As the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare competitive season nears its conclusion, we head into the final event of the year, the MLG World Championships.
Over the past week, the groups for the $250,000 tournament have been drawn and released by MLG, and our content team will be attempting to predict the results of the group stages, ending today with Group D.
Group D consists of some of the largest and most tenured organisations in Call of Duty eSports. Team eLevate, Team EnVyUs, Team Orbit, and Citadel Gaming will battle it out for one of the two available spots to automatically advance to the Winners Bracket. Let's take a look at the teams.
Team eLevate
| Slacked | Saints | TJHaly | Octane |
In recent months, Team eLevate have been one of the most consistent and threatening organisations in Advanced Warfare. Over their last few events, eLevate have failed to place outside the top four, finishing first at MES Detroit 25k, third at UMG Washington D.C. 2015, second at the MLG Pro League Season 3 Regular Season and fourth at the MLG Pro League Season 3 Playoffs.
However, since then, a controversial roster change has seen Sam "Octane" Larew join Team eLevate in place of Nicholas "Classic" DiCostanzo who departed for Denial eSports. While some eLevate fans may be disappointed that Classic, who became an integral part of the roster, was released from the organisation, the addition of Octane, a player renowned for his ability to slay with a BAL, will only aid Team eLevate in their hunt for success.
As a result, Team eLevate will be heading into Group D with the confidence that they will secure the top seed from pool play. Despite their stiff opposition in the forms of Team EnVyUs and Team Orbit, eLevate’s experience, talent and knowledge should be enough to see them through Group D.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: TJHaly
Team EnVyUs
| Loony | JKap | Jurd | Goonjar |
One of the most storied and iconic organisations in competitive Call of Duty history, Team EnVyUs have struggled to find any consistency within Advanced Warfare. A string of inconsistent placements and a plague of roster changes have left EnVyUs as a mid-table team for the majority of the competitive season. However, with a fresh new international roster, Team EnVyUs are looking to end the year on a high note at the MLG World Championships.
Personally, I am a huge fan of this new Team EnVyUs line-up and I expect them to comfortably qualify for the Winners Bracket, and even secure the first seed from Group D. Although the MLG World Championships will be the first event for this roster, I believe they possess the potential to cause some serious upsets.
A perfect balance of stability, the consistent and composed play styles of Jordan "JKap" Kaplan and Jevon "Goonjar" Gooljar-Lim will allow the explosive play styles of both Daniel "Loony" Loza and Jordan "Jurd" Crowley to flourish.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: Loony
Team Orbit
| Faccento | Happy | TcM | Replays |
The dark horse of Group D, Team Orbit are a squad who should not be overlooked.
Comprised of 2015 Call of Duty World Champion, Chris "Replays" Crowder, 2015 Call of Duty World Championship runner-up, Brice “Faccento” Faccento, and two of the brightest talents within Advanced Warfare, Nick "Happy" Suda and Teegan "TcM" McCarthy, Team Orbit possess the perfect amount of talent and experience.
However, In order for Orbit to automatically qualify for the Winners Bracket they will need to defeat either eLevate or EnVyUs, which is no easy feat. But, with a roster as talented as Team Orbit, anything is a possibility.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: Faccento
Citadel Gaming
| Hoju | DizmuLL | Lakie | Carry |
Admittedly, my knowledge of the Australian competitive Call of Duty community is limited, therefore in order to provide an honest prediction of Citadel Gaming I had to perform some additional research.
Unfortunately, initial reports quickly supported the general consensus I held around Citadel Gaming, they are a young, talented roster, however, due to a declining Australian scene, realistically, they will struggle to match the high level of talent within the MLG World Championships.
However, recent results within online tournaments and team scrims do provide fans of the Australian organisation with a shred of hope, as Citadel Gaming have held their own, defeating Rise Nation in the MLG 10k Series, before falling to Team Orbit after a narrow 3-2 series.
Will they be able to convert their online form into success at the MLG World Championships?
I hope so.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: Lakie
Predictions (Excluding Team From Open Bracket)
1st Team eLevate 3-0
2nd Team EnVyUs 2-1
3rd Team Orbit 1-2
4th Citadel Gaming 0-3
Group D is set to be a closely contested affair, however, I believe Team eLevate will walk away with the number one seed. While Team EnVyUs will give them a good run for their money, eLevate will be able to take advantage of the chemistry and teamwork the roster maintains within their three core players, Slacked, Saints and TJHaly.
As for the second seed, I expect Team EnVyUs to secure the second Winners Bracket qualification spot, however, depending on how well Team Orbit play on the day and whether Citadel Gaming can take advantage of their unknown play style, I wouldn’t be surprised if either of these two teams performed a shock upset.
Do you agree with my predictions? Let us know the comments below!
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