With only two more Majors left to be played, the battle for CDL Points is reaching its boiling point, as there is not a single team that has accumulated enough to secure a spot for the 2021 CDL Championship. For a couple of teams that could change by the end of the week, while others might find themselves in serious danger of being denied a spot in the $2,500,000 season-ending event.

According to Activision, the CDL Stage 3 Major will be the last online tournament of the season, with plans to host CDL Stage 4 Major at Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, we first need to turn our attention to what might be one of the closest CDL Majors of 2021.

Atlanta FaZe expected to shine

Atlanta FaZe ($2.50) won the first Major of the season, reached the grand finals of the second Major, and now enter the CDL Stage 3 Major as the favourites to go all the way. That shouldn’t be too shocking given their impressive resume, but does it really justify the short price?

FaZe might be 18-3 on the season, but they have struggled a bit across the last month. FaZe managed a 14-8 map record in CDL Stage 3 group play, which translates to a 57% win rate – far below their previous season average of 72%.

FaZe still come off as the CDL top dogs, but you have to ask yourself whether the price gap between them, Toronto Ultra ($4.00) and New York Subliners ($4.50) is justifiable. One team has beaten them 5-3 in the CDL Stage 2 Major finals, while the other handed them a 2-3 loss at the start of CDL Stage 3 group play.

What’s more, both the Ultra and the Subliners have been playing much better of late, so there is a real possibility at least one of them beats FaZe. Both have done it before, and you can’t say it won’t happen again.

Underdogs might cause chaos

Los Angeles Thieves ($9.00), Dallas Empire ($11.00), Florida Mutineers ($15.00), and OpTic Chicago ($17.00) enter CDL Stage 3 Major as outsiders, which seems about right.

Thieves are priced as fourth-favourites to win their first Major of the season, which is largely due to their spike in form since adding Cuyler “Huke” Garland to the team. However, we don’t believe this squad has had enough time to form a winning synergy. They have already lost to the Subliners (1-3) and FaZe (2-3), which isn’t what you want to see from a team competing for the title. Thieves’ ceiling might be high, but the consistency isn’t there yet.

The Empire are always a threat, but their form since letting Huke go has dipped. This is still a team that fields one of the most stacked rosters in the league and they usually do well in knockout tournaments, but $11.00 is a bit too low for us to take a shot with them.

Then there’s Florida, who might impress. If they edge past Thieves in the first round of play, and if they can get enough out of Joseph “Owakening” Conley and Cesar “Skyz” Bueno, the Mutineers might make it into the Winners Finals. Those, however, are two big ifs.

A more reasonable, yet still very optimistic, scenario would be to see Florida make it to the fourth round of the lower bracket, where they’ll face either FaZe or the Ultra – and we all know how those games ended last time out.

OpTic Chicago are priced as high as $17.00, which is more than fair in our book. We are ready to completely fade them for this tournament, not only due to their poor form, but mainly due to the internal issues OpTic have been dealing with. As said by Seth “Scump” Abner in one of his streams this week, OpTic’s players aren’t getting along too well, and it shows in their results.

Outsiders looking to make some noise

Minnesota R?KKR ($21.00), London Royal Ravens ($26.00), Los Angeles Guerrillas ($34.00), Paris Legion ($51.00) and Seattle Surge ($201.00) are your outsiders for the third major of the season.

Out of the three, we are the most hopeful about the R?KKR, largely because of their favourable seeding and the under-appreciated strength of their roster. This team definitely has the talent to make a deep run; it will all come down to whether they can find their form in time.

The remaining four outsiders have not been playing well enough for us to have any faith in them. Even though the $201.00 on the Surge is absurd, it’s not like they have a realistic chance to win the title. They might pick up a win or two in the opening rounds, but that’s about it.

CDL Stage 3 Major betting prediction

Those who have been following our previous CDL betting previews would know that we are bullish about New York Subliners, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that we are backing them to win the third Major of the season.

To reach the finals, James “Clayster” Eubanks and co. only need to defeat the winner of the Florida Mutineers vs LA Thieves bout and then take down either Toronto Ultra or Atlanta FaZe.

That shouldn’t be too hard since they have done it before – Toronto with 3-1 in April, and Atlanta with 3-2 just two weeks ago. At this price, we have to take a shot with the Subliners.

These sides last met way back in January during the CoD League 2021 Kickoff tournament, where the London Royal Ravens won 3-2. But since that was an exhibition event to celebrate CDL’s one-year anniversary, we shouldn’t put too much weight on the result.

The Royal Ravens enter the CDL Stage 3 Major after claiming fifth place in the group stage with a 2-3 record and 10-12 map differential. Although they failed to win more than half of their games, Sean “Seany” O’Connor and co. still forced Atlanta FaZe and the New York Subliners to five maps, which is nothing to sneeze at.

On the other side, we have the Paris Legion, who finished the group stage in sixth with a 1-4 record. Their poor run doesn’t surprise us one bit, since they have been struggling throughout the whole season, and it doesn’t look as though that will change anytime soon.

London are a much better team than what their seeding would suggest, and they are definitely stronger than the shaky Paris. Things just don’t seem to be working out for the Legion, which is why we have a hard time believing they can keep this one close.

The Seattle Surge ended the CDL Stage 3 group stage with a 0-5 record, but we wouldn’t overreact to that number. Since adding Jacob “Decemate” Cato to their roster, Seattle have gained the SMG presence they were lacking and now look a far more competitive side.

On the other hand, one could argue that the Los Angeles Guerrillas are a bit overrated heading into this match. They enjoyed some success after adding Martin “Cheen” Chino to the active lineup in April, but they have not been very consistent with their showings after that short-lived honeymoon phase.

Seattle might have struggled in Stage 3 so far, but they certainly have the tools to win on Thursday. Given the odds available at leading Call of Duty betting sites, we don’t need to think twice before siding with the outsiders.

The Dallas Empire are coming off a big 3-1 victory against the Minnesota R?KKR, which might suggest that they have found their long-lost form. What that score doesn’t show, however, is just how close that match was.

Dallas won the series with 250-232 on Moscow – Hardpoint, 6-4 on Miami – S&D, 2-3 on Raid – Control, and 250-177 on Apocalypse – Hardpoint. A closer look at those numbers reveals that the Empire weren’t really that much better than Minnesota.

Atlanta FaZe have had a few slip-ups during CDL Stage 3 group play, but they have found their form just in time to make a run for their second CDL Major title. Although we like exploring options on the underdogs, this is one of those matches where you have to bite the bullet and trust the favourites to do what they’re expected to.

Despite losing their final match of the group stage against the New York Subliners (1-3), Los Angeles Thieves secured an upper-bracket seed by the skin of their teeth. Regardless, Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag’s squad have been playing extremely well of late and seem poised for a deep run at the CDL Stage 3 Major.

The Florida Mutineers ended the group stage with a 3-2 record, which is quite impressive considering the quality of opponents they had to face. They have done a lot of their best work on the back of strong showings from Joseph “Owakening” Conley and Cesar “Skyz” Bueno, who not many teams have been able to stop.

However, LA boast similarly strong duo in Kenneth “Kenny” Williams and Zack “Drazah” Jordan. And let’s not forget about their newest addition, Cuyler “Huke” Garland, who is more than capable of matching any SMG player in the league.

We are leaning more towards LA Thieves for this one, but we don’t expect a one-sided affair.