This article is part of our Call of Duty series.
GAMES (EDT)
- 12:00 p.m: Pain Gaming vs. Flamengo Esports
- 12:50 p.m: FURIA Esports vs. INTZ
- 1:40 p.m: Santos Esports vs. Vivo Keyd
- 2:30 p.m: Prodigy Esports vs. Kabum! E-Sports
Flamengo vs. paiN Gaming
We are back with CBLoL and, as a reminder, these are all best of one matches. Flamengo were sitting at the top of the leaderboard for a while until Vevo took that spot, ultimately falling to Kabum in the finals. This team was one of the better objective teams, as they lead the first blood, first turret and dragon % control in the league. CBLoL is usually a fiesta, but paiN also likes to play that style. The difference here is that the players on Flamengo are mechanically better. Bvoy joined Flamengo, which makes them a lot stronger and has that playstyle to lane well against a slow tempo player like brTT.
Prediction: Flamengo Win
Flamengo Players to Target: Ranger ($6,400), Goku ($6,800), Bvoy ($6,800)
INTZ vs. Furia
Furia finished third in the regular season and in the playoffs while INTZ were at bottom level team. INTZ is a weird team that changes their playstyle every week, where one week they will be aggressive early and then try to play around objectives. Their identity problems dropped them far in the standings. Furia has one of the best first blood rates and dragon rates as they control the bot side of the map really well. I believe Furia will has the better game plan and execution against a wildcard team like INTZ.
Prediction: Furia Win
Furia Players to Target: Tyrin ($5,600), Alternative ($7,200)
Vevo vs. Santos
Santos went through the challenger league for Brazil and dominated every team to make it into the CBLoL. One familiar face is Rainbow, who played in the LCK a while back. Most of these players have been around the league for some time, and it will be interesting to see how they fair up against a team like Vevo, who got promoted this year and made a big statement. Minerva is the best jungler, as he had the best jungle control at 53 percent and had first blood at 62 percent, helped by getting his carries ahead and snowballing the other team. We haven't seen much film on Santos, but they are a team that likes to slow the pace and dictate the mid-to-late game. A team like Vevo is aggressive early, presenting a style matchup that might be too much for Santos to handle.
Prediction: Vevo Win
Vevo Players to Target: Minerva ($7,200), NOsFerus ($7,600), Klaus ($8,000)
Kabum vs. Prodigy
The last game on the slate is one I would target on the Kabum side. Their stats are skewed because they had an awful early first half of the split. Kabum went on a huge win streak to bring them into playoff contention and ultimately winning the entire thing. Kabum generally have been a good organization that allows their players to be hyper aggressive. It's a fighting team that will challenge you near any objectives, and this was their downfall early on when objectives were so important. The meta didn't shift too much in the second half, but it was evident that they incorporated their aggressive playstyle and fixed their macro to outclass teams around objectives and team fights. Prodigy weren't slouches either, as they were one game behind Kabum to make playoffs. This team loves to play around rift herald, as they own a 76 percent rift control and 71 percent first turret rates. The one thing this team lacks is team fighting ability. There were some cases where they would hop onto the wrong enemy champion and end up dying quickly due to not getting to the carries. Another stylistic matchup where Kabum should easily pick apart them in team fights no matter how many towers they can knock down.
Prediction: Kabum Win
Kabum Players to Target: Everyone