upper-bracket final vs. winner of lower-bracket semifinal (lower-bracket final)

--Winner of upper-bracket final vs. winner of lower-bracket final (grand final)

Stage 1 Major prize pool:

1. $150,000, 100 Call of Duty League points

2. $90,000, 75 points

3. $60,000, 60 points

4. $30,000, 45 points

5-6. $15,000, 30 points -- Toronto Ultra, Minnesota Rokkr

7-8. $7,500, 15 points -- OpTic Texas, Cloud9 New York

9-12. No money, no points -- Los Angeles Guerrillas M8, Vegas Falcons, Vancouver Surge, Boston Breach

--Field Level Media