As we go back to London for their second Home Series of the season, we take a look at another slight meta change, the new kids for OGLA and our prediction.
GA Madness
Yet again we see a slight meta change going into the London Royal Ravens Home Series this weekend. Last week in New York, the event was dominated by M4’s, with only 4 SMG players going positive. Two of these players being Obaid ‘Asim’ Asim and Dillon ‘Attach’ Price who both used the M4 on multiple occasions.
This M4 dominance was due to the nerf to the MP5 along with the 10mm rounds being GA’d (Gentleman’s Agreement). However, many pros thought this M4 meta was too strong, and thus have decided to allow players to use the 10mm rounds for the MP5 once again. This ammunition conversion increases both Damage and Range, making the MP5 comfortable when challenging the M4.
This will affect many players in the league, with London Royal Ravens’ Matthew ‘Skrapz’ Marshall already converting back to the MP5 after using the M4 last weekend. This is surprising however, as he achieved his highest overall K/D in the past three events last weekend at 1.04.
CDL Debut’s
This weekend we’ll see Zack ‘Drazah’ Jordan and Darien ‘Hollow’ Chverchko make their Call of Duty League debuts for OpTic Gaming Los Angeles. Replacing Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell and Martin ‘Chino’ Chino on the squad. While they both ran MP5’s in respawn and M4’s in SnD during challengers, we expect one to take up an AR role alongside Austin ‘Slasher’ Liddicoat with one being another sub. Taking on the reigning champs Florida Mutineers in their first game of the event will be an extremely tough task for the new kids but this is the perfect opportunity to show what they can do and really make a statement.
Prediction
Florida Mutineers go into the weekend as favourites. With Florida looking for their fourth win of the season, Dallas looking for their third and New York looking to go back-to-back. This will be a tightly contested Home Series.
Group A consists of the hosts London Royal Ravens, Seattle Surge, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles and Florida Mutineers. While Group B sees Paris Legion, Dallas Empire, New York Subliners and Los Angeles Guerrillas battle for their place in the Semi-Finals.
With another slight meta change, this is yet again a hard week to call. However, I’m favouring the Dallas Empire. At 2.84 to win, they have an implied probability of 35.21%, compared to Florida’s 38.76%. Due to the change in meta, I believe that Dallas Empire will be able to dominate if Shotzzy and Huke can continue their excellent performances. And if iLLeY can improve slightly, they’ll be a very hard team to beat.
Underdog Bet
An underdog bet for me is OpTic Gaming Los Angeles. No one quite knows how this team will set up, and the new kids have a real opportunity to make a statement. Playing the Mutineers in game one, they have a chance to shock a lot of people and make a run through the groups and into the finals. However, at 12.00 odds to win, they’re far from favourites, but will yield a big return if they can secure their first Home Series victory of the season.
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