Rise Nation Wins CWL Anaheim 2018

The Call of Duty World League came to Anaheim over the weekend and Rise Nation won a thriller against a very game Red Reserve.

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Just days after E3 2018, Activision made its way across town for the Call of Duty World League's latest major. CWL Anaheim came to a close on Sunday and the two teams in the final game should look familiar to anyone who's followed Call of Duty esports this year. Rise Nation faced off once again with Red Reserve in the Grand Finals in a rematch from CWL Atlanta and the result was no different. Despite Red Reserve putting up a fight, Rise Nation won CWL Anaheim 3-1 in the second Grand Finals set.

The series was decided on the fourth game Hardpoint on Gibraltar. Red Reserve tried to pull away early, but Rise Nation quickly caught up when the Hardpoint reached Turret. The turnaround continued through Pit Center, as Daniel "Loony" Loza and Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat helped clear the Red Reserve forces. Red Reserve started to pull away again on Castle Road, building a 45+ point lead, but Rise Nation didn't let up and kept climbing back. The two teams were neck and neck heading back to Castle Road, but just as Red Reserve looked to clinch the map, Rise Nation left their opponents stuck at 246 and swooped in to take the map and the series.

The second Grand Final set began with Hardpoint on Sainte Marie Du Mont, with both teams going back and forth. Red Reserve broke through on the Winery Lot. They held the lead after Matthew "Skrapz" Marshall activated his Fighter Pilot Scorestreak on the next Hardpoint, opening the floodgates for more Scorestreaks from his teammates. But Rise Nation caught up on Lookout Point and both teams continued to trade places on Restaurant. But Loonys Glide Bomb came up empty and Red Reserve took advantage of the miss to claim the first game.

Game 2 was Search & Destroy on the London Docks, where both teams again jockeyed for position. Rise Nation was able to hold onto their Scorestreaks just long enough to take full advantage of them and take the second game.

Game 3 was Capture the Flag on Flak Tower. Red Reserve threw all their bodies in the way to try and prevent the flag capture, but SlasheR was able to score the first cap. Red Reserve quickly rebounded with a cap of their own, while Trei "Zer0" Morris called in a Fighter Pilot to keep Rise Nation under control. The two teams continued to trade blows, but Rise eventually pulled away and was able to hold for the final minute, thanks to Thomas "TJHaly" Haly's Glide Bomb, to take the 2-1 series lead.

The first Grand Final set came down to Hardpoint on Ardennes Forest, where Red Reserve was able to hold their points behind Zer0 and Skrapz. They were able to ward off Rise Nation's last-second push, which included a Glide Bomb and Fighter Pilot from SlasheR to take the set 3-1.

As mentioned earlier, these two teams previously faced off at CWL Atlanta, where Rise Nation won that series 3-1. For their victory, Rise Nation wins $80,000 and earns 25,000 Pro Points, while Red Reserve takes home $48,000 and 15,000 Pro Points.

Next for the Call of Duty World League, the Pro League Stage 2 kicks off on June 26, as the CWL moves towards the CWL Championship on the weekend of August 16.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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