CDL Championship 2025 Day One: Breach stuns LA Thieves, OpTic sweeps FaZe

The opening day of the 2025 Call of Duty League (CDL) Championship has come to a close, and already, the final event of the season has caused an unlikely upset. 

Miami Heretics, Toronto Ultra, and OpTic Texas remain in the upper bracket, alongside Boston Breach, which managed to score a shock victory over the Los Angeles Thieves.

The all-Spanish roster of Miami Heretics did battle against Vancouver Surge in the opening match of the event. Vancouver Surge looked to showcase its skill from the outset, securing the opening Hardpoint 250-105 to take the early series lead. Miami Heretics responded and immediately took control of the match with a 6-4 Search and Destroy victory to level the series. 

With the momentum in favour of the Spaniards, Miami Heretics secured Vault Control 3-1 before keeping the ball rolling on Hacienda Hardpoint with a 250-156 victory to secure the series by three games to one. 

Vancouver Surge isn’t out of Champs yet. The franchise falls into the elimination bracket, where it will face LA Thieves to remain in the tournament. For Miami Heretics, the franchise plays Boston Breach in the winner’s bracket semi-final. 

Heading into Champs as the eighth seed, few expected Boston Breach to give the tournament favourite a run for its money. LA Thieves kicked off the series with a hard-fought win on Vault Hardpoint, but Boston Breach’s superior Search and Destroy gameplay came to fruition in game two, levelling the series with a convincing 6-2 score line. 

Breach continued to push the Major 3 and 4 winners to the limit, taking Vault Control 3-2. Los Angeles Thieves came back fighting, winning Rewind Hardpoint 250-132 to force a fifth and final map. Despite its best efforts, the Search and Destroy quality of Boston Breach shone through, winning Red Card 6-3 to send LA Thieves into the elimination bracket. 

Los Angeles Thieves now have to run the elimination bracket gauntlet in order to make another Grand Final appearance. LA Thieves play the Vancouver Surge in the first round. For Boston Breach, the eighth seed advances to the winner’s semi-finals, where Miami Heretics await.

Following two surprise results, the hometown franchise of Toronto Ultra kicked off its Champs campaign against the Carolina Royal Ravens. Ultra immediately demonstrated its Hardpoint prowess, taking the opening map with a 250-117 win. Carolina responded immediately with a 6-4 victory in game two on Dealership Search and Destroy to level the series once more. 

The Royal Ravens looked to take flight in Protocol Control, but a standout performance from Joseph ‘JoeDeceives’ Romero clipped its wings in the final seconds, winning the map 3-2 for Ultra to retake the series lead. 

Rewind Hardpoint could’ve gone either way, but Toronto Ultra held strong to win 250-230 to wrap up a 3-1 series victory. As a result, this sets up a tantalising semi-final against OpTic Texas.

The final match of the first day saw OpTic Texas battle against longtime rivals Atlanta FaZe. A back-and-forth Hacienda Hardpoint went in favour of the Green Wall, taking a 1-0 lead with a 250-204 score line. The Green Wall continued to hold strong with a clinical 6-3 win on Protocol Search and Destroy, putting Atlanta FaZe on the verge of an early trip to the elimination bracket. 

A resurgent OpTic Texas dominated the slaying department on Hacienda Control, winning Hacienda Control 3-1 to secure a 3-0 sweep over the two-time Black Ops 6 Major winners. With FaZe facing off against Royal Ravens in the elimination bracket, OpTic advances to battle Toronto Ultra in the winner’s bracket.

With the round one matches concluded, attention turns to the first round of the elimination bracket and the winner’s bracket semi-finals. Day two of the CDL Championship Weekend begins at 8 PM BST. Fans can tune into the action exclusively live on the CDL YouTube channel.