The Modern Warfare 3 portion of the Esports World Cup is heating up, and earlier today, a round of Challengers-level teams proved that they’re worth more than some CDL competitors. First up was Gentle Mates, which forcefully ejected G2 Esports (Minnesota Rokkr) from the event with a 3-2 win in the elimination round.
Then, Stallions (FC Black) booted Team Heretics out of the competition with a crushing blow. In that series, it came down to the wire on every map, with the opening Hardpoint being almost too close to call at 250 – 248.
Shaping Up
Modern Warfare 3 isn’t performing all that well at the Esports World Cup, given how many fans of the Call of Duty League have labelled it a ‘fake event’. As an example, the elimination match between Team Falcons and Lore Gaming secured an average peak viewer count floating around 4,500.
Plenty have claimed it’s just to secure a bag, and in many ways, that’s true. There are stacks of cash on the line, that’s for sure.
Even teams leaving the tournament without a single win go away with $20,000 in their pockets.
Following the first round of elimination matches, the first four teams to be ejected from the tournament have bowed out:
- OMiT
- G2 Esports
- Team Heretics
- Team Falcons
Tomorrow, we’ll see teams starting to flesh out the playoff roster, and the expectation is that it’ll be populated entirely by CDL squads. Only eight can make it that far, and presently, it looks like it’ll be:
- Toronto Ultra
- Atlanta FaZe
- Cloud9
- OpTic Gaming
- 100 Thieves
- Vancouver Surge
- Carolina Royal Ravens
- Boston Breach
It’s easy to believe in the underdog spirit in the Call of Duty world, so we could still see the likes of Gentle Mates, Stallions, or Lore Gaming make it into the playoffs.
Who do you have winning the MW3 category at the Esports World Cup?
For more Insider Gaming Esports, check out the news that Team Heretics is doing a little better in VCT 2024
