The stars came out for the Los Angeles Call of Duty League homestand, from Michael B. Jordan to Todd Gurley to Kyle Kuzma to Adam "GodRX" Brown. The Dallas Empire were the biggest stars this weekend after winning their first homestand of the season, joining the Atlanta FaZe and Chicago Huntsmen, who have each won one homestand. Minnesota's star is rising after beating Atlanta and reaching the final. For several weeks, it looked like the previously winless OpTic Gaming Los Angeles were a falling star, but after they went 2-1 this weekend, their future looks bright.
Watch: Todd Gurley wants a rematch with Michael B. Jordan
For this week's edition of our power rankings, we decided to shine a spotlight on the stars for each team, and we gave each team a star rating out of five.
Read more: What we learned from CDL Los Angeles | The show goes on in L.A.
Below is how our staff voted to rank the 12 teams after Los Angeles. Each participating staff member ranked the CDL teams from No. 1 to No. 12, and the results were aggregated to determine the list below. All player stats are courtesy of Atlanta FaZe stat analyst Austin O'Neil.
Previous rankings: Jan. 28 | Feb. 12 | Feb. 26
1. Atlanta FaZe
Season record: 8-1 | Week 4 record: 2-1 | Change from last ranking:
4/5 stars
It was an up-and-down weekend for the young Atlanta FaZe. Coming off a tournament win in their hometown, the FaZe were unable to repeat, losing to the Minnesota RØKKR 3-2 in the L.A. homestand semifinals. They did sweep the eventual homestand champs, the Dallas Empire, earlier in the weekend, though it wasn't as easy as the scoreline indicates. All of that is to say that the competition at the top of the CDL is very healthy, even if that means the FaZe will take their fair share of bumps.
Although we like to talk about Chris "Simp" Lehr and his statistical ying to the yang of McArthur "Cellium" Jovel, Preston "Priestahh" Greiner demands respect. His three kills to close out Hardpoint on Petrograd against Dallas were the sole reason FaZe took that map, and he had a team-high 13 kills in Search and Destroy against the Florida Mutineers. That said, the FaZe do not lack in star power.
-- Darin Kwilinski
2. Chicago Huntsmen
Season record: 8-1 | Week 4: DNP | Change from last ranking:
4.5/5 stars
The Huntsmen didn't play this weekend, but they have to be happy with the Dallas Empire and Atlanta FaZe showing their hands in Los Angeles.
The Huntsmen's biggest star of the weekend, Dallas, made their wins over the Empire look much sweeter after Dallas finally showed some of their potential. With three-and-a-half weeks to prepare for the Dallas homestand and some fresh tape on their biggest challengers in Atlanta and Dallas, the Huntsmen have a leg up going into the Empire's March 28-29 homestand -- assuming Infinity Ward doesn't drop a huge patch two days before the tournament, of course.
-- Sean Morrison
Check out the rest of the Call of Duty League schedule.
3. Dallas Empire
Season record: 7-5 | Week 4 record: 4-1 | Change from last ranking:
4/5 stars
Based on team talent, the Dallas Empire have been included among the top three teams (along with Atlanta and Chicago) in the Call of Duty League since the preseason, and they finally have a homestand victory like the other two teams to add to their résumé.
Although this team is undoubtedly full of stars such as James "Clayster" Eubanks and Ian "Crimsix" Porter, their victory this past weekend was more a testament to how strong the Empire are as a team. The Empire were stars on Search and Destroy maps in particular, going 5-1 in that game mode, including a win on the fifth and decisive map against the Minnesota RØKKR in the final. Clayster was particularly strong on S&D, with a 1.23 K/D overall on S&D this weekend, and Cuyler "Huke" Garland came up huge with 13 kills and only five deaths in the final map against Minnesota. They still haven't beaten Atlanta or Chicago, though, which is why I'm giving them four out of five stars.
Watch: Clayster says Empire are at 65-70% of their potential
-- Brian Bencomo
4. Minnesota RØKKR
Season record: 7-4 | Week 4 record: 3-2 | Change from last ranking:
1
5/5 stars
The RØKKR continue to improve and impress. They turned a 3-2 semifinals loss against the FaZe last homestand into a 3-2 semifinals win against Atlanta in Los Angeles to get revenge and reach new heights. Despite the loss to the Dallas Empire in the L.A. homestand final, the RØKKR remain on an upward trajectory.
The big star for the RØKKR continues to be Adam "GodRx" Brown. He leads his team (and is tied for second in the league) in K/D at 1.29 and holds a league-best +209 kills over deaths -- quite remarkable in a game as lethal as Call of Duty. Although it seems obvious, the less you die, the more potential you have to make plays, and no one capitalizes on that better than GodRx.
Watch: GodRx glad to finally receive attention
-- Kwilinski
5. Florida Mutineers
Season record: 5-5 | Week 4 record: 1-2 | Change from last ranking:
1
3/5 stars
The Mutineers looked decidedly average with 3-0 losses against the FaZe and Empire. Cesar "Skyz" Bueno's co-stars didn't show up, and the Mutineers missed an opportunity to build on their 15 minutes of fame in Atlanta. Florida has time to get its groove -- and hopefully Preston "Prestinni" Sanderson -- back, and an easy opening matchup against the Toronto Ultra gives the Mutineers a great chance to put together another show-stopping performance in Dallas.
Watch: Maurice "Fero" Henriquez on his debut with the Mutineers
-- Morrison
To see rosters for all of the Call of Duty League teams, click here.
6. London Royal Ravens
Season record: 4-4 | Week 4 record: DNP | Change from last ranking:
3/5 stars
The Royal Ravens had a bye week and won't return until April 4 in the opening match against the Atlanta FaZe, and I ... don't love that for them. That said, I will continue to point out that Bradley "wuskin" Marshall has still not been surpassed on the overall K/D leaderboard, so I think they're in a good spot and worthy of three stars.
-- Elizabeth Baugh
7. Paris Legion
Season record: 5-4 | Week 4 record: DNP | Change from last ranking:
3/5 stars
Paris sat out the Los Angeles homestand, but they have a chance to come out hot against a struggling Seattle Surge team during the next homestand in Dallas. A strong run in Texas will do wonders for Paris in the standings, but that fifth-place position is precarious at best.
-- Joe DeMartino
8. OpTic Gaming LA
Season record: 2-5 | Week 4 record: 2-1 | Change from last ranking:4
3/5 stars
OpTic Gaming were a team laden with star power, with guys such as Seth "Scump" Abner, Ian "Crimsix" Porter, James "Clayster" Eubanks, Matthew "FormaL" Piper and Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag all having passed through the organization. It's no surprise, then, that the new iteration of OpTic has been greeted throughout the season with chants of "You're not OpTic."
However, this weekend, the stars on this OpTic roster finally came out, and the team was cheered on with the old "Let's go, OpTic" chant. Brandon "Dashy" Otell, a member of the old OpTic that transitioned to the CDL version of the team, shined once again this weekend for OGLA, as he has all season, but it was Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat who really stepped up. After putting up sub-1 K/Ds all season, his 1.3 K/D was third-best overall this weekend.
Watch: SlasheR reacts to OpTic finally getting points on the board
-- Bencomo
9. Seattle Surge
Season record: 2-6 | Week 4 record: 1-2 | Change from last ranking:
3/5 stars
Sam "Octane" Larew put together another award-winning performance, and Bryan "Apathy" Zhelyazkov played his role to perfection in some spots, but the Surge couldn't contend with the Minnesota RØKKR, one of the darlings of this homestand's lineup. Casey "Pandur" Romano performed admirably in his debut with a 0.96 K/D ratio, an upgrade from a recently benched Ian "Enable" Wyatt, but another uninspired performance from Damon "Karma" Barlow hampered the Surge in their must-win matchups.
-- Morrison
10. New York Subliners
Season record: 1-6 | Week 4 record: 0-2 | Change from last ranking:2
1/5 stars
I mean, what else can you say about the Subliners after this past weekend? Not that their competition was weak -- Dallas and Florida are both quality teams -- and all their map losses were reasonably close, but that's little comfort amid a two-and-out performance in Los Angeles. Lamar "Accuracy" Abedi and Dillon "Attach" Price had their moments, and Donovan "Temp" Laroda went off with a 3.2 K/D in New York's Search and Destroy win against Florida, but the fact remains that the Subliners sit at the absolute bottom of the CDL standings and are running out of time to turn things around.
-- DeMartino
11. Los Angeles Guerrillas
Season record: 1-5 | Week 4 record: 0-2 | Change from last ranking:1
1/5 stars
The Guerrillas built a team of veteran stars such as Patrick "ACHES" Price and Renato "Saints" Forza, but with the team underperforming through the first three homestands, L.A. turned to some young stars. Reece "Vivid" Drost, Kris "Spart" Cervantez and Rasim "Blazt" Ogresevic were all subbed in to the Guerrillas' lineup this weekend in an effort to shake things up for their homestand. Spart told ESPN's Emily Rand that he was driving from Dallas to Houston when he received a call last week from Guerrillas GM Alex Rubens asking him to join the team, so Spart immediately turned around and got on a plane to L.A.
Spart is certainly a rising star, as he was part of a team that took first in the Call of Duty Challengers division in Atlanta, but neither of the three subs really shined in L.A. Instead, it was old standby Ulysses "AquA" Silva who had the best performance this weekend, with a 0.95 K/D to lead the team.
-- Bencomo
12. Toronto Ultra
Season record: 1-5 | Week 4 record: DNP | Change from last ranking:1
1/5 stars
We keep saying it, and we'll keep saying it: Anthony "Methodz" Zinni is the Ultra's rock, and the sooner Toronto rallies around him, the better. He leads his team in both K/D and plus/minus kills over deaths at 1.14 and +63, respectively. The Ultra weren't in L.A., so we'll see if an extended break allows them to formulate some cohesion for Dallas at the end of March.
-- Kwilinski
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