Call of Duty Rec League: MW3 Winter Season — Week 3 Review
It is completely possible that I may just be misinterpreting my own feelings towards the new Call of Duty game, but so far playing it for the past month alongside my own CRL matches has been quite fun. It’s been an exciting season so far for many teams 3 weeks into the season, and there’s only 4 weeks left before playoffs.
It’s time to buckle up. The games are starting to have more value and playoff positioning is starting to be a little bit more clear at this point. Will this be the start of any runs for winless teams? Will other teams begin to flounder and struggle to find success? Will Shio stop pushing updates through the game before match time? Well, let’s find out!
Tuesday
9:00PM - Minnesota Floppr vs Seattle Sloths (Gold Mixed)
Both Minnesota and Seattle were 1–1 heading into this match, with both teams showing strong moments and performances in the previous weeks.
Seattle was missing one of their more valuable pieces in boozies for their team against Minnesota this week, and Map 1 on Terminal HP really showed why as Minnesota won the opening map decisively with a 250–134 win. Seattle would shrug it off and respond with a 6–4 map win on Highrise SND to even the series, with Minnesota blowing them out in Karachi Control 3–0.
In Map 4 on Skidrow Hardpoint, it was looking like it was going to be a blowout victory for Seattle before a late rally from Minnesota began to inch things closer; however the deficit was too large to overcome with Seattle evening up the series 2–2 and forcing a Map 5 on Terminal SND. In the end, Minnesota just had no answer for Seattle and Inosuke who dropped 9 kills for the 6–0 victory, securing the series for his team.
10:30PM - Denver Surrender vs Paris Letdown (Bronze Mixed)
Denver and Paris faced similar circumstances to the previous match with both teams looking to go above the .500 mark.
Beginning with Invasion Hardpoint, Paris struggled to have any answer for Thightanic who popped off with a 12 kill streak. However, by limiting key contributions from the rest of their team along with a 28 kill performance from Oxide, the map had many close moments although Denver would be victorious 250–201. Map 2 on Highrise SND would be a similar story with another strong performance from Thightanic to guide his team to a 6–3 map win.
After that, Paris would get their engines running with a strong 3–0 performance on Invasion Control followed by a nailbiting 250–237 thanks to Oxide dropping high kill games in both maps. With another Map 5 underway on Invasion SND, Paris could not capitalize on the reverse sweep falling in a 6–0 fashion for Denver to take the series 3–2.
Wednesday
9:00PM — Boston Burgers vs Seattle Sloths (Silver Premade East)
The first map, Karachi HP, showed an impressive showing out of Seattle with all players finsihing with a relatively balanced stat line to finish the map 250–155 with AT dropping 29. SND on Skidrow would be much closer going to another Round 11, thanks to a 12 kill performance from Plazma on Boston. However, Seattle would control the pacing for the whole round which would allow them to go up 2–0 in the series. Seattle would finish off Boston in Karachi Control 3–1 thanks to two stellar offensive performances from the Sloths.
10:30PM — Chicago Hunted vs Minnesota Floppr (Gold Premade East)
Chiacgo and Minnesota were two undefeated teams going into this matchup, with the winner looking to secure the top seed in their pool for the week.
Things got off to an ugly start on Invasion Hardpoint with Minnesota getting a commanding 117–13 lead. From there onwards, it was all Chicago as they secured the majority of hills and kills until the very end where Minnesota would clutch up despite the Chicago rally, 250–215. Chicago would even up the series on Karachi SND with a solid 6–1 victory, followed by another strong performance on Highrise Control thanks to some spawn trapping and manipulation which allowed Chicago to take the map 2–1.
Moving on to Map 4, it was a bit of a different story with Minnesota taking the lead early and never really having any doubt of the outcome as they would win 250–195 to send us to yet another Map 5. Finally, on Invasion SND, it was joeyy for Minnesota who turned it up a notch with 15 kills for his team to win the map 6–2 and the series.
Thursday
9:00PM — Atlanta Dazed vs LAG (Gold Premade South)
We’ve seen 3 Map 5’s already this week. Would that change in any of the Thursday matches? With Atlanta vs LAG, two teams looking for their first win, it’s a possibility.
Beginning with Karachi Hardpoint, both teams traded the lead back and forth early on until Atlanta began pulling away with a couple late hill holds to secure the map win 250–155. Thanks to a balanced effort and great defensive plays, LAG was able to respond with a 6–2 victory in Highrise SND.
After starting 2–0 in Invasion Control, Remorse went on a tear dropping 55 KILLS. 55!!!! Due to his insane performace, Atlanta was able to complete the reverse sweep to go up 2–1 in the series. Remorse would quiet down just a little bit in Map 4 on Invasion Hardpoint as the series would end up being much closer. However, thanks to a late game push into the Palace Hardpoint, Atlanta was able to break into LAG’s hold onto the hill to secure the map 250–239.
10:30PM — Maui Chums vs Dallas Flat Tires (Silver Premade South)
We have another battle of undefeateds in Silver South, so this matchup looks like it’ll be a thrilling end to an otherwise exciting week.
Starting off on Sub Base Hardpoint, it was initially looking like we’d have a blowout with Maui storming out to a 146–7 lead. Dallas would close the gap a bit but the deficit was too much to overcome as Maui would claim victory 250–143. Highrise SND would come down to the wire yet again with both teams exchanging leads. However, Crit for Maui would secure an important 1v2 clutch on offense in Round 11 to lift his team to a 2–0 series score.
Invasion Control showed a lot of crazy moments as well. In Round 5, it was looking like Dallas would take the map as the B point had been secured early as well as having a nice offensive push onto the A point, but a clutch defensive push from Nocturnal and Crit on Maui was able to stop the bleeding as they held on to win the map 3–2 and complete the series sweep.
Week 4 Preview
Minnesota Floppr (3–0) vs LA Dweebs (2–1) (Gold Premade East)
Despite the lower record, LA Dweebs has a chance to make things interesting in their pool with a 3 way tie for first if they emerge victorious (or potentially a 4 way tie). Minnesota have won every game they’ve played so far, but their match last week against Chicago showed some signs of vulnerability. I got LA with the Game 5 upset here.
Prediction: LA Dweebs 3–2 Minnesota Floppr
Old Guys Texas (2–1) vs LAG (1–2)
Okay I’ll admit, I am definitely biased with this game pick. I mainly just want to see how Killrook will perform in his post-retirement form and if we see any changes, negative or positive. But the matchup itself on paper is actually quite interesting, with LAG having several close maps of their own. Will it just be another day in the life of Killrook? Well, that remains to be seen.
Prediction: Old Guys Texas 3–1 LAG
