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The Florida Mutineers earned a win with their new roster against the Minnesota RØKKR in their second match of the Call of Duty League’s Stage 4 Major Qualifiers. The victory is the Mutineers’ first win of the franchise in the qualifiers after suffering a defeat to the New York Subliners.
Following their loss to the New York Subliners earlier in the organization’s first official series since recruiting Michael “MajorManiak” Szymaniak and 2ReaL” Stockdale ahead of the stage 4 fixtures, the Mutineers appeared to be a completely different team as they swept Minnesota 3-0.
Since the beginning of the 2021 CDL season, MajorManiak had been a member of the RØKKR. However, in April of that year, during the mid-season break, he was released from the team.
In a spectacular performance against his former team, MajorManiak played at a different level, racking up 67 kills across the three games of the series and posting a kill-to-death ratio of 1.40, which was the most by any player in the series.
During an interview following the game, MajorManiak stated;
“It feels good. I think it feels, more importantly, better though, because of our lack of practice, especially in SnD. For us to come out and actually win that Bocage in the way we did was big. And now we have an extra week to actually prep and scrim and get a lot of reps in, so that’ll help as well. It feels good to play against them and get that dub.”
Although the series did not appear close, each individual map was packed with excitement. The first map, Tuscan Hardpoint, was won by Florida 250-246 after both teams continued to swap leads. Florida produced some really clutch plays to secure the win.
Mutineers wiped out the upper Midwest franchise in the Bocage Search and Destroy map. MajorManiak led the team to a victory with a stat line of 9-4, playing an integral role in putting his team up 2-0.
In Tuscan Control, the last map of the series, both teams were victorious in their respective defensive rounds, which resulted in the match going into overtime. Havok appeared to be only a fraction of a second away from forcing a fourth map, as RØKKR needed only one more tick at the B point. Skyz, unfortunately for Minnesota, was on hand to knock Havok off the hill, which ensured the Mutineers’ win and the cleaning of the scoreboard.
As a result of Mutineers victory, the franchise have now moved up to tenth position in the rankings while Minnesota RØKKR is placed ninth. Both teams are tied with 120 CDL Points and are only five points behind the Los Angeles Guerrillas, who are now in eighth place. In August, the CDL Championship will be held in Los Angeles, and the top eight teams in the rankings will compete for the title.
The Mutineers will get back into the swing of things later this week as they face off against the London Royal Ravens on Saturday, July 2 at 2:00 pm Central Time. On Friday, July 1, at 3:30 p.m. Central Time, Minnesota will face off against the Royal Ravens.
